The Pirate Princess

by Luca Frigerio, Lorenza Pigliamosche (illustrator)

Set sail with Julie, daughter of the mysterious Pirate King, as she journeys across oceans to reconnect with her father and become the best pirate that has ever existed!

Julie has two goals in life: to make things explode and to become the best pirate who has ever existed! She joins the crew of the Golden Dolphin to find her father, The Pirate King, and amidst battles on galleons, ancient curses, and doomed lands, Julie's path will lead her to uncovering mysteries of her displaced family, and her own place in the world as The Pirate Princess.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Young Adult, Comics, Pirates, Graphic Novels Comics, Teen

Kindle Edition

First published October 8, 2024

Reviews

[jagodasbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5⭐️

this comic book was very short (120 pages) and very fast paced, a lot of things were happening, there's some mystery and twists.

Julie is a daughter of the pirate king who has to leave her house to meet her mysterious father. in the process there's some kidnapping and fights.

perfect quick read for one evening to get out of the reading slump!

Thank you Netgalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

[Esme · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story a lot but the plot felt a bit choppy in some areas. It felt almost like there were pages of context missing here and there. The art style is very pretty and the colours were good but in the high action scenes it was a bit hard to make out exactly what and who were fighting one another.

thank you Netgalley and the publishers for an e-book if this in exchange for an honest review!

[Freya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios for providing me with this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Cool cover, I love the blue and pink together and the edge to it!

I love that this was a full color comic, the illustrations are not my favorite style but I loved the colors that were used, they really made me feel like I was at sea! So great vibe but unfortunately the story needs some or actually a lot of work if I’m honest.

This felt like the team responsible for the creation of the story, summed up the events that were going to happen and then quit. Everything felt very basic, unfinished and boring. If I look at what I wrote in my review notebook, a lot happened but nothing was executed properly or even in a remotely interesting way apart from maybe 1 side character and one event, but those could not save this underdeveloped comic. I will not be surprised if I have forgotten this comic completely, by next week.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley. This does not influence my opinion.

This could have been a really good graphic novel, were it not so chaotic.
Sadly, it skipped over much important details and switched topic and scenery way too fast, so I as the reader often didn’t really know what was going on or what relationship the characters had with each other.
I do like the message of choosing your own family though.
The characters themselves were a bit flat as there was too much plot going on, so we actually were unable to really get to know them, but I liked Maxime and Stephanie. Everybody needs queer adoptive uncles.
All in all, the book had potential, but sadly didn’t use it.

[emery · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from NetGalley.

This had a lot of promise and the artwork was stunning but the story itself was very chaotic. I found it difficult to keep up with the story and kept feeling like I was missing context. It definitely would’ve benefited from being longer so the transitions would’ve felt smoother and less like constant jumps that were hard to follow.

[Ande Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Pirate Princess is a super fun graphic novel that focuses on Julie, the daughter of the Pirate King. I truly loved the illustrations in this one. It was very action-focused & there was nearly constant combat, but that fit perfectly for a pirate book.

I liked Julie a lot as a protagonist, and was very invested in her pirate guardians. For a book that was so short, I felt like the world/character building was done very well. I wish there had been a more concrete ending, but I'm looking forward to another volume!

Thanks to NetGalley, Luca Frigerio, and Mad Cave Studios for the chance to read and review! My thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Jelke Lenaerts · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a galley of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book has content warnings for child abuse, and grief.

This was just extremely poorly written in my opinion. It's just so hard to keep track of what is happening because there's more holes in this story than there is story. It's just jumps from one thing to another with no real explenations. I don't know. I really had a hard time reading this. The art was cool, but in the fight scenes I really could just NOT tell what was happening.

[Adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julie is the daughter of the feared Pirate King. She knows all his exploits but she's never met him. Instead, she was raised on an island with constant visits by the crew of the Golden Dolphin, who finally pick her up to take her to her dad. The journey, however, turns out to be a more dangerous adventure than anyone could have expected and Julie is in for some surprising revelations.

