wow!! One thing I really love is graphic novels that are historical and this one belongs in the top of all the ones that I've read before. I did not know about this historical figure but I hope more people do.

This is a beautiful book. In the aftermath of collective trauma (the Khmer Rouge genocide), I appreciate how this narrative creates another space, even though the past cannot be undone. Thank you for the ARC, now I need to go out and buy it.

I thank the Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book! The opinions in this review are entirely my own.

Wow, this was an interesting book! I have to admit that I had never heard of this singer. I only read it because I'm challenging myself to read two books from each country recognized by the U.N. (one for setting, one for author). I was very pleasantly surprised. The illustrations were great, and I absolutely loved that the book contained links to music by the singer. It gave the story a nice atmosphere. I was able to picture the scenery. Great book! Absolutely recommend!

Such an interesting graphic novel! I love finding out about strong women and the graphics really helped the history come to life. Good read!

The Golden Voice: The Ballad of Cambodian Rock's Lost Queen is a fascinating fictionalised account of the life of iconic Cambodian singer Ros Serey Sothea. It covers many biographical details of her career as a singer, her personal life, her time as a paratrooper, and more. I was under the impression when I grabbed it that it was a biography, so I was a touch disappointed that it wasn't (especially since I felt like a biography would have given a better chance to contextualise her life further within the troubles in Cambodia, especially the overall music scene early on and the takeover by the Khmer Rouge later), but it does a good job of mostly sticking to the truth and telling a good story while its at it. I appreciated that it had a fact vs fiction section at the end and didn't leave you wondering about details or being misinformed because you haven't learned anything about her outside of the book. The art was absolutely lovely, and really captured how she looked in photographs. The accompanying playlist was a great touch, and I've enjoyed further exploring the music of 60s and 70s Cambodia. I wish her name was in the title. Regardless, it's a pretty good read all around, and helps shed light on the life of a woman who absolutely should be better known internationally.

NetGalley license expired when I was 25% of the way through. It was shaping up to be 5 stars. I didn’t listen along to the playlist that accompanies the book, but I can imagine that it would be a powerful immersive experience. The artwork and colors were absolutely wonderful. So glad this story is being told so a western audience can learn about an importance cultural figure from Cambodian history.

A window into the vibrant music scene that existed in Cambodia prior to the emergence of the Khmer Rouge and subsequent Cambodian genocide, told through the life story of one of its most revered performers. I particularly enjoyed the musical playlist that accompanied the graphic novel, although I don't think it was integrated that well into the comic itself (you were supposed to play certain songs from the playlist during certain sections of the comic, which usually did not last long enough to give you a chance to listen to the song). The artwork was decent, but did not always do a great job distinguishing some of the characters from each other, particularly some of the minor background characters. The factual liberties taken with the story are also a bit concerning, though some of them are inevitable given the lack of details surrounding many aspects of Ros Serey Sothea's life. The insertion of two fictionalized American military characters into the story felt a bit unnecessary--I suppose they were there to provide political context for America's involvement in Cambodia, but it felt a bit one-sided, as we don't really get a picture of how the Khmer Rouge suddenly appeared as a dominant force in opposition. Overall, I would consider it an interesting yet flawed book, good for introducing people to the faces and names of the world of 1960s/70s Cambodian rock and the larger context in which they lived and worked, but unreliable as a work of history.

ARC Review

Story about one of Cambodia's most famous artist and her story. Greatly enjoyed the story. 3.5 stars, rounding to 4.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher Humanoids Inc/Life Drawn, and the author Gregory Hill for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I'm thankful to engage with works by other Southeast Asians and Cambodians considering how closely connected Cambodian history is with Viet Nam. The effect of the Khmer Rogue genocide can't be understated enough with how devastating it was. There's a reason for every erasure and abscene of Cambodian art and culture. With this graphic novel I was able to appreciate Ros Serey Sothea's life and it shows that history isn't that past. The Cambodian people are still recovering from the genocide but the graphic novel shows that its possible to heal.

