Since I loved Quentin Zuttion's "Appellez-moi Nathan", a graphic novel about a trans man's journey to figuring himself out, I didn't hesitate to request "All Princesses Die Before Dawn". And I'm so, so glad that I did. Quentin has a special talent not only for drawing and creating strangely moving illustrations, but also for conveying queerness in his stories in unique ways.

APDBD follows three members of the same family. Eight-year-old Lulu likes to try on lipstick, plays with dolls, and thinks about kissing the boy at the end of the street; meanwhile, teenager Cam turns the volume up so nobody can hear her boyfriend sneaking into her room through the window, whereas their mother hasn't sung for the long time her marriage has been crumbling down. Over the course of twenty-four hours, each of them faces tragedy in their own way; and despite the fact that they're facing their demons alone, it brings them together in a special way.

This was an incredible story from beginning to end. I appreciated how the different issues Quentin addressed were handled; from queerness in early childhood, to abusive relationships, to divorce, each character faces a traumatic situation, and yet they manage to heal in unexpected ways. It was a quiet, tranquil read that progressed at its own pace, and left me feeling satisfied and pensive.

What a lovely story! As a queer woman, it is so interesting to read queer coming of age stories when I too felt different and alone in my thoughts and feelings growing up. I am so proud of the mother in this story and almost cried at how heartwarming the ending was. Thank you NetGalley for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

All Princessea Die Before Dawn
Script and Art by Quentin Zuttion

Edition: Ebook, 160 pages, Graphic Novel

Disclaimer: I got this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you so much for this amazing opportunity

The story starts on 31st August 1997, the day Lady Di died. While these news are fluttering over the TV screen a family struggles, each in their own way. While the father grew estranged to his family and keeps staying away for the nights, the mother insists that he is still around for the kids if not for her. She fell out of love too but she wants to protect her children. The older daughter Cam has a secret boyfriend, who is much older than her and maybe kind of just using her. And 8-year old Lulu tries out lipstick in secret, wishing he was like a Disney princess and he's a bit in love with Yoyo, a boy from his neighborhood.
While the siblings have a quite awesome relationship despite their age difference, Lulu's friendship with Yoyo is hetting more strained. Yoyo still plays along with Lulu's ideas but makes fun of him for taking the girl-role in their pretend-to-be plays.

The relationships between the characters is very well built and they grow on you pretty fast. It was really sad to witness their struggles as they are loving people. The art style fits the general pace of the story perfectly and the colours are so soft that you feel the hot summer sun on your skin.

This graphic novel deeply impressed me and I liked it a lot, plot- and artwise.
4.5/5☆

I really loved this graphic novel - the art style was beautiful, evocative and stylised enough to be suggestive of details without losing the loose, childlike style that really added to the more imaginative scenes and childhood perspectives. The story itself was bittersweet, and something I imagine a lot of Queer and Trans people (like myself) can relate to in one way or another.

Some content warnings for homophobic and transphobic language, but it is used in-situ as part of the author's own experiences and demonstrates the damaging effects such language and opinions might have, even from a young child's limited understanding when using the words.

I adored how three very different stories of love, growth and acceptance are interwoven, each centering on one of the main characters within the family. The elements of magic/fantasy from the children's perspective adds another layer to the story, immersing you in how they see the world, and contrasting the teen and adult layers of the story.

I would love more stories from this author's life, and feel a longer graphic novel or series charting their experiences would be a wonderful addition to LGBTQIA+ literature, connecting many of us with shared experiences.

This was a beautiful and heartfelt story about family, queerness and acceptance. While it has it's hardhitting moments, it manages to counter them with with light hearted, sweet moments too.

The art style is beautiful and fits excellently with the story they were telling here. While the panelling wasn't my favourite that I've seen, it did work very well for this story.

I liked this and would recommend it if people are looking for a story about queer self discovery but I don't think it made so much of an impact on me to be hugely memorable and something I talk about for a long time to come

I received an advanced reader copy of the All Princesses Die Before Dawn by Quentin Zuttion in exchange for an honest review.

All Princesses Die Before Dawn is a beautiful graphic novel about a young boy exploring his gender and sexuality on the day of Princess Diana’s death. The book also explores the boy’s mother and sister, but Lulu is the true star.

As a queer trans woman, so much of Lulu’s story was relatable. Playing with makeup when nobody would notice, playing with dolls, pretending to be a princess, longing for the affection of a straight friend. Being called a fag, because even though his feelings were beautiful, others see them as disgusting. This story was written as auto-fiction, based closely on Zuttion's own childhood. I loved feeling that connection to him through our shared experiences.

Overall I’d say this is a wonderful, queer slice-of-life tale with gorgeous artwork. Thank you NetGalley and Europe Comics for the advanced reader copy.

This is a bittersweet story about hope, loyalty, and connection. Eight year old Lulu is a boy who wants to be a princess, even if his best friend thinks its silly. Cam, his teenage sister, has distanced herself from her friends to hide her older boyfriend, and experiences anxiety and doubt about her choices. Their mother, bitterly aware that her marriage is over, finds time to connect with her children and try to make everything normal for them.

This is a quietly powerful novel.

This was so sad and cute, both heartwarming and heartbreaking. The art style is amazing, the themes explored are relevant and dealt with brilliantly.
I wish it had been longer, I just wanted to see so much more - but I was still satisfied with what I got. This is a quick sweet read that I would recommend to everyone.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for a review.

I came away from this story feeling quite touched; I think it hit me at the right time. The setting, France in 1997, struck me as interesting because a lot of the contents are transnational to me as an American reader in 2023; homophobia, college students creeping on high school girls, themes related to what is and isn’t “mature,” all are still very much relevant.

