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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
I am so glad that my friend Maria shared this title with me. Adrienne of Princeless is so kick butt (and definitely is right up there with all of the girls on the Girl Power Middle Grade list from the Nerdy Book Club). She is an atypical princess who not only doesn't want to be prime and proper and she definitely doesn't want to be swept off of her feet by Prince Charming. She wants to be in control of her own life, but that is hard when your parents have locked you in a tower guarded by a dragon waiting to be rescued by her "true love". And MAN! she takes the bull, well dragon actually, by the horns.
I think this graphic novel will be a great transition book for girls who have not read any graphic novels or comics yet, but enjoy fantasy books. I cannot wait to share it with my students (and I've already passed it along to a friend to read). I am so glad my friend Maria introduced me to this series.
I think this graphic novel will be a great transition book for girls who have not read any graphic novels or comics yet, but enjoy fantasy books. I cannot wait to share it with my students (and I've already passed it along to a friend to read). I am so glad my friend Maria introduced me to this series.
very cute, very fun. wish it was written by a woman, but it is illustrated by one. so that's something!
Just what I was looking for from this! A fun, feminist send up of misogynistic fairy tale and superhero tropes. Although the plots/styles are different, it gave me the same delight I get from Lumberjanes.
I really should read more comics! They are so fun, but of course I have no idea how to review them. And there might be a spoiler or two in here.
Adrienne was so cool! Already on the first page she showed of her snark when she told her mother that the Rapunzel story had plotholes. Not to mention asked why all the princesses are fair and blonde...
Anyway, sorry Adrienne, your parents still put you in a stupid tower with a dragon to guard you. But she is one cool woman and she breaks free. And she questions why women has to be saved, they can save themselves just as well. Not to mention why can only men rule? And as we see later, why can only men be blacksmiths when his daughter is the one doing the actual work?
First, I must mention a sidestory that showed up. One of the princes who was sent to rescue her. I liked his insight. He was drilled to be charming, but poor guy, he needed someone to save him too. But no one saves a prince ;)
All in all. Great pics, drawn well, I do not how to say it. Smashing illustrations guys! Fun story, snarky and good. I'd totally read more.
Adrienne was so cool! Already on the first page she showed of her snark when she told her mother that the Rapunzel story had plotholes. Not to mention asked why all the princesses are fair and blonde...
Anyway, sorry Adrienne, your parents still put you in a stupid tower with a dragon to guard you. But she is one cool woman and she breaks free. And she questions why women has to be saved, they can save themselves just as well. Not to mention why can only men rule? And as we see later, why can only men be blacksmiths when his daughter is the one doing the actual work?
First, I must mention a sidestory that showed up. One of the princes who was sent to rescue her. I liked his insight. He was drilled to be charming, but poor guy, he needed someone to save him too. But no one saves a prince ;)
All in all. Great pics, drawn well, I do not how to say it. Smashing illustrations guys! Fun story, snarky and good. I'd totally read more.
It's super awesome that a comic exists which is specifically trying to combat stereotypes about race and gender. I feel like I should own a copy just because it's so historical in the way that it goes about these issues (which is actually ultimately pretty sad).
It's even more awesome that it's printed in full color, illustrated engagingly and with skill, and is seriously fun to read!
Adrienne is sick of being stuck in her tower, and she doesn't understand why she's there in the first place. So she decides to rescue herself. There's an extended scene in this first volume where she's picking out armor that fits which plays with the ridiculousness of typical battle gear for women in comic books.
Honestly I feel like the snuggly anthropomorphized dragon is pushing it a little bit. And this pushed this content line a little further than I was expecting it to. But it was a pleasure to read, and at the end of the day, I've got one word for it:
Refreshing.
It's even more awesome that it's printed in full color, illustrated engagingly and with skill, and is seriously fun to read!
Adrienne is sick of being stuck in her tower, and she doesn't understand why she's there in the first place. So she decides to rescue herself. There's an extended scene in this first volume where she's picking out armor that fits which plays with the ridiculousness of typical battle gear for women in comic books.