It's a great adventure story for tween readers, with just enough danger and violence to be exciting without going too far. All the best elements of a pirate story are in there, complete with lots of heart to make you fall in love with the characters.

The art has a few moments where it was impossible for me to figure out what was supposed to be happening on the panel let alone who was doing it. It makes for super dynamic and visually impressive images, but it doesn't help with moving the story along. If it weren't for that, I enjoyed the fluid art style that's very different from what I usually read. It's colorful when it needs to be and dark when it calls for it.

Overall, it's a good story that suffers a little bit from a rushed execution. A few more pages to develop and breathe would have made this a five-star read. I hope we get to go on more adventures with the Golden Dolphin's crew.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Maverick for the fun read!

[Gabby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2.5

Themes:
Pirates
Adventure
Action

The Pirate Princess is the story of Julie, the Pirate Kings’ Daughter who has to leave her home and avoid the clutches of an evil pirate crew. But not everything is as it seems when she jumps on a ship and sails into the seas of pirates.

The plot was good, full of adventure action. However the story was choppy and inconsistent. It seemed like there were whole pages missing at some stages and some parts lacked context which made it hard to follow.
The tone was also inconsistent. Some parts were serious in the wrong moments and funny in others that seemed like they should be taken seriously.

I liked the concept but the execution could have been so much better. I wanted to connect with the characters more, and I think I could have if the story was less choppy and confusing. I think in the future if the creators wanted to re-visit this concept and take in some of the feedback I’ve seen in reviews - it could be very successful!

Fortunately, it was a quick read that I finished in one sitting.

Thank you to the publisher Maverick / Mad Cave Studios for providing me an e-copy of this graphic novel to review.

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

A low two stars...as I did enjoy the color scheme and... some of the art? Like how highly stylized it was, even to the detriment of being able to tell a characters' expressions or what was supposed to be happening in a scene, or in a fight. I couldn't relate to Julie at all past her introduction, where we find out she's a tinkerer and a creator, and then she just becomes this faceless MC who tells and not shows us what she's feeling or thinking. Ironically, the original character sketches in the back had more detail, which I would have loved!

I can't even remember the names of her crewmates, so the grand reunion with them in the end has no tension or excitement. There are the twins, the one who looks like Hawkeye, Stephane with glasses, whose name is said more than Julie's, and...Max? Whose face I think we see twice...

Her reunion with her mother and her dead...brother(??) and father would have been tearjerking if I had known what was going on at all.

The plot was choppy, dialogue was equally awkward but perhaps it was translated? Like a rough draft. Felt like it was trying to join the pirate train of One Piece and Princeless fell rather short of the bar...

[Lissa Hawley · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Julie has two goals in life: to make things explode and to become the best pirate who has ever existed!"

So, this quote from the blurb caught my attention immediately. (Who doesn't love a good explosion?)

It's not a terribly accurate blurb. The story is denser than that. But it does catch the eye. (And gunpowder IS one of Julie's hobbies.)

This is a very dense graphic novel, for being as short as it is. Dialogue driven and lots of action. The color pallette does make a couple of the scenes (especially towards the end) hard to decipher, but otherwise, I did enjoy the art style.

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

Adorable.

[Kayla Zabcia]

DNF; page 17

not sure if it's just my copy, but the art is weirdly pixelated and I the plot was choppy

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this was interesting, the art style made it confusing. I often couldn’t tell who was who and what was going on.

[Shivali Sisodraker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay. I want to love this book— I REALLY do. The art is gorgeous and the characters are okay (could use more development), but it was SO SHORT. Way too short. The plot was messy, jumped from one point to another barely giving any time to process what happened. I feel like it had so much potential, but unfortunately, it was not what I was hoping for.

