Not quite a whole story - well, this is the first issue of a graphic series. The art is lovely, the story is strong... but there's no one in the story that I like or much care about. Anne is an idiot - as she demonstrates by solving her problem with the owl on her own, after it's already caused serious, unalterable disruption in her life. The Royals are variously annoying - the princess is a brat, the princes are fools, the king is either an utter idiot or a lech - or both - and the queen is just foul. Francoise is also an idiot. Most of the townsfolk are dirty-minded and weak - fall into believing any gossip they hear. And the birds are pains. So while the story was mildly interesting, I find no reason to reread it or read the next issue - I don't care what happens to any of them.

The premise and storyline made no sense, the main character literally had no agency in her own storyline, the humor was stupid, and the entire thing stank of sexism and misogyny. No thank you.

Wanted to review this but my kindle doesn't support the file sorry!

Too farcical, silly and low brow for me. The first chapter was the entire royal family waiting to use the bathroom first thing in the morning until they couldn't hold it any longer. Anyway Anne the maid gets kicked out of the castle because the Queen is jealous so Anne starts her own tavern. Meh. The end.

I was hoping that I'd like this more than I did but I did still enjoy the quick read. I hoped for more from it and maybe that will come later in the series as this is just the very beginning of what could be a very cute story. There was some swearing, nothing too strong but it was there multiple times in the short story. Also, there are allusions to sex but the word is never even mentioned so it's very mild. There's one bar brawl but very little of it was shown. Simply because of the swearing, I'd have to say it's a teen book, but a young teen. Personally, I think if they took out the swearing, this would work really well as a story for kids. About the only thing I really enjoyed enough to mention was that Anne does start to find herself and become independent and I loved that part and that she does it on her own. Other than that, it was fairly mediocre but I'd give it another chance when more of the story is out.

I would like to thank the publisher, author, and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

'The Kingdom Vol. 1: Anne' by Benoît Feroumont is the first graphic novel in a series about the various characters that live in a fictional kingdom. I wasn't crazy about this entry in the series.

Anne works in the castle. She is afraid of spiders, so she hides in the king's bed. The queen isn't happy about this, so Anne must leave the castle. The king sets her up with an old crumbling building that she can turn into a tavern. She has encounters with blacksmiths, soldiers, neighbors and even members of the royal family. There is one mishap after another.

Anne is a good character and I did feel sympathy for this character who finds herself in the crossfires from different parties. I just didn't find it very funny. The drawing style kind of looks like animation, but the story with it's double entendre humor would seem not aimed at children. It's a title that has been translated and comes from another country. I suspect that there are some cultural mismatches that just missed for me.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

I'm really struggling to figure out my feelings about this graphic novel. The artwork is pretty and the characters were well drawn. Unfortunately, the best part about this book is the artwork.

The plot was irritating and lacking. You have Anne who is cast aside by the queen and given a tavern to open and run and that is basically the only part of the plot. The characters who looked amazing were simply flat. There was no depth nor character development when it came to this novel.

I will not be continuing on with this series.

The problem with this book is that the intended audience is not clear at all. The length combined with the artwork gives the book a very young feel but the subject matter is not for children.
I didn't love it, I think because I just didn't know what to make of it. It's not exactly well written. There were elements that were completely unclear and there was nothing that entices me to pick up the next volume.
I think there was potential here. I enjoyed the artwork and there were some things about the story that were interesting. Overall, I have no desire to continue with this series or even the author.

I'm beginning to think that I am losing something in translation, from the French. This graphic novel, the first volume of several more, is supposed to be funny. I'm not sure why it wasn't, or why my humor did not kick in, but the sort of jokes are all low humor, fart jokes, pee jokes, bar bottoms, that sort of thing.

The ongoing joke about Anne, who is afraid of owls, is not really the king's mistress, she just sleeps with him because she is afraid of the owls that are always hooting at her.

Yeah, the queen didn't get the joke either, and banishes her, but the king wants to still help her, so lets her set up a tavern in the town. And then the hijinks begin. Nah, they don't. Just more far and pee and drunken jokes.

And then the book was over. Thankfully.

I'm sure there is an audience for this series, as the author has published quite another of books, but I would run, not walk, as quickly from this book as possible.

It gets two starts, because the illustrations are nice, even when doing butt jokes.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

The "humor" I'm this book was slapstick and childish. Not my cup of tea.

A frivolous fantasy, with a young woman losing royal employment but being given a tavern to run instead. There are so many weird bits about this - the royal wee, unlikeable characters, Anne being so sexualised, and some blindingly awful talking birds - that it's easy to dislike, and even if you do find enough within it to enjoy you will never be able to convince me what age audience this is actually for. Certainly not for adults, and not something you'd want kids to read, this is also far too childish and silly for teens. It must have done enough for someone to have had five sequels, but I won't be on board for them. Four stars for the look, minus a lot for the birds.

Was looking for a quick read and this was a quick read. Illustrations were good and it went well with the story line. Story line was okay

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Welp, this one seemed oh so much fun, but after reading it I am struggling to stay awake. Boy, this was supposed to be funny? Hahaha, not.

Anne was the best character, but even she couldn't hold me to the story. I did think it was admirable she made the tavern and did her best to make it something. I loved how she didn't fall for that blacksmith, but instead constantly runs away or tells him off. :P

The king? The queen? The blacksmith? And oh good grief, those birds? Urghhh. I disliked them all. Some more than others. The blacksmith should just get a clue already, the king should just stop pining for Anne, the queen should just get the hint that the king is not interested in her and that she is a total snob and stuck-up *insert bad words*, the birds? Please someone just shoot them already. Talking animals are hit and miss, but in this book it is definitely a giant miss.

The jokes aren't funny, am I supposed to laugh about Anne sleeping with the king because of an owl? Or when Cecile isn't coming out of the toilet and thus they decide to break the door down? Am I supposed to laugh about the birds?

The only time I laughed is when Anne made it to the town and all that happened there (the fall out of the sky, the trip to the fountain).

The art is OK I guess, I liked Anne's design the best.

But would I recommend this one? No. Not at all.

I enjoyed the artwork! I really didn't care for the story and ended up looking at the artwork. It definitely seems like an adult story and not for kids.

*thank you to Netgalley and Europe Comics for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

1 star.

DNF @ page 35.

Right from the beginning of the story I felt uncomfortable about this. A young female adult (Anne) sleeps in a bed with an old man (and they are not in a relationship), has a very creepy and disturbing feel to it. Then the old man is peeing off a balcony (not so bad for some but for me personally, I didn't like seeing it) and the third thing that I didn't like was that once Anne had found herself another place to live, during the night the old man creeps into her bedroom through a secret tunnel!!! That's when I'd had enough. I stopped reading. Having had abuse in my life, I found this triggering. It was meant to be humourous, but the humor wasn't my type. I honestly can't think of anything I did like about this, other than the cover. Plus it did sound good, but it wasn't want I had had in mind.

The artwork in this graphic novel is just adorable. That said, I did not particularly enjoy this book. I believe The toilet humor in the beginning poorly set the tone for the novel.