The war between the Fables is over, and the Manhattan exiles and their allies, led by the late Prince Charming (a heroic war casualty) and Bigby Wolf, have defeated the empire run by power-behind-the-throne Geppetto. Lacking leadership, the empire balkanizes, and suddenly out-of-work mercenaries are thrown back on their own fortune-hunting resources. Big Freddy and wee Mouse find a real treasure trove but unleash a long-bound evil spirit that binds them to its service and magically rouses such other long-bound baddies as, beneath Fabletown in the Apple, Baba Yaga. Soon it's obvious that the war's victors have successfully jumped from a frying pan only to be plummeting into a potential holocaust. This transition to a new, multi-arc story line proves more satisfying than its immediate, war-wrap-up predecessor, not least because its prologue is winsomely drawn by Michael Allred; a shorter, complementary arc dynamically by Peter Gross; and its epilogue with droll nonchalance by David Hahn. Not that there's anything wrong with series regular Mark Buckingham's work here, either.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2009 Booklist