The Scarecrow Princess by Federico Rossi Edrig.
Morrigan Moore has always been moody, but her new home is the worst. Her novelist mother has dragged her to the countryside, drawn by the lost myth of the King of Crows, a dark figure of theft and deceit, and the Scarecrow Prince,
A good read with good characters. Slow but readable. 3*.

I feel this graphic novel has a sting start with some wonderfully done writing. The art is very pleasing and well done. This was a good book but it wasn’t a top favorite. I would still share this book with others because I know several that would enjoy it.

A very inappropriate graphic novel, bordering on disturbing. The relationship of aa 14 year old with an older man? This is not it. The art style wasn't great, unlikeable characters and not suitable for any age!

Hard miss- how was this published?

A strange graphic novel about an angsty teen who gets into supernatural trouble/shenanigans after she moves with her author mother and brother to a new town. I did not fully grasp what the novel was getting at, especially the sexual undertones. This novel seems really underdeveloped and I did not connect with the art nor the characters.

'The Scarecrow Princess' with art and story by Federico Rossi Edrig is a graphic novel about a girl who has been chosen for a purpose, even if she's not exactly sure she wants to be.

Morrigan Moore moves to a new town because of her author mother and brother. They want to investigate supernatural stories. Morrigan just wants to cope with being moved around. She makes a new friend and meets a strange old woman. Then she has an encounter with a stranger surrounded by crows who seems to have taken Morrigan's mother and brother hostage. Morrigan must find the power within her to help get them back.

This had the bones of a decent story, and I did like the story and associated characters. I didn't care for the art much at all and felt like it drug everything around it down a bit.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Lion Forge, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Morrigan Moore is upset at having to move to the countryside with her novelist mother. There is the myth of the King of Crows and the Scarecrow Prince, the only one who can stand against him. Of course Morrigan gets drawn into the story and has to save the town and her family. The story is a great one, and flows about as well as you would expect.

This was a beautifully designed graphic novel. I loved the premise of this story, with the myth in the world becoming the narrative. I loved the how the main character was a typical teenager, not some strange ‘fake’ teenager. I would recommend this story to anyone who is interested a fantasy orientated comic with a strong lead.

A darkish story about a young girl fighting against an age old foe, with the help of a new friend. Great illustrations and a fine story with a good pace.

Free copy given in exchange for an honest review.

“You know what, Morrigan Moore? Your endless whingeing is wearing a bit thin.”

I couldn’t say it better, Mr King of the Crows. Morrigan Moore is a fairly impressive tantrum thrower. Throughout the story she winds up yelling at pretty much everyone.

Morrigan is fourteen and isn't happy about moving (again!) to the middle of nowhere. Edgar, her older brother and Sophie, her mother are gathering information about the King of the Crows and the Scarecrow Prince for their next book in the Myths of Albion series.

After a crow steals her hair pin and she gets cranky (again!), Morrigan winds up meeting Alma, a potential friend if she can put up with Morrigan’s anger issues, and Dandelion, one of the dogs Alma is paid to walk by rich people.

When Dandelion pulls hard on her leash to chase a crow (yes, they’re everywhere in this story) Alma's bracelet breaks and ends up in Widow Abbott's yard, a recluse and the oldest woman in town. Although Alma tells her not to, Morrigan decides to find the broken bracelet.

As soon as she retrieves it, Widow Abbott appears, warns Morrigan that she's exposed, that shiny objects attract him and he has eyes and ears everywhere, before hustling the new girl inside. Who has eyes everywhere? The King of the Crows and apparently underestimating his threat only makes him more dangerous, so pay attention! Arming Morrigan with a button for protection, Widow Abbott sends her on her way. Yeah, that’ll help! Thanks, scary old lady!

Then there are some action scenes and kidnapping, followed by watching Morrigan masturbate before she has a suggestive conversation with the creepy Crow Man, who incidentally is not just her senior but at least several hundred years older than her. That’s if he’s not immortal. I don’t know. I’m pretty sketchy on some of the details. Maybe I missed some of the really important links but some of the scenes appeared jumpy, without the connection needed to get the full picture.