[Sophy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A girl who likes to experiment grew up on an island, when the men who were like her fathers came for her to bring her to her real father. She gets to go on an adventure and learns about her past and her family. The art is very cute, and it is a fun read if you like pirates.

[Kristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The artwork was nice and the concept was interesting, but the story felt like it jumped around a lot without taking time to fully develop things. Has a lot of potential, but was hard to get too invested in the characters with the quick pace of things. Thanks to NetGalley for the book.

[TheCrazyFanvergent · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75
Grazie mille a NetGalley per avermi fornito un ARC di questo graphic novel!

Ho ADORATO lo stile dell'artista, particolare e dai colori vivaci - ma non è stato valorizzato abbastanza dal resto della storia.
La trama, seppur un po' prevedibile, è comunque riuscita a stupire in alcuni punti; il vero problema, purtroppo, è stato il pacing davvero troppo veloce, molte cose sembravano avvenire quasi a caso
(Also, credo che il testo sia stato scritto inizialmente in italiano. Non era fluido abbastanza, si capiva che era una traduzione e la cosa ha bloccato un po' la lettura)

Mi è dispiaciuto, poteva dare molto di più (però sono molto curiosa per il sequel👀)

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanted to love this. Maybe this suffered from translation problems? The art was terrific but it also contributed to my confusion. The story jumped all around, not just because it was full of action & adventure, but because it lacked cohesion & continuity. At times I could not tell who was fighting whom. Felt like this was dashed off and pages were lost along the way. A fun quick read that was a bit lacking overall in the telling.

[J MaK · Rating 2 out of 5]

(2.4) This was a quick, muddled, and dare I say boring for a pirate story. The artwork was hard to follow in the heavier action panels.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

This almost feels like the outline to a much longer graphic novel. Everything about this plot is very rushed, and it ends on what I assume is meant to be a cliffhanger. But because I didn't have any connection to the characters, I don't really care much about what ends up happening to them. Part of my disconnect is based on my distaste for the cuddly pirates trope. It's one thing to show up in a Disney channel cartoon (shout out to Jake and the Neverland Pirates) but it's out of place in a YA graphic novel. I outright laughed in disbelief when main character Julie insisted that her father, the pirate king, wasn't a murderer, then in practically the same breath boasted about him sinking an entire fleet of ships. Honestly, I would have loved if this had been shown as the dangerous naivete it actually is, but it goes totally unchallenged. And even if her pirate father is eventually shown to be a bad guy, the other pirates she's surrounded by are total sweethearts. It makes this feel like it's meant for much younger readers than I think the author is actually targeting.

[Mana traverse les Pages · Rating 2 out of 5]

Julie, the pirate king's daughter, doesn't really know her father, who has entrusted her to his crew. When she is kidnapped, the young woman's life is turned upside down: battles, revelations and betrayals are all on the menu...
I found the plot a little fast, which didn't give me time to get attached to the characters. The graphic style is very interesting but gets a bit messy during the fight scenes, which lost me.
In short, a comic book with potential but which didn't quite do it for me.

[Kaitlyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art was very pretty but not pretty enough to hide the confusing while simultaneously basic story line and flat characters that had no depth or understandable motivation and I did not care about any of them at all

[Erica Pehrson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the art was fun, but found the backgrounds to be better than the characters. It was a little hard to decipher through some of the action, but overall I loved the full color fun bright tropical feeling world.

I thought the story was interesting, and the characters were well done, but found the writing to be weak. I don't know if this was a translation issue, but the dialogue felt awkward and the pacing was odd. There was a lot of jumping ahead emotionally and in skill and setting without any real transition.

Would be a fun pirate read for a young reader!

