Genre Character of the Week: Max the Wolf

This weekend I read the 2011 novel Down the Mysterly River by Bill Willingham (of Fables fame), and was introduced to it's plucky hero, a Boy Scout called Max "the Wolf" who also happens to be something of a detective.

Max awakens in a strange forest, similar, but definitely not the forest of his home town, and although he begins his experience alone he quickly finds a number of animals, that can talk.

Travelling with a badger, a barn cat, and a bear, Max has to elude strange hunters called the Blue Cutters and try to figure out where on earth he is and how to get home.

One of the neatest things about the book for me was it took a pretty familiar story (the plot shares more than a few twists and turns with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), added a boy detective (not unlike Encyclopedia Brown), and took me on quite a fun little adventure.

The supporting characters are great, the villains get more back story than I tend to expect in children's fiction and the main character, Max, is just one of those great kids you find in fiction that you just want to cheer for as they make their way through the story.

A great read.