Morrigan has some wicked eyebrows and one of the best angry faces I've ever seen, but I don’t know why a fourteen year old is wandering around preparing for battle yet forgets to put on her underwear. Seriously! Why did we need a naked fourteen year old girl facing off against a naked man of indeterminate age but somewhere in the ‘why aren’t you dead already?’ range?!

While I’m asking questions, why are Morrigan’s older brother and her mother consistently referred to as her folks? Was something lost in the translation? Why does Morrigan’s brother look positively evil in some of the panels where he’s smiling?

While I was really interested in this graphic novel based on the blurb and cover image I found a lot of the scenes with Crow Guy really hard to decipher. There’s plenty of black swooshing around the pages but it’s hiding the detail of what’s actually happening a fair amount of the time.

While I was initially hooked because we were setting off to investigate a local legend and that should be awesome, I wound up disappointed. I guess I should’ve listened when Morrigan’s mother said at the beginning:

“It’s not the job of an author to give the reader what they want … It is the job of an author to give the reader what they need.”

I didn’t get what I wanted or hoped for. Did I get what I needed? I guess the author thinks so. Unfortunately I won’t be recommending this one.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lion Forge and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

I have tried to read this book a couple times and could not get through it. This just was not really for me.

A fantasy tale that has stood the test of time, translated to english for the first time. Familiar yet new, The Scarecrow Princess is a delight.

An enjoyable story of confronting monsters and coming of age.

It took me a while to decide how I felt about the art in this book, while I didn't start out as a fan of it I think it worked well with the story. It was a great twist to the "chosen one" storyline and I really enjoyed the way it makes the reader question that.

This was cute. I read it on the plane and it was a fun read. My 13-year-old cousin liked it as well. It may not be a long read, but it's good for a fun read.

Started off strong. There's a lot of great snappy dialog between Morrigan and her family. Once they disappear in the middle though the book goes downhill. The art is very clunky and couldn't handle the scenes between Morrigan and the King of the Crows well at all. It often just looked like a swirl of purple and black. I couldn't make out details at all. I was also confused by the familiar relationship. Sometimes they are referred to as Morrigan's mom and brother, sometimes they are referred to as her folks. I hope there's not some kind of incest thing going on here. I also wasn't a big fan of having naked 14 year old girls in my comics. If it's important to the story at least cover it up with a word balloon or something.

I LOVED this! The storyline is interesting, and the illustrations are well done. Great for anyone who wants a strong female lead and loves folk lore!

Such an interesting story!

And the art perfectly fit. It was very…sharp? That’s not a good description, but I thought the harsh lines really fit well. And the characters expressions were fantastic.

I really wish I had read this in one or two sittings - I’ve been busy so I had to sit down and read it when I could. I think I would have liked it even more if I could have spent a solid block of time with it.

And there were a few spots where it was hard to tell what was happening - but I think that may have been on purpose. This confrontation was chaotic, and intended to be so.

Overall it was just a really engaging story. Once again, it’s hard to review stories like this, because you enjoy them so much that you get into the story and don’t notice specific things that you liked. Just that you liked and relished in the overall completed product. Recommended. I actually may pick this up in hardcopy when it comes out.

(Oh, and I would say it’s not an all-ages book. May want to read it before sharing it with younger readers.)

This looked really promising, but I didn't ... get it? I disliked the main character from the beginning; she was rude and didn't get much better. I liked the art style, though, it was very distinctive and the colours were quite nice. I liked how the Crow King was drawn and how his eyes were always obscured.

I honestly felt quite uncomfortable with the 14-year-old main character being drawn completely naked at the end. It seemed unnecessary and combined with all the other sexual undertones placing a child in a sexual light ... yeah, it was weird and really unexpected, especially as I found this in the teens section of NetGalley.