Honestly I feel like the snuggly anthropomorphized dragon is pushing it a little bit. And this pushed this content line a little further than I was expecting it to. But it was a pleasure to read, and at the end of the day, I've got one word for it:
Refreshing.
Let's talk the positives that I'm not going to argue against.
Cool to have a likable, funny female protagonist. Who is also black. Points awarded. I think the character is heroic and also a screw-up. She doesn't have to be perfect, which is nice.
Okay. Let's talk about a couple other things.
There are ways in which the story is cool. A princess in a tower who escapes and heads off to rescue her similarly-trapped sisters. I'm into that.
Buuuut can we get to rescuing the sisters? Can we have some action?
The story kind of meanders around, and I think it's because we have to make sure and get the point across: Women in stories are treated like shit. We bumble through a battle with two dum-dum guard types, and we burn down a blacksmith store, but that's most of the action right there.
I wanna see this lady fight a Minotaur! Or a cyclops or some shit!
And I don't really need dialog that goes:
Young Armor Maker: "So, what you're saying is, just because a warrior is a woman doesn't mean they have to wear a chain mail bikini? Like, they could wear...real armor?"
or
Boy: "Couldn't a woman rule?"
King Jerk: "It is not a woman's place to rule, but to be ruled."
Speaking of this instance, a note:
The boy in question is the male twin of our protagonist. He cries, likes poetry and sucks at swordfighting. While I like the female empowerment of the book, I think the straight-up swapping of typical male/female roles between twin male and female characters is kinda...well, lazy. Just the way I like a female character who is a blend of traditional and non-traditional ideas of feminism (she can kick ass AND enjoy, I don't know, scrapbooking) I wouldn't mind seeing a more nuanced understanding of masculinity. A dude who cries doesn't necessarily suck at swordfighting, right? It feels like we just did a genitalia swap and called it a day, and that doesn't strike me as being terribly progressive. We just imprint a lady with dude stuff and a dude with lady stuff, and that to me just kind of reinforces the idea of what's male and what's female. A more blended approach would read as better to me.
Anyway, the message-y portion of the book is pretty ham-fisted, and ham is my least favorite of meats. I could go for getting this stuff a little more piecemeal while we're also DOING stuff.
That's the thing. Sometimes I'm disappointed by female-led comic books, and almost always that disappointment comes in that I feel like the actual stuff that's happening just doesn't amount to much. When we talk about a lady doing everything a dude can do but backwards and in heels, the hero, the person of interest, is the person dancing that dance, not the person who points out the difficulty of said backwards, inappropriately-shod dance. There's a place for this book, but my dream book is a book where the princess rescues herself and goes and rescues her sisters and STUFF HAPPENS.
I'm glad that comics go out of their way to make the point about female empowerment and how shittily female characters have been treated. And I'm so super ready for some female characters to start throwing punches and swinging swords already, for them to wear normal shit, and for them to act and let the larger, outside world of comicdom talk about what a breath of fresh air that is.
Let me say it a lot more concisely. This book asks the question, Why can't a princess save herself and other princesses instead of waiting for a man? I'm reading more comics where women question the status quo, and that I like. It's an awesome premise and a great question.
But what I really want is the answer to that question. The part where we do the stuff.
My heroes, male and female, aren't the ones that question the status quo. They're the ones who make apparent and undeniable how stupid it is to say "This or that person can't possibly kick ass" because THEY KICK SO MUCH ASS!!!!!!
You know, the first volume of a comic gets somewhat of a pass. It's like the pilot episode. They have to set shit up, and I get that. But my simple hope for this comic is that someone starts doing things pretty damn soon.
Oh, one other thing on a totally different topic...
Does everything in the realm of fantasy have to include:
+Medieval setting
+Swords
+Dragons
+Dwarves
+Kings
?
I went to my old high school pal, Cliff's Notes, for an answer on what fantasy is:
"Fantasy fiction is a genre of writing in which the plot could not happen in real life (as we know it, at least)."
