Fairy Tail, Vol. 1

From Publishers Weekly Mashima ( Rave Master ) is back with a brand new series about the juvenile delinquents of wizardry and magic, set in a mythical world of small towns, steam engines and horse-drawn carts, where magic is mainstream, young wizards follow glossy magazines that profile popular wizard guilds and everyone has hidden magical abilities. Fire-eating wizard Natsu initiates young and sexy Lucy, a celestial wizard, into his oddball guild, Fairy Tail. Soon we meet the womanizing Loke; the ice wizard Gray Fullbuster, who is often found wandering around in just his boxers; and the heavy-drinking Cana, who is never far from a barrel of wine. It's goofy fun and playful troublemaking—minus any sort of criminal element. Mashima sets a careful balance between showing the Fairy Tail wizards' troublemaking mentality while still establishing that the heart of each wizard is the heart of a hero. With a violence that harks back to the Looney Tunes where all combatants suffer heavy blows but always come out alive, albeit with some scratches, the story is more akin to Bugs Bunny than Harry Potter. But fans of both will be pleasantly entertained. The first two volumes of this series are being released simultaneously. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From School Library Journal Grade 7 Up–Lucy is a wizard who's looking to join the Fairy Tail Guild, which is famous for its members' out-of-control antics. When she meets Natsu, she never imagines that he's really Salamander of Fairy Tail. He spends much of his time as an ordinary guy who suffers from severe motion sickness in trains, boats, and even horse-drawn carriages. But when he taps into his magical abilities, he turns into an awesome fighter who uses fire to vanquish his enemies. By the end of the first volume, Lucy has joined the guild as well as Natsu and his flying cat as a team member. In the second volume, the team steals a magical book from the evil Duke Everlue and joins forces with Erza Scarlet to fight a guild that plans to use death-curse magic. Lucy and Natsu are the central figures in a large cast of characters, many of whom have unique abilities. Readers never see Erza's special skills in action, but it's clear that they involve lots of blood. The beings summoned by Lucy from the celestial spirit world are often temperamental and sometimes politically incorrect. The humor is often jaw-droppingly funny, meaning that the characters' jaws drop so low and so often that they look like something out of a Tex Avery cartoon. The illustrations are lively and keep the stories moving briskly. Each volume is filled with magic and humor and ends with a suspenseful cliff-hanger that will draw readers into the rest of the series. –Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.