In this review of The Autumn Kingdom: The Wraithbound Queen #2, Sommer continues the hunt for her father and sister, as Winter is taken to see the manager.
The Autumn Kingdom: The Wraithbound Queen #2
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Art and Main Cover: Christopher Mitten
Variant Covers: ITO, Max Dunbar
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: March 4, 2026
This review contains spoilers
The Autumn Kingdom: The Wraithbound Queen #2 starts off with Sommer continuing to strike down her opponents. She denies turning into a monster; she just wants her family back together.
Her sister, meanwhile, is being marched along by a group of fae, and she tries to fight back. But then she gets an idea: if she cuts her hand and leaves a trail of blood, maybe Sommer will find it and follow her. Unfortunately, as soon as the blood hits the ground, her escorts start to lick it up for themselves.
From there, she’s brought to the being in charge of this whole shebang. They tell her that she needs to let go of all of her anger and hate before her blood sacrifice can be viable.
Back with Sommer, she keeps on hunting. There’s another excerpt following Elsethriel’s journey through Hell, in a clear parallel to Sommer’s own. She also notices that her blade feels lighter.
Winter explains that she didn’t come there to harm anyone. The leader informs her that they know she’s not responsible for what happened to the Fae, she’s too young to have done the damage. But she’s still going to pay for what her ancestors did. And they know why she’s there, anyway, offering her something to make the sacrifice easier…
She knows that the “father” they’ve presented to her is an illusion, no matter how solid and huggable he may be. A similar illusion of her and Sommer’s mother appears beside him.
As Sommer continues her search, there’s a glowing figure materializing nearby, in much the same way as the illusions of her and Winter’s parents. However, this one changes into none other than Elsethriel herself…
Something I noticed first and foremost: the Fae language isn’t translated for human convenience. And that decision helps put the reader further into Sommer’s perspective. She also isn’t getting a translation of what they’re saying to her. It could be something to the effect of “Please stop killing us”, but at the same time, it could also be a vow to take her blood for the land. But somehow, her denial about being a monster feels like it may be a bit closer to the former.
A favorite element of The Autumn Kingdom: The Wraithbound Queen #2, for me, is probably the entire meeting with the leader of the Fae. Are they the King? Queen? It’s a bit ambiguous, but what is perfectly clear is that they’re rendered beautifully. There’s an otherworldly quality about them, and they’re surrounded by a cold white light. It pushes home that fact that the Fae aren’t outright malicious in the way of morality as humans know it. Rather, they have their own sort of way of it.
They outright explain that: “You didn’t personally screw us over…but your blood sacrifice is strongly encouraged.”. Fae morality being a bit different also explains why the intended blood trail was seen as a blood sacrifice. Some situations read strongly into intention, but the Fae are all about those Exact Words and technicalities. Because Winter intentionally dripped a bit of her very-much-human blood upon their land, they saw it as her sacrificing it, her own intentions be damned.
Very interested in the illusions they have around the realm, as well. Fairly often, illusions tend to not be corporeal. But the Fae realm…again, they’ve got their own rules. That the illusions are tangible makes them a bit more dangerous, as well. The more convincing an illusion is, the less likely someone targeted by one is to fight back.
The parallels between Sommer’s journey and that of Elsethriel continue, and now thanks to these illusions, their paths can intertwine in another way. No idea how long it’ll take Sommer to realize that this is an illusion she’s seeing (or if she’ll go through a brief phase of “Holy crap, she’s REAL!”), but I’m interested in seeing where this specific plot thread goes.
Final Thoughts
We see more of the Fae realm in The Autumn Kingdom: The Wraithbound Queen #2, as Sommer’s quest to find her father (and now her sister, as well) continues. This issue is a strong continuation of the journey, and sets up a few things I look forward to seeing play out.
