To start: amazing graphics, HOWEVER: not suitable for children! I love the modernized take on King Arthur, showcasing legends and kings and their hidden undesirable side. Ysabelle is the princess we all aspire to be!

I just reviewed Fierce by Geoffroy Monde & Mathieu Burniat. #EuropeComics #NetGalley
This graphic novel wasn't what I expected. It was funny at times and I enjoyed every second of it. It had some great twists to it. My favorite twist had to deal with Merlin

Funny and full of adventure, though the illustration style isn't my favourite of all time. It's very quirky and silly with the talking Excalibur, and if you like series like Princeless and Lumberjanes then this will be right up your street.

this was such a delightful ride!
with rich illustration (that could be gross sometimes but I guess that's part of the appeal) and compelling characters to follow and root for
the only thing I was a little let down by was how quick everything was resolved in the end, in my opinion it either should've been a little longer or spent a little less time on the side-quests
I really enjoyed all the twists and turns it had, a fair few of which took me by surprise
a big thank you to netgalley and europe comics for providing me with this ARC

I'm a huge King Arthur buff, so I was very excited by the chance to review this title. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a flop for me.

I thought the art style of this story was very cool and visually engaging. Some of the character design reminded me a little bit of Adventure Time, which is definitely a plus! The characters are dynamic and the color palettes worked very well together. The cover is also very striking, and definitely one of the things that drew me to the story.
While the humor can be a little gross at times, I found it generally hit. Overall, the story is actually a very fun adventure! One criticism I have that I would like to hold back on is the intended age range. As the art is more cartoonish, I would have assumed if this were an American comic that it was intended for a younger audience. However, the nudity and sexual situations would definitely point me towards an adult audience. I know comic culture is very different in France, so it's not necessarily surprising. I'm just wary of this story falling into the hands of someone a little too young to be reading about a brothel.

If this had been an original fantasy, I would have had an amazing time. I thought the pacing was pretty good, the characters were engaging even if I didn't love all of them, and there were a lot of strong women!
But this was SUPPOSED to be a retelling!
As I said in the beginning, I'm a big King Arthur fan. I've read numerous adaptations and retellings of the myths and I've been very interested in the original, pre-Malory non-canonized Welsh stories for several years. My favorite thing about retellings is taking pre-established characters, objects, and myths and just twisting them slightly. That didn't happen in Fierce.
Ysabella is a completely original character, as is her sister Maxine. There are many sons and daughters of Arthur listed in all different myths, so I wish the names had been cherry picked to flesh out the cast. There are not one but TWO magic swords already used in Arthurian canon. Why did we need a new one when one of the two could have been adjusted for the story? Why does Merlin.... well, do any of this, but specifically be surprised at anything that happens? Merlin's knowledge of time and foretelling is a prominent theme in more recent Arthurian retellings. And in older stories, he is also pre-aware of his death and Arthur's downfall. He should know what's going to happen!
And why was the kingdom called Pendragon when Arthur rules Camelot? Why is the queen never named? Is she not supposed to be Guinevere?

My enjoyment of this story was overshadowed by my ongoing confusion as to the storytelling choices, unfortunately.

An attempt at a different twist of King Arthur, where everything is now in utter ruin, the cities (and people) are completely disgusting (except for our main character, who is of course witty). Most of the characters are not likeable, and the sexual depictions and violence over-ride the story to such a degree that make it more unlikeable than likeable.

Very original dark fantasy graphic novel reinventing the myth of Arthur and especially his family. The inventiveness it fantastic, the illustrations are extremely expressive and full of life in the movements. There were many things praiseworthy in this comic, but I will admit the atmosphere was not for me, just way too dark, there is quite a lot of triggers in this work which I hadn't expected because it's also quite lighthearted too. There is a lot of humour and the message is rather feminist, but I still felt very uncomfortable reading most of this comic as an ace woman.

