Malice in Ovenland

A cute, gross, and, endearing romp through a fantastical world behind an oven. Lilly's heroic journey reminded me of the comic series, Princeless by Jeremy Whitley. With art and a storyline appropriate for the pre-teen crowd and an empowered female protagonist, I could see this being a great addition to any library's juvenile graphic art collection.

What I enjoyed most about Malice in Ovenland were the homages to other great works of children's literature. The obvious one, of course, is to Alice in Wonderland but I also caught shades of the Lord of the Rings in the poem included at the end of Chapter 1. The moment that Crumb comes to visit Lilly in the dungeon reminded me of when Taran met Gurgi in the Black Cauldron. The Queen's advisor, named Crispodemus, reminded me of Nicodemus the rat from the classic children's story, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O'Brien. (One of my all time favorites, by the way) And finally, The Royal Rangers reminded me of the Beagle Boys from Duck Tales- bumbling, minimally intelligent thugs.

Malice in Ovenland would be a great title for a reluctant reader or a reluctant eater! The story, in addition to the adventure, teaches kids to not be afraid to try new things. It's a message that can't given enough. The humor is mainly gross-out or potty related (think the moment that Lilly escapes the dungeon) but, as a mother of a soon-to-be-10 year old, that’s exactly where her humor is at right now. It’s the perfect range for the audience that it is seeking.

Cute and gross in the best possible way. Lily is an endearing character and the premise is somewhat unique. I think I can recommend this to my students for sure. The drawing are detailed and the characters are well done.

Schoolgirl in NYC has to stay home and do chores over vacation while all her friends go do fun stuff. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she has to put up with her mom’s organic food—even has to trek to water the garden—and then her mom goes away; is it legal to leave a kid that young alone? But she perseveres and does as told, getting everything done until the last item: clean the oven. A creature steals her earring and it’s all Alice in Wonderland, greasy style, from there.
There are some great lines in here, like “Now I know how a French fry feels.” There’s a poem called “The Day the Grease Stopped Flowing.” I knew organic food was bad for you! The Ovenland crest has crossed spatulas under a plate of bacon. . . I want one.
“Ahem!” Never seen a ghost beg for attention.
The protagonist talks out loud rather than thinking it—that’s a bit annoying, but thankfully corrected midway. The “Lily Ma’am” thing pops out every once in a while and it always makes me chuckle. She somehow manages to turn a giant roach into a puppy. There’s even a reference to Pizza Rat.
Don’t really buy the ending; maybe she likes the food now, but the chores?
6 pages of bonus art, including a cover that would have been better than the one they used. Never thought I would say this sentence, but there’s a cover of Lily “riding the roach,” and no, that’s not a euphemism.
All in all, fun enough for kids, though maybe too gross for the younger ones.
3.5 pushed to 4/5

Cute, updated urban take on Alice through the looking glass, although I don't think this author was hallucinating quite as much as Lewis Carroll. My chief criticism would be that the characters of oven land were fairly one dimensional and predictable -and they all looked alike. I suppose there is only so much you can do with grease but a bit more differentiation as well as perhaps another group of characters or two would have been very beneficial. Nevertheless, an enjoyable story with good art, my qualification notwithstanding. I recommend it.

I would highly recommend this book. It kept my daughter thoroughly engrossed. A novel updated version of Alice in wonderland. With enough humour for both of us making entertaining to read aloud.

Good art and storyline, but pedantic.

Utterly delightful! I like the nod to classic children books, and the message is obvious and narrowly escapes being preachy. Mostly because after the roam through the very squishy and greasy Ovenland makes my stomach curl a little as well. It's also lovely to see a young POC as the main character.

This was such a pleasure to read! It was a cute and clever story, incorporating literary references and morals with humour, told through balanced narration and bright, bold art.

Lilly was a wonderful, dynamic main character and her narration, commentary about her situation and journey through the story was a lot of fun to follow. The supporting cast provided good interactions too, and the one that befriended Lilly were sweet and complemented the story nicely.

