The Plague Widow

Gr 9 Up—This offering is being promoted as "The most brutal Northlanders story to date," and that's saying something, since the previous titles were filled with swearing, violence, and bloodshed, as well as some remarkable writing about a period rarely covered in graphic novels. The Plague Widow, set in 1020 in Russia, takes place in a remote Viking settlement near the Volga River that closes itself off from the rest of the world to try to protect its people from a plague outbreak. But before they lock their gates, they force all of the infected people outside of the settlement and proceed to kill them. The book then follows the intertwining stories of several memorable and well-drawn characters whose lives are changed or destroyed by the plague. Fernandez's illustrations are exceptionally well done, his brown-and-green pages frequently stained with red. Each book in the series can stand on its own, but readers who are captivated by this one will definitely want to get the earlier titles.—Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library