Princeless: Save Yourself

Interesting, if a bit heavy handed on the gender politics. Nice twist on standard 'princess' tale tropes.

reread: still a fun, wish fulfilment romp. Several cute background sight gags that I'd completely forgotten about/missed the first time.

Cutely done version of fairly first-wave feminist tropes (see title), including the sensitive bad-fighter prince who’s the twin of the scrappy princess, locked up as a prize for the first prince who can defeat her dragon (spoiler: they can’t). The main humans are people of color, with a few

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weedy white princes and a half-dwarf girl and a greenish elf for contrast. It’s got a superficially strong message, but something [personal profile] astolat said to me once kept coming back to me, about how narratives that prioritize the single strange female rebel (or even the duo, once we get to the half-dwarf girl) reinforce the idea that female strength has to be fought for, instead of presumed to exist. Sometimes you want more from your fantasy. OTOH, as part of a broader diet, this is pretty cute.

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Excellent all-ages book. The eleven-year-old and I loved pretty much everything about it: the dragon* and tower setup, hair issues, diverse cast, kick-assery, and the extensive discussion of armor. I am ready to read the entire series and will probably give it as a Christmas gift to everyone I can

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think of. Probably just the thing for Zita fans who want to branch into fantasy.

* Looks like a luck dragon to me.

Library copy

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Princess Adrienne is tired of being locked in a tower, waiting around to be rescued by a prince. She escapes from the tower with the help of her guardian dragon, Sparky, and with her plucky sidekick Bedelia, Adrienne sets off on a quest to rescue her sisters who are suffering the same fate.

Favorite part = 3: On Sexism in the Armor Industry

BEHOLD, THE WOMEN WARRIORS COLLECTION!

Hysterical, and totally kicks the fairy tale trope of the-Prince-needs-to-save-the-Princess right in the balls.

This is a fun and witty story of a young princess with a feminist bent. It had me laughing out loud and is a great and quick read. I'll be picking up other volumes.

Cute series that upends the usual sexism of fairy-tale princesses, this is the story of a princess who sets out to save herself and her sib. The writing and art could be a bit tighter, but in general it's a great story and fun.

Great read and reaffirming for girls by breaking out of that princess role. As the father of a young girl, I'm definitely going to be getting a copy of this to save for her to read in about 8-10 years; hope the series continues to be as strong and fun as this start.

I enjoyed the concept, but would recommend "Ladycastle" above this.

This series had been recommended at Book Riot Live as a great book to give kids as a part of advancing We Need Diverse Books. I'd had an eye out for it ever since, looking for it at book stores but never finding it. I finally got around to putting it on my hold list at the library.

Adrienne is a

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fun, fierce protagonist, even if she sometimes feels like a paper doll made of "rah, rah, girl power!" But I like her relationship with her dragon, and when she meets Bedelia, the blacksmith's daughter, there is a fantastic bit about women's armor. It's almost too much that Adrienne's brother is weak and weepy, but since it's mentioned that this is a change that has come on in the last month, I'm sure there will be a story behind it in time.

When I remind myself both that this is a book intended for middle-grade readers and that this first volume has a lot of world building and character establishment to do, I'm pretty happy with it. I also find it interesting that while the ruling family is black, the only acknowledgement of racism in the book world is some anti-dwarf sentiment. I'm hoping he goes somewhere interesting with that.

Promising enough that I bought a copy for Jefferson's classroom for my We Need Diverse Books challenge. And bought volumes 2&3 for Jefferson.

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Princeless Volume 1 I did not expect to like this one nearly as much as I did. I figured it was a cute concept with a WOC as a main character and as royalty, which was an especially nice touch, but I did not anticipate the awesomeness. There's just too much to love here.
It got me right at the

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beginning when she was yelling at her parents about ever putting her in a tower with a dragon. Then the story started to play out and I just...

It looks all I-just-want-to-kill-the-helpless-princess-trope at the beginning and then the feminism with all kinds of intersections just gets on everything. I mean, she even calls out her prince for calling her fair when she's a black princess. Then it goes on to call out all sorts of feminist things like this: 

then there's catcalling and so much other fun stuff and it's just volume 1! I read the first chapter to my son and he really enjoyed it, asking for the second and then the third. We had to stop there because it was bedtime but you get the picture. It's not just fun for girls. I now have plans to binge through the rest just as soon as I finish the book I just got from the library. Okay, I'm just kidding. The boy liked it enough that we may binge through together for a while.

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Sometimes makes the mistake of telling, not showing, the awesome feminist/girl-power take on fantasy tropes. But it's so good that I'm not complaining.

Sweet baby jeebus in the manger, I loved this like nobody's business. I was raised on fairy tales and Disney movies and I still love them but, let's face it, they aren't exactly a treasury of strong women and female empowerment. (There are the exceptions—like Gretel—who use their brains to save

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themselves, but they are few and far between.) I am at once sad that I came to this so late, and glad because it means I have many volumes already out and available. Princeless is smart and funny and calls out every cliche of both princess stories (Towers! "Rescues"!) and "women warrior" stories (Those costumes!), but in a way that is more affectionate than snarky (though there is still a large amount of snark). Is it perfect? No. Is anything? Also no. But, sweet godsdamn, I want to give this to every little girl who dresses up as Cinderella for Halloween (or for no reason at all) or whose earliest reading days were spent with the Rainbow Fairies or who has ever uttered the words "girls can't..." Yes they can. Yes they absolutely fucking can.

Um, okay. I may have loved this a little more than I normally would have because I sooooo needed it right now. Probably a lot of us need it right now.

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This needs to be a movie. It reminded me some of Zita the Spacegirl with characters that managed to be even more loveable. I've got the second one on request and am ordering these for my library's collection straight away.

I had pretty high expectations for this book based on how much I loved the sampler I read. But... wow! This volume took my breathe away. Amazing! I'm actually stunned by how perfect it is. It's almost like a Saga #1 for kids.

I love the artwork, loved the characters, and loved the story. Everyone

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should read this graphic novel. Hilarious and appropriate for all ages. I wish I had read this when I first got into comics (it could have saved me some time from despairing over stereotypical, two-dimensional female characters that are so characteristic of many comics).

This book is clever and creative. I love that Adrienne is a female hero without having to emphasize that she is still a female by prancing around in a ridiculous outfit or baring cleavage to compensate for other "masculine" traits (both of which are made fun of in the book, adding to it's awesomeness).

I cannot emphasize how perfect this book is. A must read for all comic fans, especially younger audiences and those just starting to get into comics.

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Great read and reaffirming for girls by breaking out of that princess role. As the father of a young girl, I'm definitely going to be getting a copy of this to save for her to read in about 8-10 years; hope the series continues to be as strong and fun as this start.