Princeless remains ones of my favourite graphic novel series of all time, and one that I have great joy in bringing to as wide an audience as possible. This is a great look at Adrienne's sisters and the way they will come together as the wider story comes to it's end in a couple of volumes time. It's got all the warmth and humour of the rest of the series, with great illustrations to go along with it, and is another fantastic addition to the series.

I wish this had been billed as a second volume of short stories and not as an actual volume of the main series, as it is jarring to go back and forth between the two. That said, I love these short stories and am so glad to have them on the shelf of my library!

Loving this series so much - missed seeing Adrienne in this one, but otherwise loved seeing her sisters get into and out of trouble.

So, these four issues don't have Adrienne in them, and yet I didn't find myself minding that at all.

The first story is about Alize and how she was 'rescued' from her tower. It was definitely my favorite of the stories.

Then the rest of the stories took place after Adrienne had 'rescued' her sister. Angelica was trying to find who she is supposed to be, and that was a cool journey. Angoisse gets to go up against some loggers, oh, and then there was an-- interesting Goblin for president story, um, perhaps supposed to be cathartic?

And finally a short Andrea and Antonia, twins, story that was a little weird, but definitely them to a T.

It will be really interesting to see where all the strings that were left hanging in this go in the next volume. It should be pretty awesome.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to Diamond Book Distributors and Action Lab Entertainment.

I read this without realising that it was part of the ongoing Princeless series rather than a standalone, so it probably made less sense to me than it should have for that reason. However these collection of feminist short stories focusing on a set of princess sisters (and a goblin politician) were enjoyable on their own merits with fun art and great messages for younger readers. I particularly enjoyed the story about the beautiful princess discovering her other talents. I'll definitely be catching up on the rest of the series after reading this volume.

This was a good continuation of the Princeless series though I felt a little lost upon first reading it. Then I realized I hadn't read volume 7 yet. Silly me. I am still finding this series very enjoyable.

Loving this series so much - missed seeing Adrienne in this one, but otherwise loved seeing her sisters get into and out of trouble.

I've been enjoying the Princeless series for years now, and while this volume doesn't advance the main plot at all (or even highlight the main characters!), it would be a great book to hand a tween or teen I wanted to get hooked on the series. Several self-contained stories give a bit of backstory or new adventures to Adrienne's sisters as everyone gears up for what sounds like a new battle/adventure coming up. As a longtime reader, I'm disappointed to have to wait even longer to get to that story arc, but as a librarian, this volume gives new readers an idea of the character development and tongue-in-cheek humor of the series.

Princeless Volume 8: Princesses by Jeremy Whitley, 128 pages. GRAPHIC NOVEL
Action Lab Comics, 2019. $14.99
Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
Princess Adrienne might be having amazing adventures, but her sisters are doing good in their spheres of influence, too! This graphic novel shows what each of Princess Adrienne’s sisters are up to and the various ways they are able to use their talents for the good of those who need their help.
This is the first volume I’ve read of the Princeless collection, but, after enjoying this one so much, I plan on going back to read the others. While I didn’t understand the occasional reference to Princess Adrienne, this volume can be read as a stand-alone to the rest of the collection. Whitley wrote fun stories for each of these characters, and several different illustrators kept the story visually engaging as well.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

actual rating: 3.5

This was a cute volume, but I kind of hate it when a comic is finally gearing up for the final confrontation and then they take an entire volume to basically do flashback stories about several [oftentimes] side characters. It's nice to get more background on Adrienne's sisters, but generally I'd just rather move forward rather than back. Also the art was not great in this volume and looks especially poor in comparison to much of the art in the Raven spin-off series. Still, there are some good bits in here and I especially liked the political commentary in the issue with the goblins.

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley.

There is so much to love about the Princeless comics, and this volume in the collections give us stories featuring Adrienne’s sisters and the goblins. The sisters each get one story (though the twins have to share) and one story for the goblins. The goblin story is the most direct comment on modern politics in the book – it is hard not to see Trump and Hilary on the stage. The story will play on a different level for adult readers than younger readers. The goblin story also brings back the Goblin Captain who aided Adrienne and Belinda.
But the main focus of the collection are the Ashe citizens, and while the art, to my mind, isn’t as good as the artwork in some of the other volumes (hence a 3.5 star rating instead of a 4), it was wonderful that the other Ashe sisters got a chance to shine as while as moving the story slightly forward to the coming conflict that was set up at the end of volume 7.
The first story features Alize and her Sphinx. It is set in the past, so how Alize formed her community and met her husband is addressed. Then Angelica learns that she is more than just a pretty face by playing a game that looks familiar. Angoisse learns that she doesn’t need a man, but just a focus. The goblin story follows Angoisse’s story (which makes sense). Then finally, the twins appear as they struggle to put aside sniping at each other long enough to help people. In many of the stories, the Black Knight makes an appearance, tying the stories together in another way as well as pointing towards the future of the series. Even in Angoisse’s tale where the Black Knight does not show up, there are hints that her adventure is connected to the larger issues playing out in the series.
The particular strength of this volume is the different ways in which the princesses learn and become more secure in who they are. Adrienne, who stars in the other volumes, is physically strong - she is not dumb – but her talent lies in the physical. Here, in these stories, we have sisters whose talents are not the physical but that rest on a different type of learning. Alize learns from books (and other teachers), the twins studied magic, Angoisse learns by studying human behavior, and Angelica by watching. While the sisters who were more immature, gain more maturity in these stories, they don’t lose their essential selves. Angelica might become more than a pretty face, but she also still loves fashion. The great thing about Princeless is that strength is being shown in so many different ways, not just in terms of Adrienne and Devan, but, now, more fully in terms of each sister. This putting worth on talents other than simply physical or looking beautiful is wonderful.
The stories do feature humor. The two funniest are Angoisse’s and Angelica’s. Angelica’s story has some great descriptive phrases, and Angoisse’s makes excellent use of the Squint Spiderslayer and the Grimmorax. The best line comes from the Grimmorax who asks Angoisse, “Are you telling me you want to be weaker so you can find a man who can protect?” And when Angoisse answers in the affirmative replies, “Do you need me to explain how stupid that sounds?”. In some ways, Angoisse’s story is the most powerful because she learns the value of herself. The weakest story, maybe because it is trying too hard for laughs, is the story of the twins, though that makes excellent use of the magical knowledge. Additionally, weak is a relative term for this collection.
Can’t wait to see what happens next.