Review by Frank Plowright

After his good friend Eddie dies Tristan Strong is sent to his grandparents’ farm in the hope a change of scenery may help the grieving process. He rapidly finds himself drawn into an alternate world populated by talking animals, and where supernatural threats are very real.

Kwame Mbalia’s bestselling novel reclaimed the African American legends co-opted by Joel Chandler Harris and known as the Uncle Remus stories, after the fictional narrator. Now controversial for use of racist terms, Mbalia’s updated version keeps some names and changes others while adding to the cast. John Henry now mixes with Brer Rabbit and the Gum Baby in a desperate new adventure in which the storytelling Spider-God Anansi also has a part. Mbalia mixes that with the horrors of slavery and Tristan being identified as an Anansenem, a powerful storyteller who may be key to repelling a renewed evil.

Without having read the original novel it’s not possible to say how faithful the adaptation is, but Robert Vendetti doesn’t waste much time transferring Tristan from the real world to the existence of MidPass. Once there an almost overwhelming amount of information is supplied to bring Tristan up to speed. Artist Olivia Stephens is the saving grace here, supplying otherworldly backgrounds, threatening creatures and an environment where a rabbit credibly walks alongside a man. The original novel features the visual metaphors well illustrated by Stephens, primarily the chains and shackles referred to as the Iron Monsters, mobile and deadly.

What proves beyond price is a book of stories Eddie compiled based on old legends. Tristan worked on it with him, and is the repository for memories that can free the shackled and influence others. As he encounters people he acquires mystical talismans, each of which empowers him further. However, he’s operating under a handicap picked up early on, and the tension hanging over a good adventure is whether he’ll succumb before the end.

The title remains puzzling. Tristan’s spectacular achievements are many, but there’s no punching holes in the sky. Otherwise, once over the initial info dump, the adventure is well paced and thrilling, leading to an unpredictable finish, and solidly incorporating Tristan’s own stories. It’s creative, energetic and different, so worth a look.

Tristan returns in Tristan Strong Destroys the World.