Julie, the daughter of the Pirate King, is whisked away from her not-so-quiet life on a Caribbean island to escape a mysterious woman who wants to kidnap her. As she joins the crew of the Golden Dolphin, she embarks on a true pirate adventure.

I desperately hope that future books in this series will pick up where this one left off. The start of the story was sorta rough and felt rushed, often missing opportunities to flesh out the characters, setting, and back story. (Heck, I didn’t know the name of the ship until the very end of the story.) In particular, the dialogue felt oversimplified and predictable, although some of this may have been weak translation from Italian. But, as the story got going, particularly in the second half, the pace slowed down and the authors spent more time diving into the action and details of the story, and I was hooked. I would love to see more of the found family in the crew of the ship and the fantasy elements hinted at in the story, such as the messenger fish, which are highlighted on the cover, but only appear on one page in the book.

The Pirate Princess is a graphic novel that reads super quickly and captivates you from the beginning.
Sometimes I couldn't understand the illustrations and I had to stop to see what I was seeing because I couldn't give it shape.

Taking out this detail (although not minor being a graphic novel), I found the story fun, I liked the characters and I was left wanting more when I reached the end. And I love that!

If I would have liked a little more depth in certain things and at certain moments. Sometimes everything seemed a little rushed.

Thank you very much Mad Cave Studios for the ARC I read on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the relationship between Julie, Maxime, and Stephane. For me it was the highlight of the story. The plot itself seemed really interesting, but the pacing was so quick that a lot felt like it was skipped over. Hopefully the next volume improved on these pacing issues so the story can really shine.

The art style is pretty, but can be inconsistent.
The messenger fish, for example, are beautiful! But then there will be scenes and the proportions are very off and distracting.

I originally thought this was a single volume of the graphic novel, but it is going to be the first in a series. I will definitely try reading the next one when it comes out.

Ita

Ringrazio tantissimo NetGalley e Mad Cave Studios per la possibilità di leggere quest'opera. Vorrei ringraziare anche l'autore Luca Frigerio per il nostro breve, ma interessante scambio di messaggi.
In primis devo dire che mi hanno attirata la copertina e il titolo. Questi due soli elementi si sono poi confermati durante la lettura, dove mi sono immersa talmente tanto che, anche nel momento in cui dovevo alzarmi per andare a chiudere le finestre causa temporale, non sono riuscita a staccarmi immediatamente dal tablet. I disegni dinamici di Lorenza Pigliamosche mi hanno dato veramente la sensazione di trovarmi all'interno di un episodio animato. In particolare, questo mondo di pirati steampunk, mi ha ricordato l'amato film Disney "Il pianeta del tesoro" e sono sicura che "Ci sono anch'io" non ha risuonato solo nelle mie orecchie in certe scene.

Julie è un personaggio a cui mi sono subito affezionata, ritrovandomi subito nella sua personalità e nella sua curiosità. Ma quelli che hanno veramente rubato il mio cuore sono Maxime e Stephane. Non riesco a resistere a due pirati dal cuore d'oro.
Le uniche parti su cui ho devo dirmi confusa sono due. La prima è la scena della battaglia. Potrebbe essere intuitiva per gli altri, ma mi ha lasciata un po' confusa durante la prima lettura, così che ho dovuto rileggerla e focalizzarmi sulle illustrazioni. Ho compreso i fatti, sebbene rimanga un punto torbido. Il secondo appunto è sul finale: intrigante certo, ma non è chiaro se ci sia o meno l'intenzione di far vivere a Julie altre avventure.

In quel caso contatemi come lettrice!

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Eng

Many thanks to NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios for the opportunity to read this work. I would also like to thank the author Luca Frigerio for our brief but interesting chat.
First of all, I must say that I was attracted by the cover and the title. These two elements alone were then confirmed during the reading, where I became so immersed that, even when I had to get up to go and close the windows because of the storm, I could not immediately detach myself from the tablet. Lorenza Pigliamosche's dynamic drawings really gave me the feeling of being inside an animated episode. In particular, this steampunk pirate world reminded me of the beloved Disney film 'Treasure Planet' and I'm sure the Italian version of 'I'm Still Here' didn't just ring in my ears in certain scenes.

Julie is a character I immediately became attached to, finding myself immediately in her personality and curiosity. But the ones who really stole my heart were Maxime and Stephane. I can't resist two pirates with a kind heart.
The only parts I am confused about are two. The first is the battle scene. They may be clear to others, but I found them a little bit difficult to follow during the first reading, so that I had to re-read it and focus on the illustrations. I understood the facts, but still it remains a murky point. The second note is on the ending: intriguing certainly, but it's not clear whether or not there is an intention for Julie to have more adventures.

