the valley of the wolves laura gallego garcía

Cai’s intense, slightly nightmarish grayscale illustrations add immeasurably to the text. Kraus doesn’t shy away from anger, fear, death, and other dark subjects instead they become opportunities for growth in difficult environments. While the visceral narrative follows the teddy troupe’s adventurous challenges and survival, its focus is on Buddy’s inner struggles as he ponders identity, leadership, and other existential dilemmas. As they encounter other Furringtons in disarray, this opener in The Teddies Saga series becomes a mystery about why these teddies are being harmed in the first place. Yearning to connect with a child and achieve a state of peaceful Forever Sleep, Buddy and his new friends of differing temperaments and gifts set out on a harrowing journey through the city to find children who will want them. So why did he wake up in a landfill with other Furringtons of varying hues? A more pressing matter, however, is escaping Trashland and its murderous gulls and bulldozers. The journey to find a child becomes an existential quest for an abandoned teddy bear.īuddy is not just any stuffed bear, but a blue Furrington Teddy with a Real Silk Heart. Nonetheless, though shallow as a novel, Dana’s story makes a sweet fairytale. Like the similarly stock characters who people this world, she is a collection of traits rather than a character: born with power budding sexuality forced to choose between loyalty and ambition. If their friendship suffers a little, isn’t that a fair price to pay for gaining a magician’s golden tunic? Dana’s coming-of-age quest is somewhat intriguing, but she herself is unfortunately flat. Ambitious, Dana absorbs herself in her education, spending less and less time with Kai.

Dana becomes a magician’s apprentice in a remote tower surrounded by vicious wolves.

She grows up with only one friend, Kai, whom no one else can see-except a mysterious stranger, who arrives in Dana’s drought-plagued village and buys her from her loving parents. Dana is born on a dark and stormy night, when fierce winds pelt her tiny farmhouse, and the midwife sees sparks in her sapphire eyes.

Beautiful elves, loyal dwarves, secret unicorns and vengeful ghosts pepper this colorful but hollow coming-of-age fairytale.

The valley of the wolves laura gallego garcía