This is the interesting story of one of Cambodia's most famous singers, Ros Serey Sothea. Sothea was from the countryside and never expected to make it into the music industry. She was discovered by other notable artists of the time and invited to the city to become a singer. Behind the scenes of her notable career, she suffered heartaches, had a child, and suffered at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. It is unknown when she died, but it is suspected that she passed away while under the control of the Khmer Rouge. She is considered a rock legend in Cambodia.

What do you mean, you know nothing of Cambodian radio-friendly pop from the 1960s and 1970s?! I knew less than nothing, either, but in the end felt reading this was a bit of a privilege, especially alongside a healthy playlist of tracks from the subject and her peers. We're looking at Ros Serey Sothea, who here is shown blasting all competition from the stage at a municipal talent show, and being invited to become one of the chief singers and recording artists on the state radio. Success, and many dodgy marriages and relationships were to follow – mostly, however, imbued with the politics of the time, as the Khmer Rouge were going to take over, and force many changes of direction in many lives.

The book proves the story suitably interesting, even for those never expecting themselves to be reading such things, while the archive photos show one classy, stylish performer. The songs on the playlist may be a little shrill, but have very interesting instrumentation, considering the country they come from, and show a great range, from the toe-tapping number (any of hers on the list with the word 'dance' in the title is a winner) to swooping and pining ballads.

Visually this is pretty standard stuff, and I don't think the story completely novel – dodgy svengalis in the music world, dodgy wide boys in the military – but I certainly felt my time here was well spent. It respects the subject without being a hagiography, and it respects the reader at the end by showing the historical detail changed for the purpose of the graphic novel pages. Many of the precise details are conjecture, especially at the close, but this seemed very suitable. You don't really see many Ros-ettes protesting their liking of the singer here, although some people do pop up just to show her renown, but it must have been a wonderful time to have her and her fellows belting these hits out willy-nilly, and providing smash cinema title song after smash cinema title song. Without that opportunity, this seems the next best thing. Four and a half stars.

I hadn't heard of Ros Serey Sothea, nor heard her music, before reading this. I'm thankful to have learned about her life, her music, and her legacy.

The interactive playlist feature is nice, but having ADHD made it kind of difficult for me to concentrate on reading and listening. Reading first and then listening to the music while looking at the pictures made for a better experience for me. Whichever way works for you, please make sure to listen to her voice!

I read up more on Ros Serey Sothea after finishing the graphic novel. Tragic. Very glad to see that her legacy is living on. I hope people not familiar with her music check this out.

If anything, Cahill’s graphic novel under-emphasizes the extent to which the Khmer Rouge destroyed Cambodian culture, but it s a respectful and sympathetic portrait readers can easily identify with.. Full review here: https://www.jbspins.com/2023/10/the-golden-voice-ballad-of-cambodian.html

Actual Rating 3.5 ☆

The Golden Voice: The Ballad of Cambodian Rock's Lost Queen by Gregory Cahill and illustrated by Kat Baumann is a biographical memoir of Ros Serey Sothea, a famous Cambodian songstress created developed in partnership with Sothea’s family.

Ros Serey Sothea helped define Cambodia’s Golden Age of music until her mysterious disappearance in the killing fields of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. This graphic novel is wonderfully interactive with an accompanying soundtrack that you can play while reading the novel. It truly immersed me in the reading experience and I've truly never experienced anything like it.

The Golden Voice tells an extremely powerful story of an incredibly brave woman who lived in the middle of the Cambodian civil war that lasted 8 years from the late 60s to mid 70s. The war was between two factions, a communist party, and the government which was supported by US troops under the Nixon presidency.

Sothea's story is both heartbreaking and inspiring. She grew up in poverty in the rural areas of the country and was discovered at a regional singing competition. The book illustrates her journey through life, her musical journey, and her multiple high profile relationships, and ultimately her legacy.

While the story is beautiful, as a reader who isn't familiar with Sothea and her legacy, I had trouble understanding a lot of the time jumps and transitions. The overall arc of the story was jarring as I never knew how much further into the future the next flip of the page was. Additionally, the various men in her life and the switch between those men were very confusing because I sometimes didn't realize the next scene already transitioned to a different person so I got confused on why the man she was with acted so differently.