A lot of the humour didn't really work for me, but I'm out of the target audience in that respect and still thoroughly enjoyed it regardless. The story is aimed at pre-teens but is something that adults can enjoy too.

Both the writing and art suited the story and flowed well; the pacing was steady and easy to keep up with. Some of the narration and speech bubbles were a bit bulky and could possibly have done with being split up more, but this was minor and didn't take anything away from the overall story.

I'd very much recommend this lovely story. I'll be picking up a hard copy when it comes out and likely the next volume too.

Lilly Brown, stuck at home for the summer while her friends are away on vacation, is left alone by her mother with a list of chores to get done over the weekend.

While trying to recover her earring from inside the oven, Lilly falls through a tunnel and arrives in an underground kingdom whose sentient beings, the "Oven Frites," revere grease as a life-giving substance.

At the time of Lilly's arrival, the kingdom is in crisis; its essential grease supply has ceased. (Above-ground, Lilly's mother had replaced their fried-food diet with healthier fruits and vegetables.)

From start to finish, I had a lot of fun reading Malice in Ovenland. It combines a fast-paced storyline, humorous details and entertaining characters.

I think young readers will be able to relate to Lilly as a strong and resourceful protagonist, and the icky, goopy details of a grease-revering kingdom seem sure to captivate their interest.

Great story, loved the diversity. I can't wait to read more from this spunky character.

In middle school, I was one of those kids going through all the adventure books the library had to offer. From the The Famous Five to kid detectives to opening that wardrobe, I loved it all and then had fun with my friends digging holes, running away from imaginary bad guys and hidden doorways. After that, a lot of “grown-up” books were a disappointment to me at first until I learned to embrace speculative fiction and started to consider other topics exciting as well. But this is a very long-winded way of saying that I still am that kid looking for adventure stories and when I heard about Malice in Ovenland, I knew I had to give it a go. And yes, middle-grade books still deliver the same fun and no, I did not try to explore behind my kitchen oven, cause that would be weird. (it was very dusty!)

Malice in Ovenland is a middle-grade comic by Micheline Hess and published by Rosarium. The first volume introduces fierce young, Black Lilly Brown, who does not get to spend her summer at camp like her friends but instead has to take care of her mother’s organic garden and a list of other chores. Already, and with adult eyes, I find this positioning important: Lilly lives with her mom and loves fast food but her mother has chosen to grow organic food to take care of her daughter and herself and Lilly also has responsibilities that she might not enjoy but takes care of nonetheless. This is not your spoiled middle-class kid and I love this glimpse of Lilly’s mother. And then, when Lilly attempts to clean the oven she tumbles into Ovenland, like Alice once fell into Wonderland.

How fantastic are those colors and especially that last panel!? I love all the details like the cracked glasses and the horribly-green Bleh! Now in Ovenland, Lilly is locked into the dungeon, meets a queen and finds a kingdom in crisis over the lack of incoming grease. Yup people, if you’re going organic, make sure you’re not cutting off the kingdom behind your oven!

Lilly is everything I’ve always wanted from a heroine in an adventure story and I was in turns delighted and grossed out with her. There is a lot of monologuing going on initially but keep on reading it’ll get better and I did not find the message overly preachy, so hopefully middle-graders won’t either. I think there is a lot of potential in this story and I look forward to future volumes and Micheline Hess’ next project. I wish I’d had more female characters of color to look up to when I was younger, especially ones so visually present as in comics, and Malice in Ovenland totally delivers. It makes me want to get some kids from somewhere just to push this comic on them. And since I don’t have and don’t want kids, this is high praise indeed.

Malice in Ovenland Vol.1 will be out August 31, get it for your kids and your inner child! Also make sure to check out Rosarium Publishing here, they specialize in multicultural speculative fiction, comics, and a touch of crime fiction.