Scarecrow Princess: I have a suggestion to read instead of this.

I am utterly disappointed with this Lion Forge ROAR release.

An Italian import, I read the English translation of this Graphic Novel. I was initially drawn in by the plot description and atypical artwork. Unfortunately, The Scarecrow Princess has some inexcusable issues that block me from suggesting it to other readers.

The Scarecrow Princess (Federico Rossi Edrig)
160 pages
Lion Forge
ISBN-10: 1941302424
ISBN-13: 978-1941302422

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READ THIS, NOT THAT
So beyond this is a pretty negative review. I suggest you skip this book and read Nilah Magruder’s M.F.K. instead. While I have not yet read MFK, is on my short list of seemingly amazing work I need to prioritize.
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Fatal flaws, lets discuss the biggest of them. We wont even talk about the rest.

I was annoyed that the creators of this comic chose to so strongly sexualize the fourteen year old female protagonist. But it is more than just sexualization; It has a strong theme of methodical abuse:

**Fourteen year old female protagonist Morgan meets faceless male antagonist the King of Crows. The KoC dispatches Morgan’s mother and brother, removing her support base, leaving her vulnerable and alone in her home.

**The faceless King of Crows grabs Morgan, simply saying ‘gotcha’ before Morgan blacks out. She awakes in a strange bedroom/bed.

**Morgan starts wearing an additional layer of clothing, an oversized old coat, an unmistakable metaphor of protection to save her from the King.

**The King of Crows tells her all the trouble he has caused and the removal of her family is for her own good and because she ‘wanted it’

**Early teenage Morgan then, for NO REASON, goes home and masturbates for an 8 panel page.

**The King attempts to break Morgans will, causing her oversized protective coat to dissolve.

**Author inserts a random Lesbian joke/reference

**Morgan and the King of Crows have a battle in which they are both nude. We don’t know why, but they are. Mr Faceless shows his bare chest while Miss Fourteen shows all of her bathing suit areas several times. In the end, her protection backfires, the bad guy is released and promises to return.

**The stalker version of KoC has a conversation with Morgan.. shortly after, another Lesbian joke/reference

**After Morgan’s family is returned, she never tells them about the screwed up bullshit she has gone through, and goes to highschool the next week.

If the plotline had not been completely full of holes, perhaps there could be justification for some of these elements, but in its published state, there are no excuses. Nudity for example is warranted in a number of Graphic Novels, for example, in recently published works about eating disorders. Doubtful this work could be saved, it burnt my bridge already.

Disappointed.

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Disclosure: This Graphic Novel was supplied by the author or publisher for review purposes. The source of the media did not impact my viewpoint..

From the publisher:
Morrigan Moore has always been moody, but her new home is the worst. Her novelist mother has dragged her to the countryside, drawn by the lost myth of the King of Crows, a dark figure of theft and deceit, and the Scarecrow Prince, the only one who can stand against him. When Morrigan finds herself swept up in the legend, she'll have no choice but to take on the Scarecrow Prince's mantel, and to stand and fight. For her town, her family, and her own future. This lushly drawn graphic novel will pull you into its sinister secrets and not let go till the final page. For fans of Coraline and Over the Garden Wall.

My thoughts:

The publishers say that this book is similar to Gaiman's Coraline, and I agree that like Coraline, this graphic novel uses the drawings to set the mood of the book. This story is downright spooky and perfect for the Halloween season. I can feel the cold coming off the pages. In addition, if you have never seen Hitchcock's classic movie The Birds in black and white, watch it so you know what I mean when I say that the crows felt claustrophobic and nightmarish.

I am not sure if the final version will be in color. My advanced copy was in black and white and I think that made this even more creepy. I used to love watching horror movies because they take you to the brink of wanting to look away when you hear the music. Well, even without the "music" in this novel I found myself speeding up and wanting to look away because I knew what was coming but I wanted to speed forward anyway and then I could not shut my eyes fast enough. This was fun spooky and young readers will enjoy it.