The War at Ellsmere – Review
“You have to read The War at Ellsmere“, “Oh my god, The War at Ellsmere is soooo good!” That’s what I’ve been hearing for the past two weeks. So, excitedly, I read The War at Ellsmere. And, well, it’s good. Not great. Not groundbreaking but cute. Maybe it’s me. Or maybe it’s the hype. Because I remember this happening with a little book called Twilight. I was super excited to read that book and by all accounts I should have loved it. Instead, I found myself bored about a third of the way in. That’s kind of my reaction to The War at Ellsmere. I should love it. I love boarding school stories. I love teenage fighting. I just didn’t get into it as much as I wanted it.
I don’t think any of this is necessarily the fault of the creator Faith Erin Hicks. Certainly her artwork suited the story. It’s in the same vein as Scott Pilgrim but feels more real and her character’s expression have more depth. She does a good job of making her readers care about these characters, especially the quirky, shy Cassie. Unfortunately, the characters are more like caricatures. Every stock character from every 80s movie I’ve ever seen is there. The spunky poor outsider, the evil rich princess, the shy kid, the henchmen. I think Hicks is aware of this and plays it up; the rich girls actually calls her conformist friends “minions”. But the fact still remains that they don’t ever get fully developed.
Part of it is probably me. In these types of stories I’m almost always on the villain’s side. Am I twisted? I just see their point of view and they get the best lines. I admire the villain’s sense of herself and what she thinks she deserves. Sure it’s mean and misguided but charming. The underdog always ends up annoying me. There was an episode of 30 Rock recently where a grown up Liz Lemon realizes that she wasn’t the snappy geeky kid she thought she was, rather she was a highschool bully. Jun reminds me of that – a highschool geek bully. Is that any better than the rich bully? Of course, Jun’s bulling is done in the name of justice and somehow, that makes me even more annoyed with it. I know, I am not a good reader.
Then there’s the ending…which…whatever. I don’t want to put out any spoilers but I’ll ask this of those who have read it – do you believe it? Do you think it was real?
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