Sooo that doesn't really prescribe, well, anything.
It's not entirely this book's fault. In fact, I think it's mostly the movie industry's fault. Every movie in the realm of fantasy seems to be guys with swords and boots running at each other across a field.
The stronger points of this book are the points in which the book kind of mocks the typical fantasy tropes. But that makes the occasional reliance on them all more prominent. Gentle dragon, plucky dwarf with mystical strength, swords out the ass.
I mean, are we getting orcs soon? How is it that people are just cool using orcs? Who invented orcs and why isn't that person more litigious? Where are the War Mummies and the enormous Battle Snails?
I'm just saying, it's a little disheartening that so many fantasy books use the same things when the entire world of possibility is wide the hell open.
Not really a slam on this book, but a question that needs to be asked and considered for the health and relevance of the fantasy genre.
Cool to have a likable, funny female protagonist. Who is also black. Points awarded. I think the character is heroic and also a screw-up. She doesn't have to be perfect, which is nice.
Okay. Let's talk about a couple other things.
There are ways in which the story is cool. A princess in a tower who escapes and heads off to rescue her similarly-trapped sisters. I'm into that.
Buuuut can we get to rescuing the sisters? Can we have some action?
The story kind of meanders around, and I think it's because we have to make sure and get the point across: Women in stories are treated like shit. We bumble through a battle with two dum-dum guard types, and we burn down a blacksmith store, but that's most of the action right there.
I wanna see this lady fight a Minotaur! Or a cyclops or some shit!
And I don't really need dialog that goes:
Young Armor Maker: "So, what you're saying is, just because a warrior is a woman doesn't mean they have to wear a chain mail bikini? Like, they could wear...real armor?"
or
Boy: "Couldn't a woman rule?"
King Jerk: "It is not a woman's place to rule, but to be ruled."
Speaking of this instance, a note:
The boy in question is the male twin of our protagonist. He cries, likes poetry and sucks at swordfighting. While I like the female empowerment of the book, I think the straight-up swapping of typical male/female roles between twin male and female characters is kinda...well, lazy. Just the way I like a female character who is a blend of traditional and non-traditional ideas of feminism (she can kick ass AND enjoy, I don't know, scrapbooking) I wouldn't mind seeing a more nuanced understanding of masculinity. A dude who cries doesn't necessarily suck at swordfighting, right? It feels like we just did a genitalia swap and called it a day, and that doesn't strike me as being terribly progressive. We just imprint a lady with dude stuff and a dude with lady stuff, and that to me just kind of reinforces the idea of what's male and what's female. A more blended approach would read as better to me.
Anyway, the message-y portion of the book is pretty ham-fisted, and ham is my least favorite of meats. I could go for getting this stuff a little more piecemeal while we're also DOING stuff.
That's the thing. Sometimes I'm disappointed by female-led comic books, and almost always that disappointment comes in that I feel like the actual stuff that's happening just doesn't amount to much. When we talk about a lady doing everything a dude can do but backwards and in heels, the hero, the person of interest, is the person dancing that dance, not the person who points out the difficulty of said backwards, inappropriately-shod dance. There's a place for this book, but my dream book is a book where the princess rescues herself and goes and rescues her sisters and STUFF HAPPENS.
I'm glad that comics go out of their way to make the point about female empowerment and how shittily female characters have been treated. And I'm so super ready for some female characters to start throwing punches and swinging swords already, for them to wear normal shit, and for them to act and let the larger, outside world of comicdom talk about what a breath of fresh air that is.
Let me say it a lot more concisely. This book asks the question, Why can't a princess save herself and other princesses instead of waiting for a man? I'm reading more comics where women question the status quo, and that I like. It's an awesome premise and a great question.
But what I really want is the answer to that question. The part where we do the stuff.
My heroes, male and female, aren't the ones that question the status quo. They're the ones who make apparent and undeniable how stupid it is to say "This or that person can't possibly kick ass" because THEY KICK SO MUCH ASS!!!!!!
