The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M.T. Anderson

Not me, sir… I always cut off your people’s hands right at the wrist.”) Also, in the epistolary sections about Ysoret Clivers, Clivers describes having several of his fingers cut off for failing to accomplish the Elf King’s orders (and a fake blood splatter appears on one page). When most goblins took elfin prisoners, the cut their arms off at the elbow. Regibald du Burgh discusses cutting elves’ arms off at the wrist during the war (he says, “I myself was very gentle with the elves during the war. However, these never actually occur and are usually prevented at the last second by the characters’ daring or cleverness. The book is set against the background of a war between elves and goblins, and Spurge and Werfel are threatened by goblins at several points with beheading, stabbing, or similar violent acts.

This book has no concerning language or sexual content to speak of, and the only real concern for readers and parents is its relatively frequent mentions of violence. The book ends on a note of hope, with Spurge realizing that the goblins and elves are actually two different branches of the same people, not two entirely different groups Spurge and Werfel decide to share this information with both nations in an effort to reconcile them. In the end, the device destroys both armies, underscoring the negative effects of the two groups’ hatred for each other while also laying the foundation for a more peaceful future. The war ultimately results in a catastrophe brought about by the elves themselves in an effort to destroy the goblins with a magical device.

This dissonance is played out in the background of the ongoing conflict between the elves and goblins, which appears increasingly senseless as the book progresses. On the other hand, the narrative sections where Werfel shows Spurge around Tenebrion depict the goblins as generally good-natured and remarkably cultured. The images are meant to represent reports about the goblins which Spurge (a somewhat unreliable image-narrator) sends back to the elves, and because of this, they are colored by his prejudiced perspective and depict the goblin city as full of monsters and savages.

What makes this book unique is that the graphic-novel portions tell an entirely different story from the narrative sections- essentially two different stories (or perspectives on the same story).

The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M.T. Anderson