[Eden Wolfe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for approving me to review this arc. While I liked the premise of the story, the execution was underwhelming. The story felt rushed which made me not excited to continue reading the book. While the images were very pretty they were at times confusing to follow. The plot was predictable and I did not feel connected to the characters so any time the characters were facing an obstacle I was kinda hoping that something unexpected would happen because the plot armor for this book was getting to be a bit boring. I think the book would benefit from making the story draw out more, like having the characters spend more time dealing with conflicts rather than quickly moving through them. Also I was disappointed that the Pirate King was so easily defeated, I thought he was going to be a harder enemy. I liked the relationship the daughter had with Stephanie and the other older person but it still felt rushed so it did not make me feel any strong emotions during the story. Overall, it would be okay to read for a younger audience that is just trying to get the bare basics of the pirate fantasy subgenre.

[✧ Beanie Reads ✧ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this book!
2 stars

The cover is very pretty. I like the colors used. The idea of this story is nice, and I will always love found family being utilized.

However... I couldn't tell you what was happening in this book 75% of the time. The art was strangely indistinct, scenes jumped around so a person would just be there, the action felt impossible to follow, and the art style could be inconsistent what seemed a non-intentional way. It had me tempted to DNF despite the shortness.

It may have been better in paper form, where it would be larger, but I've only experienced with in ebook format on my phone, so I'll never know v_v

[Moira · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for this review.
This was a cute graphic novel, the art was fun and so were some of the character designs, but the story itself was a little lacking. I know that the pacing for graphic novels is different than prose, but I felt like we had no time to actually get to know the characters or the world - things just sort of happened. What I understood of the story could have been really fun, but it just didn’t have the time it needed to build up any tension or make us care about the characters.
If you like pirates and don’t mind a little bit of a rushed story, you might like this, it just wasn’t for me.

[Magpie]

7/10 For art style
4/10 for characters
2/10 for plot
-2/10 for pacing

That was so choppy??? It felt like some pages were a whole day and others a few minutes….idk it felt like pages were MISSING, but the art style was cute!!

[Melanie Gaum · Rating 1 out of 5]

ARC from Netgalley.

[Elliel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I requested and received this book from Net Galley. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

The Pirate Princess by Luca Frigerio and Lorenza Pigliamosche follows Julie (the main character) on her pirate adventure. The story so far is fun but but hectic, as is expected from a good pirate adventure. There is so much to love about this graphic novel: the art, the characters, the chaos, and more. However, it is not without its faults.

The Pirate Princess has so many tropes I've come to expect from pirate media. Like: family drama, cannon fights, deception, betrayal, found family, beautiful days as sea, big ships, and a colorful crew. The crew is my favorite though. Their character designs are so interesting and I can't wait to learn more about them. The art in general is so beautiful. It made me feel oddly nostalgic. There is just something about Lorenza Pigliamosche's art it has a warmth to it that reminds me of my favorite childhood films. Aside from their designs the characters themselves are also interesting. I could blab about them for a while but I wont. Mostly because this story is character driven and talking about them could give too much away. Just know the characters are wonderful and that you will likely want to know more after finishing this graphic novel. However, its not just the cliff hanger ending that will leave you wanting more.

Which brings me to the negatives. This graphic novel feels shorter than it is at 120 pages. The story is fast paced but The Pirate Princess feels like it barely scratches the story's surface. Is it enough to make me want to keep reading? Yes. But I don't think this graphic novel matches the description/blurb. It feels like, especially the bold text, is about the over arching story of a series. Not just this book. It is a disservice to the graphic novel because it makes people expect more. I know I personally expected more. I went into The Pirate Princess expected a full story. Why? Because nowhere is there any indication that this was the first book in a series. Not the cover, not inside of the graphic novel, nowhere I looked said anything about it being a series. The only indication this is the first in a series is the "To Be Continued..." ending.

Overall, I enjoyed this graphic novel. The story so far is setting up for a big adventure. To where? I'm unsure. But I am excited to go. I am invested I want to continue this adventure. I want to know what happens next. I need to know what kind of trouble Julie, Stephane, and Maxime get into. Seeing the "To Be Continued..." ending gives me hope that there will be another volume. (But I do still have a fear that this might be it.)