William of Newbury

Oeming follows The Mice Templar with another anthropomorphic animal adventure wrapped inside a vivid historical horror story. In a 12th-century England fractured by civil war and inhabited by walking and talking beasts, raccoon monk William uses the power of his faith to put supernatural threats to rest. He appeases the lonely spirit of a woman’s dead husband, a tormented ghostly chaplain, and soul-stealing fairies. The head of the monastery disapproves of these otherworldly activities, but Winnie, a spunky mouse thief, is sufficiently impressed to reform and become William’s apprentice. “A lost soul often looks for another lost soul, Winnie,” William warns. “And when I look around this world, that’s all I see.” Oeming’s boldly inked, deeply shadowed artwork owes an unmistakable debt to Mike Mignola’s Hellboy series but with visual touches inspired by the era’s illuminated manuscripts and woodcut illustrations. Readers are immersed in a medieval European’s perspective on a demon-haunted world where skeletons fly and biblically accurate angels (many-eyed and wielding swords) might descend at any moment. The well-researched historical details include such plot points as the unsolved mystery of the Green Children of Woolpit. This deserves a place on every fantasy reader’s shelf. (Jan.)