Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess Book 3: Two Boys, Five Girls, and Three Love Stories

Raven: the Pirate Princess (Collected Editions) #3

by Jeremy Whitley, Rosy Higgins (Artist), Ted Brandt (Artist)

After the confrontation at The Island of the Free Woman, Raven’s crew is worse for wear and one of their number is on the edge of death. But somewhere nearby is an island where a legendary woman can heal any ills. Can Raven and her crew get there in time and will this woman even help a crew of pirates?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy, Young Adult, LGBT, Pirates, Queer

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 10, 2017

About the author

Jeremy Whitley is the son of two teachers and the husband of a third.

Born in La Mesa, CA, Jeremy went to high school in Lenoir, NC and college at The University of North Carolina. He graduated with a Bachelors in English, and a minor in Creative Writing.

Jeremy lives in Durham, North Carolina with his wife Alicia and his two daughters Zuri and Amara.

Jeremy is the writer/creator of the comic series Princeless, Raven the Pirate Princess, School for Extraterrestrial Girls, and The Dog Knight. He is also the writer of the acclaimed Marvel series "The Unstoppable Wasp". His other works include extensive work for Marvel, the "Sea of Thieves" comics, and over sixty issues of My Little Pony comics.

Awards and Nominations:
3 time Glyph Winner
5 time Glyph Nominee
2 time Eisner Nominee
2 time Cyblis Nominee
2 time Bloomer Nominee
1 time Most Likely to Succeed Winner

Reviews

[laura (bookies & cookies) · Rating 5 out of 5]

MY OT3 LIVES. This graphic novel series is super gay, filled calling out of misogynistic comments and general asshattery. One of my all time favorites!

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

With one of her crew members injured and unconscious, a devastated Raven Xingtao flails about for a way to save her.

On the way to a possible solution, Raven and Sunshine take turns sitting with her and telling her stories of their ancestors' romances. The flashbacks inject a little action and adventure into what would otherwise just be a boat ride of sadness.

And of course, once they reach their destination, getting the healer's help is fraught with complications: fights and emotional breakthroughs and so forth.

Still liking the characters and the vibe of this series.


Side note: I purchased a Kindle version of Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess, Book 3: Two Boys, Five Girls, and Three Love Stories from Amazon today because it wasn't available at my local library and for some reason this issue was not included in the collection. The paper version of the book collects #9-12 of the series, but my Kindle version only collects #10-12. Princeless- Raven: The Pirate Princess #9 doesn't seem to appear in Book 2 either; it just got trimmed out of the electronic collections -- accidentally, I assume, since the issue doesn't seem controversial and is also for sale on Amazon individually (that's where I bought a version of #9 today). So be aware you might not be getting the full story.

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t ever want to stop reading this series. It’s so much fun. 😭🙌🏼 I didn’t love this volume quite as much as the first two, due to the mini stories (and a few spelling mistakes which really threw me? 😂) but it was nonetheless a wonderful read.

[E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4🌟

"You hit me in the boob!"

Raven fights tooth and nail to get Ximena back on her feet. The love triangle gets intense. We get some interesting perspective of Native Islanders. And I just want all of them to be safe and happy.

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[Sylwia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series for its meta feminism, its many wonderful characters, and its character dynamics. The plot doesn't progress too much in this one, but the characters are worth it. This continues to be one of my favorite series. (For those of you that don't know, our protagonist is a lesbian and of Asian descent.)

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friends, mark your calendars. On this day, I, being of sound(ish) mind and body, do admit to actually enjoying a love triangle in a story.

I KNOW.

Being fair to me, this love triangle contains absolutely no boys. It is three queer girls being uncertain and wibbly about each other and this matters a lot to me. I live in hope for an OT3.

Anyway. When Last We Left Our Heroes, Raven's confrontation with her brothers had gone badly, one of the crew had been hurt really badly, and everyone was scrambling to find a thing to do. In this volume, they find that thing: find a legendary healer and get her to help. I quite like this volume because we get to see a lot of Raven's flaws. She's impulsive, brash, reckless, and prone to use violence. However, she's also quick-thinking, loyal, and very loving to her friends. I also enjoy it because we get to see this whole crew of diverse, clever, badass women pull together and make a miracle happen, sort of in spite of their captain.

Finally, I like this volume because we get a bunch of stories. Raven tells one, Sunshine tells one, we even get the tail end of someone else's which sounds embarrassing and hilarious. And we all know how I feel about stories within stories. Good volume, if darker and less funny than the others; I look forward to the next.

[laura (bbliophile) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ohhh I like this series a lot

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This installment reveals some more back story of some of the characters. We also move to characters other than pirates or wanna be pirates.

Nice action, wonderful characters.

[Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

We didn't really learn much more about our characters than we already knew (yes you are in love, yes you are awesome, yes you are the most stubborn) but it's still fun to see characters be themselves (and acknowledge things to themselves) and meet new people.

