An oddly sweet and sad graphic novel about a clockwork fairy and her search for independence in a bleak present. The story curls up on itself and ends in her past. When I noticed how many years it took the artists to complete the work, I felt strange having read it in under an hour. (October 15, 2005) ( )

An original fairy tale about a 300-year-old clockwork fairy who relies on a human protector to keep ticking and preserve her memories. After her latest human dies, Voegelin (Little Bird, in German) tries to find another person to wind her. In the process she encounters a "real" fairy, who takes an instant dislike to this human-made machine fairy. The drawings in this graphic novel are fine and detailed, the characters more than mere sketches. The arcane bits of folklore -- German, Irish, Romany -- are explained in endnotes. (This isn't the first graphic novel I've read with notes that embellish and explain the work, but I wonder how many readers in the target audience take the time to read them or notice they are there before they reach the end of the book.) ( )

Vogelein is a clockwork fairy. She was created in Germany hundreds of years before by a master clock maker - she is made of metal and she must be wound at least every 36 hours. Vogelein's present Guardian is Jacob, a war veteran who saved her from the rubble of her last Guardian's house in Paris, and who brought her back to America to live with him. But Jacob has died, and Vogelein is desperate to find someone new who can wind her up, so that she can continue to exist. On her quest Vogelein meets two new humans and a real fairy - but only one of them Vogelein's best interests at heart. This is richly illustrated graphic novel.