Amazing. I have really enjoyed this story through and through :)
The illustration just amazing.
The story is gripping, the writing style is easy to follow and read.

This graphic novel was incredibly beautiful.

The Straw King is a story set in Ancient Egypt. It gives us light into what it’s like being the discarded siblings of the pharaoh. We are Introduced to a half brother and sister who plot to escape from Egypt to live their lives the way the deem fit.

I really enjoyed the art style and found myself mesmerized by how the artist captured Ancient Egypt. I felt like I was transported back into time.

''I was given this book in exchange for a review via Netgalley. All Opinions are mine''
An Interesting short Historical Fiction comic
It starts of with two Egyptian Royal children running away from the royal palace only to be captured and sold to their enemies: The Babylonians. Neith ( The princess) soon discovers an evil plot that involves her brother, She must save him before its too late!

I enjoyed this comic, although it shorts it sticks to the historical aspects of the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, i liked that at the end there's a glossary of the time periods of what was happening in Egypt and Babylon and also their kings history.. It also gives an accurate description of the Straw king King ceremony that as being held in Babylon.
The art style was gorgeous it fits the story line well. Its lush and it depicts the times of the story well
The reason i rated it three stars was because it would have been better if it was a bit longer and fleshed out.
If you are looking for a historical comic to read try this one.

I liked it. It has great art, with a vivid watercolor feel to it, and an interesting plot. Although the story makes some jumps and takes some shortcuts, it kept me engaged throughout.

I went into this with no expectations except to enjoy a graphic novel about ancient Egypt written and illustrated by a female creator, and requesting for this ARC was good decision making on my part. LOL

The story revolves around royal siblings Neith and Sennedjem and their escape from lives they were doomed to live. Their newfound freedom is short-lived, however, bec soon they are found by slave traders and are sold to the enemy kingdom. Here Neith becomes a sitter to the royal children, and Sennedjem is groomed to be the Straw King, a scapegoat of sort in an ancient ritual that's supposed to save Babylon from misfortune in exchange of The Straw King's Life.

There are at least three things I absolutely liked about this graphic novel. 1) is the rich cultural setting of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia. The artstyle only adds to the intense beauty of this ancient civilization. 2) is the plot. The way it is set up for the siblings to want to leave their current situation, as well as the twist and turns the story takes after they leave Egypt are solid and written well. 3) is it's fast pace and how compelling the story took hold of my attention. The complexity of the characters, including Neith's new master, the slave masters in Babylonia, and even the Pharaoh were effectively incorporated in the span of just a few pages.

This is just the first of a series and so it ends on a cliffhanger, but it's intriguing enough that I am excitedly looking forward to the release of the next English translated volume. I highly recommend this to lovers of ancient Egypt, of stories with strong female leads, and stunning art.

*The eARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest review. It doesn't affect my opinion of the book. Thank you.

The Straw King: 1 - The Pharaoh's Daughter by Isabelle Dethan

The daughter of Pharaoh (Lady Neith) is unhappy with her lot and decides to run away. A brother catches her on her way out, and he too decides to run away, though he is doing so to protect his sister. After leaving Egypt, they are captured by slavers and sold to the Babylonian King. The King knows who the two are and their royal blood. He recently had an Oracle tell him of a coming doom to claim his person and decides that the Pharaoh's son 'Min' is to become a straw King, taken the Kings place during the period of danger and ultimately sacrificed to the Babylonian Gods by burning at the stake. Lady Neith becomes a servant to his son, who has no interest in her, and passes her to his concubine, a woman whom he fiercely loves and has children with.

A few more lines and I'll expose the whole plot. I have this to say. The story line is well crafted.as was the artwork. I am an artist and never tried drawing a graphic novel and can only imagine the hard work that went into it.

