The art is lovely. Some of my favorite from the manga world. It's got an almost otherworldly feel to it. It's detailed and just light and pretty.

The story is another matter.... I don't hate the story but there's just some parts that make no sense to me and kinda threw me out of the story but as I've found, don't judge the first volume in a series like this. Why? So much set up is done so the story can actually move forward.

There's a nice little cliffhanger that really does make me want to pick up the next volume. So I can't wait to see where this goes. I just hope the story can live up to the art!


Review will go live on the blog: 3/25/2020

Absolutely stunning artwork and a great story that goes from lighthearted to SUPER dark in a blink and back again. Definitely going to be looking to see where this one goes in the future.

Prince Freya (Volume 1) by Keiko Ishihara, 188 pages. GRAPHIC NOVEL. VIZ Media, 2020. $10.
Language: PG (3 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Sixteen-year-old Freya just wants to take care of her loved ones in this time of war, which is hard to do when she’s always crying. When Freya tries to warn her friends of what she overheard the enemy say, she ends up central in her country’s new plan in the war. Does she have what it takes to lead?
My favorite thing about this book is Ishihara’s beautiful and emotion-filled illustrations. The premise of Freya’s story has piqued my interest, though I’m still a little confused about everyone’s roles; watching how things unfold in volume two is sure to be interesting. I can’t decide how I feel about Ishihara’s commentary throughout the story; I like the insights, but they felt a little disruptive, and I think they would be better as an author’s note at the end rather than placed intermittently in the book. The mature content is for innuendo, and the violence rating is for gore and death.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

This first volume of Prince Freya really jumps right into to the plot. The characters are interesting and I liked that their introductions are brief and you need to continue reading to get to know them fully. The artwork is very well done and I'm excited to continue reading the series.

A promising start to the series with beautiful art and a spirited main character. I loved Freya and there's so much potential for her development and journey: I'm looking forward to seeing where she will go next.

What prevented me from enjoying the story as much as I would liked to was the uncomfortable and unsettling ways that some of the male characters act around Freya. As keen as I am to see more of her and her development, at this point I'm a lot more wary about some of the rest of the main cast.

Prince Freya, Vol 1 was very intriguing. I found the start slightly ho-hum because I find crying weak girl characters annoying, preferring strong kick ass characters instead, but i can see this character might change later on in the series and that has pecked my interest, I look forward to seeing how they will take a 'whinny' character and change her into someone who readers can really support through-out the series. I loved Yona of the Dawn so i have high hopes that this could be a "If you liked Yona you will like this' kinda series .

I realty enjoyed the art style. The characters and settings were wonderfully drawn. The plot is amazing and kept me on my toes. The story has great action and fighting scenes. The pacing was absolutely perfect. Greta has great development and I really enjoyed her character. All around great read.

I rather enjoyed Prince Freya overall, but I cannot say that I am in love with the graphic novel as it stands. The artstyle was lovely and I took no issue with that, but the story itself was lacking. Perhaps it is because historical fantasy is one of my favourite genres in the literary world and I have read a number of these fiction novels (as well as having a BA in history), but I found the world building in this one to be unsatisfying. The premise was wonderful, but I did not feel as attached to Freya, Aaron and Alek (the main protagonists) before major plotline events began to unfold. I thought I had missed something and had to skip back a few times to re-read pages due to how the book jumped from one incident to the next. ALSO Freya started to irritate me after awhile as she is ultra sensitive, cries over nearly everything, and does not think through her actions. She could have been made to appear a little less weak and helpless, although maybe she was designed so dramatically incapable to contrast how much emotionally and physically stronger she becomes as the story develops. Regardless, I think I would pick up the second book in the series out of curiosity, but I am not convinced that I would spend money on it right now.

This series looks like it's going to be pretty awesome! I look forward to reading volume 2 and seeing how things develop!