Side note: Please don't beat up healers to convince them you're not a thug. Come on now.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with my 10-year-old daughter who is into the series. She loves it! She told me I would like it because it “has romance and violence.” She knows me.

I thought it was really good and enjoyed everything about it, other than one thing: Did they not have an editor? This book is littered with some glaringly obvious grammatical mistakes. Other than that, it has great illustrations, action, love, and kickass heroines.

[Dreximgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do love this book, it's really interesting to see a cast of mostly females getting along and being all badass. I felt the focus in this one was a little more on the romantic side than it had been before but it moved the story along nicely and I enjoyed it a lot.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 4 out of 5]

These aren't all just laughs and jokes, they also deal with philosophical and ethical questions--especially violence versus pacifism in this collection. So very good.

[larissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

raven muito cadelinha da ximena

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Raven a bit insufferable in this volume.

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, I liked this one but didn’t love it. I guess it’s sort of nice getting more backstory on the characters, but I’m not a big fan of the “let me tell you a story” plot device. Also, so romance-focused! Boring! Let’s get back to fighting Raven’s a-hole bros, yeah? And like, a lot more Katie. Cause she’s everyone’s fave, obviously.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, the first two volumes of this alluded that Ximena and Raven might be queer, but this volume blew those doors wide open and was the MOST QUEER. I'm a very happy camper about that.

This was a lot of fun, but I've opted for a 3-star rating for a few reasons:
- I wasn't super into the 2 stories the girls were telling Ximena in the first 2 issues (they weren't BAD, I just didn't really care)
- One of the stories features a prisoner falling in love with her jailer (even if he is only her jailer by proxy, BUT STILL)
- There were a lot of typos in this (something I've found with the previous 2 volumes as well)

I do still love this series though. I'm already anticipating volume 4. :)

[Laura Sackton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was disappointed in Volume 2 of this comic, which I didn't think lived up to the awesomeness of the first volume. But I loved this one! Raven and her crew of badass queer women are as feminist and fierce as ever. There's action and adventure but a lot of depth, too--which is what I loved so much about Volume 1. Also, I absolutely loved the two stories-within-the-story in this volume.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Raven the Pirate Princess has surpassed the original Princeless series. Princeless is great, don't get me wrong - but Raven's series is so much better. This series continues to be consistently amazing, and I will 100% be on watch for the next volume.

[Aliesha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Downgrading because was the proofreader high? Ridiculous number of errors.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series!

[krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a filler volume rather than advancing the story, I did enjoy the stories within the main narrative. A few gripes with those: Raven tells a story about a woman who's written Chinese, but the drawings of her look pretty white in my opinion. I didn't love the art style for either of the side-story volumes--in the second one especially, the rendering of bodies seemed like it could have been refined more.

I love the tenacity and tenderness of so many of this crew. Once again Whitley sprinkles corrections of problematic mindsets throughout the narrative (the use of the word "thug" is one), though in a few cases I found it forced and ill-fitting of the application. Spoiler for specifics: Raven asks a guard who calls her "scum" why she doesn't qualify as "thug" after overhearing the conversation about the problems with that word. Like, we've just outlined why it's an issue, can we not revert to it? Also Leilani says to Raven "Do not assume that because I wear a dress and laugh and like things that are feminine that I am weak." Okay, she just told us she's a soldier, and I didn't think Raven's grabbing Leilani's arm implied Raven thought her weak. The wording is awkward and heavy-handed.

There's also one instance of putting down men to another woman for the quip ("boys are rubbish at directions") and that's just not what I'm here for. I want to read about the strength of women on their OWN merit, not at the expense of others.

Other gripes: more spelling errors, a kiss on an unconscious person (honestly not sure of the character's motivation behind that--the scene echoes fairytale princes waking others with a kiss and it reveals a certain follow-up line of dialogue but the way the character is written who's making that choice, it doesn't make sense), a prisoner falling in love with their captor (though the captor does acknowledge that they shouldn't have been forward at one point and that the other may only be complying for fear of reprisal). Some of Sunshine's dialogue is seemingly a country dialect, but it seems overwrought and doesn't work for me.

Other than that (I know I sometimes overload on the negatives), I really love Cid's agency and her dialogue through sign language. Another moment reckons with asthma (and shows a really great sympathy moment for a character who isn't very likable this issue). I did enjoy the banter as Raven attempts to secure Leilani's aid.

Overall, definitely invested and am glad it's around, but it could use some polish.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a severely injured Ximena aboard, Raven and her crew sail to an island in search of a healer. But getting the healer’s help requires some, er, persuasion.

Oh yeah. I’m so enthralled with Raven and her crew. I could read about them for days and days. There was no a good deal of plot movement in this volume. But the characters are just so fantastic that you do not realize how little forward momentum there is until you really think about it … at the end!

