David Sala

(A copy was provided to read and review.)

Since childhood I love to hear fairytales, folktales, fables, legends, basically the whole lot and now, being a tiny bit older, I enjoy collecting interesting and unique ones from all over the world.

The Enchanted Chest stands out, the artwork is simply a must see.

A fisherman finds a beautiful chest in his fishing net, but struggles to open it.
While he is still battering the truly stunning trunk with his tools, one of the King's guards appears. He claims the still unopened item for the ruler of the land, who is a greedy character indeed.

Once the confiscated item is inside the palace and placed in front of the King, he has to agree, this sure looks like an amazing treasure trove, only it still is locked.
But try as he might, neither the Emperor himself nor his locksmith, strong man "I love breaking things", magician, alchemist, they all fail to break the lock. Finally, there's the advice from a young kitchen hand, maybe the lynx could help, as the animal can see through walls.
The animal is caught and she finds herself in front of the throne, but will the lynx succeed where all the others failed?

Now, here's the thing, everybody who loves fairytales, will probably by now expect a certain ending, and let's just say, at first, the lynx behaves accordingly, but the last page of the book and particularly the last sentence are quite a surprise. There's a twist I didn't see coming.

The author looks here at deception and that sometimes, not knowing the full truth or maybe not wanting to see the reality can still make us very happy, depending how we are prepared to deceive ourselves.

I hugely enjoyed reading the story, the writing flows nicely and is funny and the twist at the end, as mentioned before, I sure didn't see coming.
The illustrations are utterly beautiful and I agree with one of the reviews in the US, I also immediately was reminded of Gustav Klimt. David Sala's artwork is a total delight.

Five star shaped diamonds for The Enchanted Chest from me.… (mais)

Donkere tekeningen, waar het licht van een kaars in opgloeit, of soms opeens de banen van de zon transparant doorheen vallen. Een al even donker verhaal, waarin een onder druk gezette ketter haar tong afbijt en in naargeestige spelonken misvormde babylijkjes worden gevonden. Onsmakelijk, dacht ik eerst, maar ik was al snel gewonnen door de souplesse waarmee historische motieven ineen worden geweven: de concurrerende machten van vorst, bisschop en inquisiteur, de concurrerende spiritualiteit van christendom en de klassieke godin Diana. Tussendoor springen we naar de verre toekomst, waar zich op een aftands ruimteschip ook weer onverkwikkelijke taferelen afspelen en een jonge astronaut probeert te achterhalen wat zijn onbetrouwbare superieuren in hun schild voeren.… (mais)