I think they needed to describe more through words who these characters were, where we were located, and how much further we found ourselves in the future because as someone who was unfamiliar with the story, I was quite confused. I also do wonder why a biographical novel for a very important historical figure doesn't have Ros Serey Sothea's name in the title.

Nonetheless, I do think this was a great, informative read for a South East Asian culture that I've seen very few internationally published books about. I quite enjoyed with and will be sure to look for more books by Cambodian writers.

Thank you to Humanoids Inc, Life Drawn, and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review

Talk about the strength of a woman! This graphic novel was not what I expected but it was still a great experience reading it. First of all, I loved the graphics completely, they were beautiful and compelling and truly brought the story to life. I really loved her voice and appreciated the experience of being able to listen to her songs while reading the story, that was a great touch.

Her story and her life were incredible and although I knew nothing about her before I read this book, I walked away from it mesmerized by her story. I thought it was very well-told and easy to follow. This book is powerful.

This is a beautifully illustrated and heartbreaking story. Ros Serey Sothea was the most popular singer in Cambodia at the start of the Vietnam War. It chronicles her life from being discovered through her career and the horrible relationships she was forced into to her tragic death.

I understand authors take liberties with biographical ,material, but some of the consolidation of the story made me rethink how I felt about it - especially the end. Still, a fantastic story.

I enjoyed this historical story about Ros Serey Sothea, and the turbulent times she lived in. I knew very little about the history of Cambodia other than they suffered several regime changes and uprisings around the time of the Vietnam conflict, and that the Khmer rouge takeover lead to mass killings of people. This story, although there were many aspects that were fictional, has given me more information about this countries history. In reading the fact vs fiction part of the book I did think that there were some things that were changed that might not have needed to be, but on the whole I don't believe that they had a huge impact on the overall story.

The graphic novel format was very well used in this case, I appreciated that I could see the story unfold in a way that I might not have been able to from just reading it. I also really liked the immersive music experience. I didn't listen to all the songs through from beginning to end as some were quite a but longer than the frames they were set to coincide with, but they added to the story, both to provide some tone, but also to provide the opportunity to hear the voices and music that is being described in this story.

Overall I appreciate this book and the way it opened up a different aspect of history that we don't hear talked about as often.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

One of the things that keeps this book from being particularly good is that the authors take too many liberties with the timeline, and that characters aren't introduced well, their motives and relationships aren't clearly delineated, and their stories aren't clearly told. At the end of the book, the authors offer a Fact Vs Fiction list of what they changed to supposedly give the book more drama, but all it does is dilute the story of Ros Serey Sothea; on that note, why isn't her name in the title? Anyway, the book fails her and its readers on multiple levels.

The Cambodian genocide (1975-1979) is one of the darkest chapters in world history; during only four years, the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Communist Party and Pol Pot, systematically persecuted and killed at least 1.5 to 2 million people (the numbers vary), eradicating nearly a quarter of Cambodia's population in 1975.

One of these lost souls is Ros Serey Sothea; the “Cambodian Queen with the Golden Voice.” From her humble beginnings as a rice farmer to becoming one of the country’s most celebrated singers, from being the first female paratrooper to her eventual downfall at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, the graphic novel The Golden Voice: The Ballad of Cambodian Rock's Lost Queen chronicles the life of this remarkable woman.

It’s a fascinating and tragic story that is told brilliantly by Cahill and Baumann; even if you’re not familiar with Cambodian history, the graphic novel isn’t hard to follow and sheds some light on the turbulent time the country had to go through. At the end of the book, there’s a helpful Fact vs Fiction page, which puts it into the right context. The book also comes with a playlist of Sothea‘s songs, and that might be the greatest gift of all: although the singer was lost, her voice is still heard until now.

When you read this, please, please do yourself a favor and listen to the playlist that comes with it. It elevates the whole experience so much! A beautiful graphic novel about a bit of history I was personally unfamiliar with. I really appreciate when books make me go out there and do some additional research, and this definitely did. If you have someone interested in history or the power of music, grab this for them.