Yes I think I will keep my eyes peeled for the next part of this series. I enjoyed this taste of the story. I should mention that I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Gorgeous art and an interesting story with a lot of ancient politicking and intrigue.
When two lesser children of the Egyptian pharaoh decide to leave Egypt and seek out better fortune elsewhere, they are immediately captured and sold as slaves to Babylon. Neith, the girl, is send to be a nanny for the illegitimate daughters of the prince, while her brother is fated to become a ritual sacrifice in a tradition known as the "straw king" in which a man is crowned king only so he can absorb the bad fortune that is SUPPOSED to befall the real king and thus bring the kingdom prosperity.
Lots of twists and turns as the two try to find a way back to Egypt keep the action going throughout.

The art is beautiful and soft, perfect for the Egyptian culture. It’s very detailed and demonstrates a rich culture. The plot is interesting, but I think there are some parts that time jumps, that could be better explained. Still curious to see the next one.
I recommend this book for those who have an interest in ancient Egyptian culture.

'The Straw King' is a historical graphic novel with an Ancient Egyptian setting. In the novel, two children of the king try to run away from the life they know. However, they end up in a very messy situation where both are in danger. Will death follow? Or maybe not?

This graphic novel has beautiful drawings. They are very detailed, lovely colors are used and the drawings truly speak. This artist has a great style and it suits the Ancient Egypt theme. The only thing that bothers me was the font. Sometimes it was hard to read, not all letters were very clear in their shape.
There are some great characters in this graphic novel, also loved the setting and atmosphere. The surrounding was very creative and fun.
The story, on the other hand, I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. Some parts were very complicated and harsh to understand what was going on. Not everything was explained well which showed very early on. It feels as if the reader needs to have a certain knowledge about Ancient Egypt, to understand the story itself.
It isn't a long graphic novel, and apparently it's split into two issues. Which I wouldn't have done. The story ends abruptly and there is no climax.

The graphic novel has great art, but I personally wasn't a large fan of the story.

The Straw King is an excellent choice if you want to read a ancient historical political thriller, but can’t decide if you’d rather watch a movie or read a book.

(Note: possible content warning for references to incest, which we thankfully don’t see)

Neith, the daughter of one of Pharaoh’s many concubines, takes the chance to flee the palace with her half-brother when she learns she is about to share the same fate as some of her half-sisters: her father’s bed. They are kidnapped (or rescued?) by slave traders and sold to Nebuchadnezzar, emperor of Babylon. Neith’s adventures next are about escaping her new world, and her old one.

I really enjoyed this story, and I want to see more about the adventures of Neith.

The art is breathtaking: the comic has many scene changes (all of which are impressively clear), uses beautiful techniques to draw out subtle differences in focal planes, and the painted backgrounds are consistently gorgeous. The whole novel feels very much like a cinematic experience.

I loved the complexity, the history, the language and the traditions referred to in the comic. The comic’s world is richly researched and I appreciated the footnotes and the glossary explaining the terms used in the comic.

But I think the thing I’m most excited for is the next volume: this comic felt like a necessary origin story for Neith. It was exciting, it set up a clear world and mythology, and it was fun to read, but I’m more excited about what Neith will do next and how she defines herself in a totally new world.

I read a digital version of this comic, but I feel like this comic may work better in print: the map in the opening pages doesn’t read so well onscreen, and I initially found the font a bit difficult to read - but got used to it pretty quickly. These are small issues in a beautiful graphic novel.

Thank you so much to netgalley for sending me a copy of this graphic novel. I really enjoyed this and would like to hear more from the characters. If this sounds interesting to you I would definitely recommend.

In this graphic novel we follow a princess of ancient Egypt and her brother, a prince, as they are kidnapped and sold to a Mesopotamian king to be slaves and political pawns. The prince becomes a ‘straw king’, a fake king of Mesopotamia essentially, to protect the real king from bad luck in his eventual sacrifice. The two royal siblings try everything in their power to get out of this deadly predicament.

The weak point of this novel is the story, in short- I didn’t enjoy it.