I continue to have a complaint with the publisher Action Lab Entertainment. This volume was 128 pages … with 27 pages of advertisements. The only saving grace is that the ads are at the end of each issues which makes it easier to skip them. If the ads were interspersed within the issue, I would be even more frustrated – and even more reluctant to continue with the Raven story. As it is, I will not be super eager to pick up another graphic novel from this publisher. Very unfortunate because I love this diverse cast and the story they are involved in.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raven and crew escape their captivity by her dastardly siblings, mostly with some bruises, cuts and sore muscles. But their navigator Ximea fared far worse. She’s unconscious, has broken ribs, and may be at death door. Fortunately, a renowned healer lives on a nearby island. Unfortunately, The crew arrives only to find that the healer has a strict NO SERVICE TO PIRATES policy and lots of guards to enforce it. Getting a waver to this policy turns out to be as big a fight as the one with Raven’s brothers.

Meanwhile the unconscious Ximea needs constant watching in case she regains consciousness. As they sit with her, two different crew members tell tales of their ancestors to an unconscious audience. These tales, illustrated in a different style from the rest of the book, comprise two of the three love stories promised in the subtitle and give the reader a bit of the storytellers’ backstories.

[Marthese Formosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

this one got me sitting on the edge of my seat! The crew is doing everything to save Ximena. They went to an island renowned for it's healer but they get turned down because they are pirates and many people are hurt because of pirates. They try to be diplomatic and the they aren't.

It's great because of the love story as well. Raven liked Ximena, Ximena may like Raven. Sunshine likes Raven.

There are two stories within the story; one told by Raven and one by Sunshine, to keep Ximena company.

Again, character development, although this trade sees the secondary characters in the crew a bit less than the second. A lot of important discussions as well; on love, on setting people up to become criminals, on treating people with respect even if you're fighting or scared of them and so on.

Not sure if there is more, I hope there is! Also, still rooting for Sunshine.

[Anoush · Rating 2 out of 5]

The previous book left off with Raven's crew totally trashed by her brothers, barely escaping with their lives. They're desperate to find medical help to save Ximena's life (their navigator, a complete pacifist and Raven's secret crush..

I was a bit frustrated with this book. I called the previous book an "in between" book, a set up for future adventures. After an "in between" book you need something to further the plot, some thing to actually happen. I don't feel like that happened here. Ximena was healed, but Raven never confessed her love, they didn't go anywhere, they don't have any new plans. Nearly nothing happened. We just built up a ton of angst within the crew...I don't remember Sunshine's problem . . . reads like she's got a crush on Raven secretly? I have no idea...

[Arminzerella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ximena was injured in the previous installment, and without any medical professionals on ship, Raven orders the crew to take them to Ku’uipo – an island reported to have a great healer. When they get there, however, guards inform them that the healer (Leilani Ilona) will not see pirates. Raven decides to change her mind. Meanwhile, she and other members of the crew sit with the unconscious Ximena, telling her stories from their pasts, to offer her comfort. After a knockdown fight, Raven triumphs and Leilani lays hands on Ximena. Lots of action (great fight scenes between Raven and Leilani), and interesting character backstories.

[Kai Charles(Fiction State Of Mind) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume deals with repercussions from the previous volumes. One of Raven's crew is badly wounded and the crew sails to a noted healer to get help. When the healer rejects their need Raven must use all her skills to fight for the healers attention. The fight brings a sense of clarity to Raven's mind and heart and makes her an even fiercer warrior. I really love Raven, she is still committed to vengeance against her brothers but she also finds the strength to deal with the emotions that come up because of interactions with her crew.


Coyer Scavenger Hunt
Read a Book with a pirate as one of the main characters 4pts

[Jaie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying this so I'm giving it five stars. It has great characters, a queer love story that I'm on board with, great one-liners, really it's very enjoyable.

But you can tell it's a small press, I guess. Typos? I'm pretty sure a character's name changes from one page to the next? I mean, you put all that time into writing, drawing, coloring and inking it, at least you could spell the words right. Who is dropping the ball on this??

Still five stars though because I loved it. And I can't wait for the next one. (If you need me to proof if just call me.)

[Akemi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still love Raven. I loved all the backstory that was told during this volume, it gave soup much more depth to the characters. This volume wasn't super plot heavy but that didn't detract from my enjoyment. Unlike a number of the other reviewers I can't stand the love triangle that has developed. To be fair I've never particularly been fond of love triangles, but maybe this one will work out in a way that doesn't annoy me. I guess I'll just have to wait for the next volume to find out.

[Liz Freed · Rating 5 out of 5]

When one character's life is in danger from Vol. 2, we see how the crew - and Captain Raven - act under pressure. Some great backstories in this one, told creatively, and there's a great love triangle of three queer women.

I LOVED how tough Raven is, even when beaten. I'm falling in love with Katie and Sunshine, and all the characters have captured my attention.

Once again, as soon as I finished, I had to grab the next book. Unputdownable!