In this volume we are introduced to Freya, the White Knight, the Black Knight and the Black Knight's brother who is a guard. Freya grew up with the Black Knight and his brother after saving them, inadvertently, as a child, I guess. There isn't a whole lot of back story for the three in this volume, just enough to establish their bond. But I imagine there will be more as the series goes on.

Freya is a deadringer of the Prince, in body only. In spirit, they are two VERY different people. Edward is charismatic, self-assured and cocky. Freya, well she cries a lot, is a bit of scaredy-cat, but will endure anything to protect the people she loves. So when the Prince is poisoned, the Black Knight is on the hook for not bringing her back with him and her entire village is threatened, Freya steps in.

Thank you to NetGalley and VIZ Media for the ARC provided.

I’m not a fan of historical stories, but this manga can make me become a fan of it. All mixed with beautiful drawing and a strong kick-ass female character, make this manga is worth to read.

One thing that makes me a little bit uncomfortable, Freya can’t stand for not crying and it’s a little bit too much for me.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read Prince Freya for an honest review .
OMG, I cannot believe this manga will be published April 7, 2020 why have I done this to myself the wait will be long and hard for volume 2.
I am completely in love with this story and it’s characters. Prince Freya follows Freya, a normal teary eyed girl who has a striking resemblance to prince Edvard, a strong charismatic prince that the people love. In order to protect her village from a neighboring kingdom that wants to take over, Freya has to become Prince Edvard if she wants to protect her family and her people.
The story is very interesting and the artwork is captivating, I cannot wait to keep reading about Freya and her journey to becoming a strong character. I recommend this manga to anyone who enjoys historical fiction and character development I can’t wait to read volume two.

Volume 1 sets up the story of Freya, a young girl from the small village of Tena. She is meek and cries often, generally relying on the kindness of the villagers, her mother and her two adopted "brothers" Aaron and Aleksi, both of whom are knights of Tyr, the country in which they reside. Aaron is part of Prince Edvard's personal guard and when the Prince is poisoned and dies, Freya--who is his spitting image--pretends to be the Prince. Unfortunately, Freya is the opposite of the prince and struggles with being "strong" to protect her family and kingdom which is at war.

Freya is so far an interesting protagonist. Ishihara writes in her author's columns throughout the book that Freya is unlike her other protagonists who tend to be "gutsy" while Freya is so weak. Like Ishihara, I look forward to watching Freya grow into her own strength over several volumes, as she shows signs of this in her moments of masquerading as Prince Edvard.

Less interestingly is the "love triangle" between Freya, Aleksi and Sir Julius, Prince Edvard's trusted confidante. Julius seems to have been a bit in love with Edvard and uses this attraction to manipulate Freya while Aleksi, the shy strong type, uses his physical strength to get into Edvard's inner circle to protect Freya. I'll be definitely interested to see how these relationships grow, and if they grow beyond typical manga stereotypes.

Overall, a very good first volume! I'm excited to read more!

Stories with a strong, badass female lead are amazing! Stories with a weaker female lead, who despite their difficulties, push through to become a strong, badass female lead are even more amazing. I have a strong feeling that Prince Freya is going to become one of the latter.

Freya lives with her mother in a small town on the edges of a war, but when her adopted brothers return home from the Prince’s guard for a visit, Freya finds herself thrown headfirst into wartime politics.

Prince Freya was an insanely cute story with some wicked cute characters. It’s got some Game of Thrones vibes, some Princess Bride vibes and a ton of dark, tall, brooding soldier vibes! I will absolutely be checking out volume 2, because I am really excited to see how the story progresses and how Freya’s character develops. I also cannot wait to see more of Mikal and Yngvi.

First of all the cover for this manga really drew me in, it's really gorgeous. In fact I love the art style of this Mangaka, it's beautiful!

As for the story I thought it was an interesting if not overdone gender bender kind of story. Even though this type of story line has been done before I was still interested in what would happen to Freya and her brothers. Even though I'm only reading the first volume I already felt myself connecting to some of the characters, especially the brothers.