What I did enjoy was the illustrations and the wonderful recreation of ancient life in these iconic cities. Very colorful and beautiful depictions.
The story does feel quite historically accurate in its depictions of daily life and the beliefs of these two cultures. The author did their homework which I appreciate.
This just ended up being ok for me, I really don’t feel the need to read the next story as I didn’t enjoy any of the characters.

2.5 stars. A little disappointed, even though I didn’t have high expectations.

**ARC provided by Europe Comics via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a pretty good first part to a graphic novel that, as I understand, is being published in two halves.

Neith and Sennedjem are two of the pharaoh’s ‘lesser’ children. The fate that awaits them is for Sennedjem to be a servant to one of his older brothers and for Neitn to become her father’s concubine. Understandably, neither of them are thrilled at this prospect, so the runaway. They are caught immediately by slave traders and taken to the Babylonian palace as slaves.

Firstly, the art in this book was just lovely. It had a vivid watercolour feel to it and managed to evoke the Babylonian court perfectly, including the heat.

The plot was pretty interesting. I know almost nothing about Egyptian/Babylonian society from this period, so it did teach me a few things. There was a big jump, though, between escaping the pharoah’s palace and getting caught by the slave traders, which felt weird.

Neith was a great character, very strong and determined to save her brother. I kind of thought she’d be better off on her own (her brother was kind of helpless) but I admired her loyalty. I want to read the next book to find out what happens to her (although given the time period it’s set in, I can’t imagine her fate is nice).

This would have been better with the second part to the story bound with the first; as it is, the story stopped, just kind of stopped suddenly and now I have to wait to find out what happens next.

This graphic novel was very good and very historically accurate. I love historical fiction graphic novels and I thought this one was beautifully done. The artwork was phenomenal. The story did seem to just cut off at the end but I did enjoy it. If you are a fan of Ancient Egypt or and historical fiction works for that matter I would definitely take the time to read this book.

'The Straw King' with words and art by Isabelle Dethan is a story set in 7th century BC Egypt.

Neith and Sennedjem are siblings and children of the Pharoah. On a trip to see the world, they are captured by slave traders and sold to the court of Babylon. Neith finds herself serving in the court, but hears that her brother may be in danger, so she begins a daring rescue mission.

I liked this story of Ancient Egypt. I found Neith to be an engaging protagonist. The art is really good, and I liked that they included a glossary of terms at the end of the book.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

As a kid I was always really interesting in Ancient Egypt (despite the fact I could never get the letters between E and T in the right order), so I was really looking forward to checking out this graphic novel.

Overall I did enjoy it. It was fun to go back to a time and place that I liked learning and reading about so much as a child, and I did like the story line. The illustrations were bright and vibrant, and really brought out the setting.

I probably wouldn't read it again, but I did enjoy it.

3.75 Stars (I received an e-arc from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

This story follows Neith and her brother, just a couple of the Pharaoh of Egypt's children who run away to escape difficult situations in the palace. However they are captured by merchants and end up as slaves in their rival kingdom, Babylon. It is a short story involving ancient Egyptian mythology and some really pretty designs with bright yet muted colouring. There are mentions alluding to incest within the royal family, which I was bit creeped out by (though this kind of thing was common in ancient Egypt).

confusing and not my sort of thing, art is wonderful but the story line is confusing. The cover is amazing but I just wish the goal was a little clearer.

I didn't know what to expect with this one because I've never read anything like it. I've always had an interest in Ancient Egypt so maybe that was what led me to click read. The first bit was a little odd but understandable with what I know about AE, but at the end, I found myself kinda wanting to pick up the next book to see what happens.

The straw king was full of beautiful vibrant colors. I found myself reading way to fast and not stoping to enjoy the colors and drawings, so when I forced myself to really slow down and take it all in I was in awe. Isabelle art is amazing.
I would of loved to see more dialogue between Neith and Sennedjem, when they found a way out also a few more pages but still I loved this short story.
So insightful and you can take a chance and read this and take in the art.
Thank you Netgalley.