This was a fun enjoyable graphic novel set in an alternate Arthurian universe. In this Arthurian universe, Merlin opened a portal that let loose demons so that he could use an enchanted sword to blackmail King Arthur. What Merlin didn't count on was that Arthur's daughters were strongly than he imagined. His youngest ended up being the definition of fierce and beat him at his own game. It was a very entertaining and interesting read.

King Arthur, once drunk on power, now drowns his sorrows in alcohol. When he wants to marry his daughter Ysa to the unpleasant Baron Cumber, she decides to run away and search for her sister who left the castle years ago. The king's magic sword, tired from years spent being Arthur's shoe horn or butter knife, tags along in hopes to free herself from the ties that bind her to the king. On their quest for emancipation, they might release more than just their shackles.

One of the things I liked most about Fierce was the character design. The art style is very expressive and I loved the whimsy that came with it. The exception from the rule, for some reason, was Ysa herself. She easily had the least interesting design out of all the characters, which was a shame.

The story's structure worked well imo and the twists and turns managed to catch me by surprise, even though they were hinted at quite a few times. The characters weren't too complex, but I was fine with that and still liked them, especially Claude (who wouldn't love him?). Fierce made me chuckle a few times and I generally really liked its humor and pacing. Like Ysa, we get a sudden reality check when we enter Orelia and - even though I had trouble reconciling the suddenly heavier themes with the rest of the story - I now think that part was very successful and really put us in the main character's shoes.

Having said that, I still found some parts lacking or confusing. It took me a while to figure out who the intended audience was - the feminist message of the comic book was literally spelled out in the beginning so no one would miss it and I felt like it was intended for a younger audience, but when we came to the brothel, I got completely confused and went 'not for children, got it.' The tone shifts didn't always work as well as they should have for me personally.
I also felt like the sword quickly turned very one-note and for some reason, she emoted much more as the story went along when one of the earliest jokes was her desperately trying to squeeze a tear out of her metal face, so this felt inconsistent to me, even though it probably had a reason.

All in all, Fierce was entertaining and enjoyable, but didn't check all the boxes for me personally. I would still recommend it and hope everyone reading it can laugh at the pebble people as much as I did!

I know the art style of this comic will not be to everbodys taste, but I like this kind of quirky character illustrations. And it doesn't hinder the story from handling serious themes, it's a perfect combination of humour and gravity.
'Fierce' develops an intricate story of power and manipulation against the background of an adventurous plot and engaging characters.

I absolutely loved this! The journey was fantastic, and I am so honored I was able to read this on Netgalley! It's due out soon - so check it out if you haven't already ! I will definately be purchasing when it's out!

A princess flees from the run-down kingdom to escape a forced marriage and just wants an independent life.
An adventurous ride including a sister in distress, a snarky magic sword, Merlin and a portal to hell.

I had to get used to the art style first and I am still not 100% convinced. But the story is so much fun, the characters are memorable and the humour is just my cup of tea!

I loved the art style (even if some of the scenes were on the gross side) and the story had some twists I definitely did not see coming!

I’m glad this got translated into English so I had a chance to read it. I loved the different take on Arthurian mythology, any chance I get to read about the subject I’m usually thrilled 😅 I’ll be checking to see if I can get my hands on a physical copy of this for my shelves!

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you for this arc, Netgalley.

It was a gripping graphic novel. This book follows King Arthur's daughter, Ysabelle. I would recommend going into this book kinda blind because it was nice to see certain 'twists'. The book does take a dark turn as you continue and there is slight nudity. Overall, it was a fast-paced graphic novel.

(4/5) This graphic novel was a quick read with a self-contained story. The pacing was good, the art was great (even for the evil characters, who were fabulously evil). I found the plot wasn't predictable and overall enjoyed the read.

Good story! I really liked a lot of the moments in this one and I felt like it was paced really well! It took me a little while to feel invested, but after that point, it flew by for me!

This graphic novel was absolutely amazing - the art, the characterisation, the story; I loved it all. Ysa's facial expressions were one of my favourite things about the art; and the Baron was fantastically bad. I love self contained stories, and this one wrapped everything up neatly without any loose threads. I can't recommend it enough