You know, the first volume of a comic gets somewhat of a pass. It's like the pilot episode. They have to set shit up, and I get that. But my simple hope for this comic is that someone starts doing things pretty damn soon.
Oh, one other thing on a totally different topic...
Does everything in the realm of fantasy have to include:
+Medieval setting
+Swords
+Dragons
+Dwarves
+Kings
?
I went to my old high school pal, Cliff's Notes, for an answer on what fantasy is:
"Fantasy fiction is a genre of writing in which the plot could not happen in real life (as we know it, at least)."
Sooo that doesn't really prescribe, well, anything.
It's not entirely this book's fault. In fact, I think it's mostly the movie industry's fault. Every movie in the realm of fantasy seems to be guys with swords and boots running at each other across a field.
The stronger points of this book are the points in which the book kind of mocks the typical fantasy tropes. But that makes the occasional reliance on them all more prominent. Gentle dragon, plucky dwarf with mystical strength, swords out the ass.
I mean, are we getting orcs soon? How is it that people are just cool using orcs? Who invented orcs and why isn't that person more litigious? Where are the War Mummies and the enormous Battle Snails?
I'm just saying, it's a little disheartening that so many fantasy books use the same things when the entire world of possibility is wide the hell open.
Not really a slam on this book, but a question that needs to be asked and considered for the health and relevance of the fantasy genre.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Adrienne Ashe doesn’t want to wait for her prince to come rescue her. So, when she finds a sword under the bed in her tower, she decides to take things in hand and rescue herself – and her sisters.
“That story is complete hogwash. First of all … it’s full of plot holes.” When our grumpy princess starts her story with this line, I know I’m in for a fun ride! And it was awesome. I love the concept of the princess taking care of herself and finding strength inside. This is going to go places!
And the only reason I knocked it down a star is because, by the end of volume one, none of the sisters had been rescued yet. Now, with six sisters to save, I would think at least one of them would have been released. But, no. Lots of character development and groundwork was laid and I did like meeting her sidekick blacksmith and the loveable dragon. And, yes, I did go put volumes two through six on hold at my library. Volume Two had best bring some serious action though. Let’s put this promising princess in the trenches.
“That story is complete hogwash. First of all … it’s full of plot holes.” When our grumpy princess starts her story with this line, I know I’m in for a fun ride! And it was awesome. I love the concept of the princess taking care of herself and finding strength inside. This is going to go places!
And the only reason I knocked it down a star is because, by the end of volume one, none of the sisters had been rescued yet. Now, with six sisters to save, I would think at least one of them would have been released. But, no. Lots of character development and groundwork was laid and I did like meeting her sidekick blacksmith and the loveable dragon. And, yes, I did go put volumes two through six on hold at my library. Volume Two had best bring some serious action though. Let’s put this promising princess in the trenches.
Yes. If you are thinking about buying this book the answer is Yes. If you are thinking about reading this book the answer is Yes. Yes to this book and Yes to this series I can't wait to get my own copy and I especially can't wait to read more.
A princess locked in a tower guarded by a dragon put there by her father, and being rescued by a boy with more going on than you think. A great story with some not subtle references to popular video games (looking at you Elder Scrolls) Popular female heroes (yeah Red Sonya getting a nod) and fairy tales this graphic novel just really hit all my buttons for a great read. For girls fifth on up who like mixed up fairy tales and princesses rescuing themselves. The only part I didn't like was her reaction to the prince trying to save her. It was a lot more like bullying than standing up for yourself I hope this is addressed in later volumes.
A princess locked in a tower guarded by a dragon put there by her father, and being rescued by a boy with more going on than you think. A great story with some not subtle references to popular video games (looking at you Elder Scrolls) Popular female heroes (yeah Red Sonya getting a nod) and fairy tales this graphic novel just really hit all my buttons for a great read. For girls fifth on up who like mixed up fairy tales and princesses rescuing themselves. The only part I didn't like was her reaction to the prince trying to save her. It was a lot more like bullying than standing up for yourself I hope this is addressed in later volumes.