The artwork errs on the side of simple, but I think that it serves the story and provides what it needs to match the script. The allusions to death and pseudo-gun violence might be a little heavy for some readers, but, hey, death is in the title so you’re at least getting warned.

Well, I got this book today via Netgalley.

The book it's so cute, I cried at the last part, I couldn't help but to cry because when you're a child you don't know certain topics and certain concepts in life, and that specifically happened to me when I was about Lulu's age, where people used to call me things that I didn't even knew the meaning of.
It is sad how we are treated, but Lulu still got his sister and his mother who were there for him and supported them, because that's what family's all about.

I loved the book, it is a fantastic story which could relate to any of us at some point like it did with me, I totally recommend it and that's why it got 5 stars.

All Princesses Die Before Dawn is beautifully illustrated and tastefully written. It is a window in to the life of a small suburban family for a day, navigating experiences such as love (and the loss of it), gender identity, familial struggles and growth.

The connection between Cam and Lulu is a realistic tumultuous sibling relationship and something that I think Zuttion really done a stand out job of depicting.

A short but beautiful story about growing up and relationships from different ages and perspectives. It's also about love and family. The art style is beautiful and the characters are really well written and drawn so you really feel and understand what they're going through. Something I would have loved to read when I was younger. I do wish it was slightly longer but to me that's a good thing.

I really liked it. It's beautiful and I loved the way it works out in the end. I really liked the colors and the songs. The princess Diana part was a little bit pointless, if it was removed it wouldn't make a much difference. The tittle gave me a different idea from what actually happened, but I really liked.

Really enjoyed the art style of this graphic novel but personally struggled with some of the subject matter.

The main thing that intrigued me and brought me to read this book was its description. There are so few books about queer kids finding out who they are at such a young age and I’m so glad this exists. The book takes place over a day and deals with a family and their separate struggles. The main character Lulu struggles by not being very interested in traditional boy things and imagines what it would be like to kiss a boy. His teenage older sister struggles with being in love with someone who doesn’t necessarily love her back for the right reasons. Meanwhile their mother is struggling to get through to their father who didn’t come home last night.

This book has a lot of heavy material so I would recommend going through reviewers content warnings as at certain times during the book I had to pause to collect my thoughts. It’s still a really good book just very emotional and heavy topics that I’m glad are being talked about.

When I first started reading I thought the art was ok but then as the book went on it became amazing. The art style is simple yet striking in certain scenes. The way it conveys complex emotions in later scenes is beautiful. I wasn’t looking at the art through the right lens at first and definitely came around to it more.

One thing that I thought was really clever about this book was framing all the family problems at the same time we are seeing clips of Princess Diana’s tragic death. The framing for that is brilliant and sticks the landing as Lulu figures out who he is as Princess Diana was such an icon to the queer community. I also love the hopeful ending as the family really goes through a lot during this day.

I received a free eARC from the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute quick read! The story was heartwarming but also a bit sad. It's slice of life about a family and each individual are going through different struggles and new experiences in their life. The art style of the book was cute as well.

Gosh such a sweet book! The art style was beautiful, and this story of love - and heartbreak was even more beautiful ❤️❤️

This was quite a sad story, but it didn’t feel that way while reading, at least not fully. I think this was partially due to how the story was depicted through hazy, softened edges and colors — the filter of memory and nostalgia.

I really liked how conflicting emotions and realities were held within the story. Everything feels tinged with its opposite in a way that feels very true to life and childhood especially. Cruelty dances with affection, fondness with fear, love with apathy. It is all presented as both mundane and meaningful at once.

4/5! Side note: I think fans of Jillian Tamaki’s This One Summer may find a lot to love about this novel. This One Summer is definitely a bit more dramatic, but the two share similar elements of summer melancholy and honest explorations of the muddle of youth.

I loved this. The art is gorgeous. The story is heartbreaking and heart warming all at once. I think this book should be required reading. It shows so many elements of one family and each person in it.

This was cute! I’m not usually a slice of life kind or girl but I was pleasantly suprised by this one.
The art style is different from the type of art I normally like. I’m either drawn to more vibrant art styles (like Lore Olympus or Heartstoppers) or really cute-sy styles (like the Tea Dragon Society or WEBTOON story Castle Swimmer). But the muted almost color pencil like artstyle in this was oddly charming.
Lulu definitely stole the show! His story was the most captivating and it really pulled at my heart strings. (Although, I will admit I didnt like seeing Lulu’s “friend” be unkind).
Cam’s story was entertaining but I felt like there was a spark missing from it. I might’ve been more invested if it had been fleshed out in a deeper way, but for that to happen the story would have needed to be longer.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t care for the parents story. It’s not that I didn’t feel for the mother and the injust circumstances of her failing marriage. It’s more that I like to read about joyous, love filled stories when reading graphic novels and the mother’s storyline is the opposite of that.

A couple things I didn’t like:
-There were a few places where one of the characters would have their mouth open and all that was drawn was an empy white circle. No lips or color inside the circle. It was a tad weird/disconcerting. Was not a fan.
-The shift in character narrative felt jarring every time because there was nothing to indicate the shift/break. It would’ve read smoother with either chapter breaks or a small image to indicate the shift in narrative.
-I mentioned both these things before but I feel the story would’ve been more enjoyable w/out the parents POV and if there had been more length in the novel in order to explore Lulu/Cam’s stories. Something else that could’ve helped with that would’ve been if the story hadn’t been constrained to one day.

Other than that, I enjoyed the story. I would give it 3.75 STARS.