I picked up Sword Princess Amaltea because of the draw of a female-dominated society. A Queendom instead of a Kingdom. While the premise of this story is appealing, it was executed poorly.

Maybe the intent was to poke fun at typical fairytales but all the author did was copy and paste those same stories, switching the gender roles as it goes.

I couldn't stand Amaltea through most of this book. She's arrogant, self-centered, whiney, and just a jerk. Her prince was a little better, though still not a character I enjoyed much.

The horse commentary was great! I wish there had been more of it because I found it very entertaining.

Same with the art style. It's what kept this book from being a lower rating. Very well done drawing.

An interesting attempt on an alternative history type gender role bending story. Unfortunately, it falls rather flat to me. It definitely didn't feel quite as fleshed out as it could have been.

Book Review
Title: Sword Princess Amaltea
Author: Natalia Batista
Genre: Manga
Rating: *****
Review: The opening to Sword Princess Amaltea was great. we are introduced to the two princess Amaltea and her older sister Dorotea, who are playing when Amaltea realizes her sister is stronger and faster than her and plans to overtake her one day.
We then jump forward to when Amaltea is 17 and her sister 19, her mother informs her she is going to fulfil her duty as a Princess but finding, rescuing and marrying a Prince. This is the reverse of most fairy tales and I was loving it. However, Amaltea doesn’t want to marry a Prince, she wants to be able to marry someone she loves, but Dori does manage to convince her to go on the quest, but along the way she makes sure that she ditches the knights that are protecting her, and she sees no use for men.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Amaltea comes to a town but people don’t believe she is a Princess, deciding to leave she meets Samyra, a guide who tells Amaltea she can help her find a Prince in need and help her complete her quest and earn the respect of her family. Her guide leads her to a place guarded by a dragon that many have tried to kill and failed but Amaltea is determined to complete her quest even if she doesn’t want to be married. We also learn from the guide that women rule the land because they are the only ones who can use magic, and won a matriarch war, giving women all the power, so Queens rules the kingdoms rather than the Kings.
Against the odds her manages to slay the dragon and awakens the Prince with a kiss but like her he refuses to marry her and so they head back to his kingdom. Along the way she learns that the Prince’s name is Ossian. Together they head for his home but they encounter a lot of trouble along the way, but they get through it and the pair seems to be getting closer to one another, but the ending leaves us knowing that someone else wants Ossian and is hunting down the person that took him from the tower. I think the next volume of this manga is going to be one hell of an adventure.
In terms of art style Sword Princess Amaltea isn’t something I would normally pick up, but the story is great providing a new outlook on the classic fairy tale and the humour is old school but really makes you laugh. Highly recommended.

'Sword Princess Amaltea, Book 1' by Natalia Batista has a fun premise, but falls into that weird area of manga for me.

Amaltea lives in a kingdom where, if she wants any kind of title, she needs to go rescue a prince. She sets out with lots of royal protection, which she loses as soon as she can. Soon she has found a dragon, a prince, a group of bandits and a very effeminate innkeeper.

I liked the premise, but the execution just didn't work for me. The over effeminate male characters underplayed the story because they seemed like they were helpless and needed rescuing. Perhaps this was really the point, but I would have found it to be funnier with big, hunky dudes.

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

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Everyone in this world has had their roles reversed. What a nice switch up for the old knight in shining armor tale. Princess Amaltea, the youngest daughter, is sent out by her mother to go rescue a prince and marry him. Once she returns him to his homeland, she will become queen and receive half their lands. Besides the prince being rescued, the bandits in the book are women and the barmaid is a man.

Amaltea is a hard-headed, princess who is always try to prove herself due to always being in her sister's shadow. Everyone else around her tends to be folly for jokes, but are really fun characters. The prince is weak and has a pretty face, the three bandits are kind of dumb and never seem to get it right, and the barmaid is a super pretty boy who is looking for an easy out. Also the inner dialogue from the horse is probably my favorite moments.

All of this works well because the book manages to find its humor in the reversal. It likes to poke fun at tropes from in which this type of story originated. The artwork is well done, the characters are fun, and it never takes itself too seriously. I had a lot of fun in this first volume, and I look forward to checking out volume 2.

4.5 stars

Well, I would say this book very much delivered with this gorgeous looking cover! It was the first thing that drew me in, followed by the very intriguing premise of a princess being the one to rescue the prince.

I very much enjoyed this story. Sometimes I couldn't stand Amalthea because she really was so self-centered, but for being a short read, she had a wonderful arc of growth. By the end I was really cheering for her and would love to read book two.

The horse was definitely one of my favorite "characters," though I won't go into detail as to why. However, if I had to choose a "bigger" character, I would say the prince. He really pulled my heart strings. <3

One of the most interesting things about this book is the backstory as to why the women rule. I thought that to be super fascinating! It was slightly strange seeing ALL the women have roles that typically men would have and then on the reverse side aching for justice concerning some of the treatment men receive.

Overall, this was very well written! A minor bit of language with a few places of slight cleavage, but a fascinating gender-bending tale that leaves you cheering and wanting more.

*(I received an e-copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)*

Review to be posted on all sources mentioned in my profile in June.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I was quite interested in this manga-style comic, especially because of the blurb. Welcome to the world where the roles are flipped. Princesses save princes and then marry them. Princesses kill the dragons. You can imagine that this sounds really fun, but what if you are the kind of princess like Amaltea, and just don't want all this.

Yes, Amaltea is spoiled, at times annoying, at times frustrating, and way too trusting, but I did like her at the end. In the end she really showed some progress, though she has a long long way to go for me to fully like her.

She is on a quest to find a prince, and she does find one. But it is kind of like finding herself. The prince is not a happy camper that she kissed him awake and is now taking him with her (and letting him walk while she is on her horse). But as the story continues we see them connect, we see them get closer, though again, like with Amaltea's kindness, they have a long road ahead of them. Hopefully the journey to Ossian's home country isn't going to be a short one.

Though given the trouble they get into, mostly thanks to Amaltea and her being an out and proud princess, I think the journey will take a while. Especially when we see that twist near the end, plus the flashbacks on why Ossian isn't so happy with woman all going hot and bothered because of him.

The art, well, where to begin. At times I quite liked it, but at other times not so much. The style was a bit rough on the edges, and I really had trouble with seeing if a person was he or she. For instance our prince is super feminine so I thought for quite a bit that there would be a twist that he was a she. Then there are other characters, like Tibius, who is apparently a dude but I thought he was a girl until it was mentioned. :P
Also sometimes the body proportions were out of whack. People would shrink or grow or stretch at random times.

Will I be reading the next book? I am not sure yet. On the one hand yes, because I want to know who that person is that is dedicated to our prince, I want to see Amaltea get a bit nicer and kinder, and of course I want to see our prince home country. And then there is Amaltea's family who is kind of looking for her as she ditched her guards.