Sleepless

Sleepless

by Sarah Vaughn

Lady “Poppy” Pyppenia is guarded by the Sleepless Knight Cyrenic, but danger is around every corner once the new king is coronated. Writer SARAH VAUGHN (ALEX + ADA, ETERNAL EMPIRE) and artist LEILA DEL DUCA (SHUTTER, AFAR) team up with editor / colorist ALISSA SALLAH and letterer DERON BENNETT for this new fantasy romance.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels Comics, Young Adult

Comic

First published December 6, 2017

About the author

Sarah Vaughn is an artist, writer, over-thinker. She's penciled Sparkshooter and is currently working with Jonathan Luna on Alex + Ada for Image Comics.

Reviews

[This Kooky Wildflower Loves a Little Tea and Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this comic!!

Pros :
1. Promising series start
2. Delightful characters (including a woman of color)
3. Splendid artwork
4. A feasible plot line I cannot wait to see as the series continues.

Con :

1. Short (But, that's because I loved it so much I didn't want it to end)

My interest's piqued. On to the next part...
5/5

"Call me by my familiar name" Be still my beating heart.

[Su · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was beautiful! I love the art by Leila Del Duca - it's real, pretty and also a little gritty, expressive and a little mesmerizing as well. The patterns Del Duca weaves into so much of the artwork is really catching. Sara Vaughn also writes a compelling story here with plenty of intrigue. Sleepless is shaping up to be not only a beautiful budding romance set in the Renaissance period of a delightfully well-built fantasy world, but also a wonderful thriller! And we're only in the first issue. I find myself craving to know more about the culture and practices of this place we're introduced to, the magic that seems to be present here, all the traditions and mythos, and so much more about the characters themselves. Did I mention the gorgeous artwork? ;}

Plus there's tons and tons of Characters of Color being regular people and not token representatives for their respective races and/or ethnicities but real fully-fleshed out people who are of color. And I never say no to that! Very much looking forward to the second monthly installment coming January 10, 2018!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this first comic. It’s a fantasy series about Lady Poppy who has a sleepless knight who looks out for her after an assasinatiin attempt several years ago. There is intrigue and drama and I cannot wait to read more.

[mkhare · Rating 4 out of 5]

A promising start! I liked the art style, and I felt like I could clearly 'hear' each scene.

[Kinsey]

I'm intrigued, but it's still too early to rate.

[Parlei · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Call me by my familiar name" <3

[Lima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good! I am not a fan of court intrigue stuff but it was a good story anyway. Loved the ending, can't wait for the next issue!

[Sai ☾ ⋆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

˚༻Sleepless vol.1 ༺˚ 5/5 ☆

⊱ Whimsical storytelling
⊱ Gorgeous Art style
⊱ Impressive world building
⊱ Stunning Black female character

Cemented the fact that I love BODYGUARD romance. Age gap romance omg I had no idea. I think it’s like 5 - 10 year.
Poor girly has to deal with so many assassinations attempts.
The end had me shook. Screaming. This is so perfect !

Read the first 3 volumes back in January 2023 & the rest of the volumes were so hard to find at the libraries.

[Sucre · Rating 4 out of 5]

being the huge lesbian I am, I went into this comic automatically assuming both the leads were women and that it was a f/f princess/knight story. not the case! but still a very good read and I am interested to see where it goes. the art is gorgeous, I highly recommend adding to ur pull list

[Den · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sooo pretty!

Read this if you like: graphic novels, warriors who don't need sleep, illegitimate princesses, faraway lands, beautifully patterned textiles (!), court intrigues, assassination attempts, seers

[maitreya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fennec fox, a beautiful princess, a handsome sleepless knight, a people who worship time. What's not to like.

[AJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Call me by my familiar name? … It is not my place. Just this once. Then we can go back to being a princess who will never be royal and her sleepless knight.” cute

[Allyson Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up these YA graphics novels (actually one novel in two parts – not standalone) because the covers are so pretty and the BIPOC protagonist caught my interest. The graphics continued to be lovely when dealing with the vaguely-Renaissance/Medieval costumes of the women, and the only non-BiPOC people in the story are a blond princess with severe acne and the unprincipled nephew of the king. (How could these blond palefaces be related to the brunette brown-skinned king? Blame those recessive genes.)
Marred by too many panels of fight scenes labeled “Snk!” “Shwng!” “Ng!” “Thnk!” taking place between black and brown clad swordsmen whose ID and motive are murky, and a Byzantine ending where the bad guy has good motives and the role of magic is never quite explained.

[ItsNasB · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great start. I'm intrigued by the story already and eager to check out more from it. I like the art style and love the fact that it's a dark-skinned woman main character (I assume she's Black but it is not explicitly said; WOC she is definitely). The tensions (romantic and nefarious) that are hinted at in different relationships for Poppy (Lady Pyppenia) are what have me hooked already.

Also, the first issue/ book was a quick read. I don't know if the rest of the series will be as well but it bodes well as a starter as it makes it easy to get into and leaves you wanting more.

[R Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

A promising start

Intriguing story right from the start! I'm curious to learn more about the lore and world within 'Sleepless'.

Art is great. The lines have great movement and weight and the colors are very reminiscent of the Renaissance color palettes. Well designed and very eye catching.

[Chris Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has promise. The artwork is nice - gritty and real. It’s hard to tell if this is fantasy or not at this point, but there are definitely hints of the magical. Also, there are some intriguing details that show promise, such as the concept of the “sleepless.” Intriguing as it is I wasn’t fully immersed in this one, but it’s begun to dig its roots.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scoring from a numeral scale: 7.9/10
A lovely first issue that is intriguing, gorgeously illustrated and detailed but doesn't quite wow me. Soem great world building elements and two main characters that I cant wait to follow and read more of in the form of Poppy and Cyrenic.

[Miriam Bates · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this! It's just so pretty. The political drama with Lady Poppy engaging without being depressing. Also, her relationship with Cyrenic so wholesome and cute and honestly, I'm all about that!!!!

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really gorgeous artwork! I was engaged by the story. I felt this was half a complete story and it let me feeling a bit unsatisfied at the end. Perhaps a criticism of the genre more than this specific comic.

[M.L.D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

So. Pretty.

[Sabrina Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

SO PRETTY. But also knights can't sleep, ever? How horrible. I'm excited to see where this series goes.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but nothing worth writing home about. I like the idea of the Sleepless, but I wish we had more information. I think this moved just a little too slowly for me.

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun - I want to know more about the Sleepless though. I was more captivated by the illustrations. Onward!

[Rakan · Rating 4 out of 5]

بعض نصوصها كان من الممكن أن تكون مشروحة عن طريق صفحات بدون أي كتابة، اعجبتني ومتحمس للمزيد منها.

[Desertorum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful and has potential. I´m intrigued how this continues.

[Halls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, the art in this story is absolutely beautiful. Poppy and Cyrenic are so cute!

[Jumper · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5-5

[Emma Debruyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consider me interested.

[KB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it from start to finish! The characters, plot, the concept of the story to begin with...easily one of my favorites!

[Xaanua · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the introduction of the main story. I'm questioning if her uncle wants to kill her.