In our review of The Autumn Kingdom: The Wraithbound Queen #4, the girls fight to bring their father home. But there may be more to the human vs fae conflict than initially stated.
The Autumn Kingdom: The Wraithbound Queen #4
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Art and Main Cover: Christopher Mitten
Variant Cover: Grim Wilkins
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: May 6, 2026
This review contains spoilers
Sommer and Winter, as The Autumn Kingdom: The Wraithbound Queen #4 kicks off, rush toward the Blood Fields. Sommer tells her sister to go for their dad while she holds off the guards, but Winter’s met with quick opposition. Seeing this, Sommer tosses the sword to her for a moment.
It’s at this point that we get another glimpse of Elsethriel’s story. In the story, rather than the initial plan of killing her sister once she’s found her again, she arms her so they can fight their way out of Hell together.
In reality, the sisters continue their fight. One of the fae soldiers tells them that they don’t want a fight with the humans and that there’re darker forces pushing them into the conflict. Winter shows mercy, sparing this soldier, as a guard attacks the girls.
Their dad snaps back to reality around then, realizing that his daughters are there, and that they could use some backup. And so, he rallies his fellow humans to go help them fight. During the battle, Sommer and Winter decide that they’re freeing not just their dad, but all of the humans that’d been trapped there.
They reunite with their father, finally, and Sommer asks him how Elsethriel’s story ends. He states that her ending is much like Sommer’s: it hasn’t happened, and her story will continue on.
They head out the way the sisters came in, when Sommer notices a couple things: a statue with blood running from its wrist, and that the sword is still heavy and there’re enemies nearby, still. She elects to head back in, despite the protests of her family, and finds the soldier Winter had spared, asking about those aforementioned darker forces.
There’s some definite catharsis to the fact that the girls finally achieved their goal. Though I am wondering just what this whole ordeal did to Sommer’s mind. She’s the only one that sees the statue at the end. She’s been wielding this sword for the vast majority of the trip. It’s felt like the sword’s been making her bloodthirsty. During a few of the fights she’s been in, she’s taken on a somewhat homicidal grin, particularly at the end, here, where she asks about those darker forces.
Speaking of her and those darker forces, I do wonder if there will be a third Autumn Kingdom volume. The first involved them setting off on their quest, whereas this one focused on completing said quest. With a third one, it feels like it’d follow Sommer’s further adventures in the fae realm.
I also enjoy the fact that those parallels between Elsethriel and Sommer aren’t lost on their father, either. He’d created Elsethriel and her world and story, in addition to being Sommer and Winter’s father. The character and her sister, as I’d pointed out before, look a bit like the sisters, themselves. It’s outright stated that both Elsethriel’s and Sommer’s stories would continue, though he probably isn’t too thrilled about the direction Sommer took with her own plotline.
One thing I like about the artwork here in The Autumn Kingdom: The Wraithbound Queen #4 is the body language when the girls reunite with their dad, especially Winter. Even without getting a good look at the facial expressions, the relief at each of them being okay after all of this is easy to see. She buries her face into him during that initial embrace, probably not wanting to let go.
Final Thoughts
Bloody and a bit cathartic, The Autumn Kingdom: The Wraithbound Queen #4 brings this chapter to a satisfying close, while still leaving room for more.