This volume really grabbed my interest and I would be interested in picking up volume 2 to see what happens to Freya and the village. I would recommend this manga for people interested in historical fiction and really gorgeous art styles. It's not a groundbreaking unique kind of plot but it's just enough to spark your interest and suck you in.

This has all of the tropes and things that I enjoy! A local village girl is forced into pretending to be the late prince because of her uncanny resemblance to him. Her two best friends are sworn knights to the prince and will do anything to protect her. I love Freya because she sweet and sensitive and not afraid to cry. (I'm a serial crier lol) And Aleksi is so handsome and protective and sweet and cool and I love him! I'm so excited to see where this series goes and if Freya will be able to adopt the prince's devil may care attitude and save the kingdom!

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, which is how I got my grubby little hands on this early.

I've read some of Keiko Ishihara's manga before, and thought it was decent, and the cover is pretty, so I decided to pick this up, knowing nothing else. The plot follows Freya, a girl whose normal life is disrupted when the fire nation attacks -- I mean, when she stumbles across a plot which will affect her adopted brothers, and she quickly finds herself in over her head. Freya is a little bit annoying; not enough to stop reading, but sometimes it's a little much. I think she'll get better in later books, as she's set up for character growth. A lot of this felt like set up for the larger series, which makes sense, as it is volume one, but it's not always the most compelling. It's not bad, and I feel like it's going to get better the longer we get to know the characters, but it definitely feels like there's room to grow.

The art is standard manga art, which I like, but nothing stood out.

Overall, I liked the book, but I think (hope?) the next volume will be better, now that everything's set up. There's a nice cliffhanger, so I'm definitely curious to read what happens next. So sure, I'd recommend this -- it's not my favorite, but it's decent.

I don’t know how I’m going to wait for volume 2 when the first was so great!

Typically I’m not a huge fan of historical fiction, but this book had the right blend of character development and plot to get me hooked.

Keiko you did amazing and I can’t wait to read more!

I loved this manga so much I just preordered a copy. I can't get enough of historical dramas so this genre is right up my alley. The art is beautiful. The characters were all well-written and had unique personalities. There's political intrigue but also potential romantic drama, so I stayed involved in the plot and interested in the characters.

I liked that instead of ending the volume with a few pages of notes, the author actually dispersed them throughout the manga in side-bars. I have not seen that done before. Usually when I reach the end of a volume of manga, I feel like reading the author's notes after the story is just a chore. But this way, I felt like I was actually getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the author's creative process and enjoyed that a lot more.

If I had any critique, it would be that the main plot point of the peasant girl taking over the role of the prince was completely rushed. If I hadn't read the synopsis of the book first, I probably wouldn't have even been able to understand what was happening. I assume this is just a translation and that there's no going back to fix it, but I feel it would have served the story much better if readers had been able to see the prince being poisoned, and his confidantes coming up with a plan to use a decoy. That was almost entirely left to the imagination. I actually felt as if I were missing several pages of the manga.

Regardless, I love the manga and I'm completely invested now. I'll be looking forward to more volumes in the future!

Prince Freya by Keiko Ishihara is a European-inspired fantasy shojo centered around three childhood friends: Freya and two brothers, Aaron and Alek. Tragedy befalls the kingdom of Tyr as the crown prince, Edvard, falls ill, and Freya rushes to accompany her friends before they encounter an unexpected twist.

At first, I was drawn by the cover art of the manga volume. However, I was unfortunately not as impressed with the in-book art. The story is reminiscent of Yona from Yona of the Dawn, both showcasing soft, sheltered, 'crybaby' girls who have to steel themselves because of certain circumstances.

I am interested in finding out what happens next, so I will be looking of the volume two at the library.

Will I purchase a copy? With how much manga costs these days, I will not be picking this one up for my personal collection.

Great Artful drawings that are backed up with a really fun and interesting story! I will be reading more of this series!!!