Elfquest : The Quest Begins

Elfquest Novelisations

by Wendy Pini, Richard Pini, Delfin Barral

When humans invade the Elfin land of the Wolfriders, Cutter begins a search for other elves who have been divided and persecuted like his own tribe in the hopes of uniting the elf domain. Reprint.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Comics

234 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Wendy Pini is one-half of a husband and wife team with Richard Pini that created, most notably, the Elfquest series.

Wendy was born in California and adopted into the Fletcher Family in Santa Clara County. Early on, she developed as an artist and was the illustrator of her high school year book. She submitted samples of her artwork to Marvel Comics at 17 that were rejected.

Pini attended Pitzer College and received her B.A. in the Arts and joined the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society.

In 1972, she married Richard Pini and began illustrating science fiction magazines, including Galaxy, Galileo, and Worlds of If. In 1977, Richard and Wendy established a publishing company called Warp Graphics to publish their first Elfquest comic. Elfquest was self-published for 25 years and in 2003, licensed to DC Comics. The comic series has won several awards, including the Ed Aprill Award for Best Independent Comic, two Alley Awards, the Fantasy Festival Comic Book Awards for Best Alternative Comic, and the Golden Pen Award.

Wendy has illustrated other works, including Jonny Quest in 1986, Law and Chaos in 1987, and in 1989, two graphic novels of Beauty and the Beast. Recently in 2007, she completed a graphic novel entitled The Masque of Red Death.

Wendy has received several awards over the last four decades, including the San Diego Comic Convention Inkpot Award, the New York State Jaycees Distinguished Service Award, the Balrog Award for Best Artist, and was inducted into the Friends of Lulu Women Cartoonists Hall of Fame in 2002.

Wendy and her husband currently reside in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Reviews

[Brenda Lee Carlson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry, but I consider this an L.I.E. -Lost Interest Easily kind of book.

[Axel Wolfgang · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book ever written. It is a shame that it is no longer produced.

[Lars Hellberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very different in style compared to the first book. Still, good quality fantasy. I would have liked to see the story go a bit deeper than the comic.

[Timothy McNeil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really more of a dutiful re-telling of the graphic novel (with surprisingly little description of the elves themselves), The Quest Begins doesn't expand and enrich the ElfQuest tale or the World of Two Moons as The Journey to Sorrows End does. Surprisingly, this novelization's only real success is in making Cutter and Skywise seem petulant and childish. Where it doesn't work is the (seeming) contradiction of individual Wolfrider's ages with the rest of the greater story. (Granted, Wendy has been upfront about there being some inconsistencies in the tale in general, but having Strongbow be older than Bearclaw was a hard one to take sitting down.)
Still an enjoyable tale, but knowing that the novels truncate the Quest robs this volume of its real power――which is to set up the dangers of the world and the battle against Guttlekraw――and leaves the reader wondering if this travelog is worth the while.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It really is to bad that this book didn't feel like it added much in addition to the comics. I really like the anthology collections because I feel they really add to the world and this just didn't.

And this does feel like it is in contrast to the canon of the comics. But that may just be an issue with consistency within the series in general.

There were less description in this one in comparison to the previous book which was to it's benefit since the descriptions caused me issues in the last book because they didn't seem to match super well with the drawings in the comic.

Unlike the book prior this did not have illustrations in it. Which was disappointing as I felt like that added to the other book.

[Eunice Korczak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. It is a book for young people and I think young people would be more enthusiastic about it than I. I enjoy reading about elves and I like the idea of various types of elves existing in the same world - some ride wolves and are night-loving wood elves and some are sand elves who love the sun. There are hints of bird riders and others. I think this series may be worth reading just to be introduced to the various elves.

[John Kawaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read the comics, I read this book anyways because I wanted some extra details in the story, which this book gave me. I love reading everything Wendy and Richard Pini writes because how great they are at storytelling. Great job on this book!

[Wendy]

(found read date in diary)