Cover Image: All Princesses Die Before Dawn

All Princesses Die Before Dawn

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Member Reviews

A cute and quick read.
About a child finding their way among many different outside and inside circumstances.
The drawings were really well done - especially those scenes with the sun shining through a tree’s leaves. Perfect lighting!


E-copy provided for free by Netgalley.

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This was a bittersweet graphic novel that goes through the changes a family undergoes over the course of a day, during 1997. A heartbreaking but beautiful coming of age story of a gay child growing up in the late 90s.

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Thank you for Europe Comics for providing me with a version of this graphic novel on NetGalley.

First, the illustrations were beautiful in this. There was a kind of poetry to the arrangement within the images and between them, the color scheme perfectly translated to the feeling of a singular, hot summers day. The narrative bracket of the death of Lady Diana created a tragic, somehow threatening undertone to the story while the use of musical references of the late 90s works towards a positive, worryless mood.
The story seems to unfold without a certain direction, but the ending perfectly wraps the experience and lessons of the day. It is a sad story in the end, but it leaves room for smiling and dreaming.

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With a title like All Princesses Die Before Dawn you know that you will be getting a story that will hurt you. And you hope it’s in a good way, but you kind of also know it will be in a bad way too. The story is told over the course of an evening, with stories of blossoming and fading feelings told from the perspective of the youngest child, a teenage girl, and their mother, all on the day of Princess Diana’s death in 1997.

First off the art style absolutely enhances the gut wrenching stories being told - of budding feelings of unreciprocated love, of paths diverging, of being taken advantage of, or of falling out of love. This is a story to take your time with, to let it sit with you, for queer folks and folks from homes of divorce, this will hit hard so take care, but I also think that the author wraps up the story beautifully in a show of love and acceptance between our three protagonists despite all the pain they’ve been through.

Beautiful art & heartbreaking stories, what more could you want?

*I received an eARC from Europe Comics & NetGalley in exchange for my honest review*

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Over the course of this one day, a marriage dissolves, a teen girl grapples with who she wants to be, and a young boy tries to figure out his true feelings for his friend.
Beautifully rendered, this character study gives the reader a glimpse of who these people are and how they interact with each other. At the end of the day, though each is heartbroken in their own way, it sets them on a path to see each other more clearly and to live more fully.

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This is a really beautiful coming-of-age story that gave off equal amounts of pain, depth, joy, and nostalgia.

It's not dramatic in the way you'd expect a story about discovering, losing, and turning away from love but it felt so real in each of the main characters' personal journeys. It takes place in a single setting at a really short amount of time, but the simplicity of those aspects created an even bigger impact on the emotional narrative, in my opinion.

I really loved this story and the artwork might be a little understated for my taste, but it was perfect overall!

CW for mentions of Diana's passing, car accident, toy guns, sunburn, mentions of suicide and drowning. None of the characters get seriously hurt physically or are put in serious danger but YMMV.

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A beautiful and simplistic slice of life story of a family in a moment of transition and a world is a moment of vulnerability around the death of Princess Diana. Quentin Zuttion's art is beautifully executed, the tones and colors are on less fully saturated tone which really gives a feeling of the past to the quality. Zuttion's images also have some beautiful feelings of movement and imagination to them which bring to life the internal workings of a child's mind, the mundane tasks of a Mother and the secret desires of a teenage girl. This story is subtle and gentle and takes great care in exploring and questioning sexuality. I think Zuttion has a gentle touch that tells this story in a really lovely way that will give the reader a glimpse into a family in a moment of change. Definitely a lovely story to read and see the strength of a Mother's love for her children and the solidarity between siblings, would highly recommend.

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This book is sooo cute! The illustrations are beautiful and so is the storyline. I loved reading it!

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All Princesses Die Before Dawn is a heart-breaking love story about relationships breaking down. The Graphic Novel explores the discovery of love and sexuality, the pressures of young love, the ending of a marriage in three intertwining story lines in a single family. I thought this was done well, however I wish it went into more depth. The death of Diana is going on in the background and snippets are shared through the radio and on television, which at first I found jarring, but after finishing the novel I can see its place in the story. I also like how it is foreshadowing the death of the relationships. The ending was surprisingly hopeful, I didn't finish the book feeling sad, but instead feeling assured that even when we lose love we will find it again. The illustrations were beautiful and soft and matched the story well. Each panel felt like an oil painting. I would recommend this story to other Graphic Novel readers.

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ugh ugh ugh 10000/10 stars for this. My heart! omg. this was angsty, full of self discovery and self love and something so many people will find beneficial.

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