In that case count me in as a reader!

Hovering between 1.5 and 2 stars.

This felt like several volumes of a graphic novel series condensed into 120 pages of confused mess. World building is nonexistent. Characters have little to zero depth to them. Plot was a bare thread. The art was very inconsistent across the board, the action was impossible to follow.

The confusion I felt reading this mess made my head hurt and I wish I would have DNF’d it. If this book had been a series, plot developed, characters fleshed and more care for the art to be consistent and action followable this could have been interesting.

Family Secrets, Sword Fights and its a pirates life for me!
Julie is the daughter of the Pirate King, having grown up in the pirate life, she knows and wants nothing more then to sail the seas for treasure
When her father sends word of that julie is in danger of a pirate for Lady of the Sun, she must go aboard the Golden Dolphine to join her father
The end was alittle rushed but left a great cliff hanger for volume 2

Thank you NetGalley for approving me to review this arc. While I liked the premise of the story, the execution was underwhelming. The story felt rushed which made me not excited to continue reading the book. While the images were very pretty they were at times confusing to follow. The plot was predictable and I did not feel connected to the characters so any time the characters were facing an obstacle I was kinda hoping that something unexpected would happen because the plot armor for this book was getting to be a bit boring. I think the book would benefit from making the story draw out more, like having the characters spend more time dealing with conflicts rather than quickly moving through them. Also I was disappointed that the Pirate King was so easily defeated, I thought he was going to be a harder enemy. I liked the relationship the daughter had with Stephanie and the other older person but it still felt rushed so it did not make me feel any strong emotions during the story. Overall, it would be okay to read for a younger audience that is just trying to get the bare basics of the pirate fantasy subgenre.

The story follows Julie, the daughter of the most feared Pirate King, and her two travelling companions Maxime and Stephane. She must go on the run because of her father and what his name means for her safety.

The art is beautiful and I really loved the dynamic between the Maxime, Stephane, and Julie. I think my biggest issue was with the pacing, at times it felt like things were happening very quickly when I wish the story took more time to set things up. I’m really looking forward to seeing where this story goes.

Disclaimer: I requested and received this book from Net Galley. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

The Pirate Princess by Luca Frigerio and Lorenza Pigliamosche follows Julie (the main character) on her pirate adventure. The story so far is fun but but hectic, as is expected from a good pirate adventure. There is so much to love about this graphic novel: the art, the characters, the chaos, and more. However, it is not without its faults.

The Pirate Princess has so many tropes I've come to expect from pirate media. Like: family drama, cannon fights, deception, betrayal, found family, beautiful days as sea, big ships, and a colorful crew. The crew is my favorite though. Their character designs are so interesting and I can't wait to learn more about them. The art in general is so beautiful. It made me feel oddly nostalgic. There is just something about Lorenza Pigliamosche's art it has a warmth to it that reminds me of my favorite childhood films. Aside from their designs the characters themselves are also interesting. I could blab about them for a while but I wont. Mostly because this story is character driven and talking about them could give too much away. Just know the characters are wonderful and that you will likely want to know more after finishing this graphic novel. However, its not just the cliff hanger ending that will leave you wanting more.

Which brings me to the negatives. This graphic novel feels shorter than it is at 120 pages. The story is fast paced but The Pirate Princess feels like it barely scratches the story's surface. Is it enough to make me want to keep reading? Yes. But I don't think this graphic novel matches the description/blurb. It feels like, especially the bold text, is about the over arching story of a series. Not just this book. It is a disservice to the graphic novel because it makes people expect more. I know I personally expected more. I went into The Pirate Princess expected a full story. Why? Because nowhere is there any indication that this was the first book in a series. Not the cover, not inside of the graphic novel, nowhere I looked said anything about it being a series. The only indication this is the first in a series is the "To Be Continued..." ending.

Overall, I enjoyed this graphic novel. The story so far is setting up for a big adventure. To where? I'm unsure. But I am excited to go. I am invested I want to continue this adventure. I want to know what happens next. I need to know what kind of trouble Julie, Stephane, and Maxime get into. Seeing the "To Be Continued..." ending gives me hope that there will be another volume. (But I do still have a fear that this might be it.)

A fun pirate adventure with an ending that leaves you wanting more adventures with these characters. The art style and color use are fun and complement the story very well.

I thought it was an interesting world! Pirates are always a cool story to explore. One thing I wish was that the world fleshed out a bit more. The plot and the fighting scenes seemed a bit rushed sometimes to the point where I couldn't keep up and got confused. However, Julie as a character is great! Will keep an eye out for the second volume. Hopefully, more of her interest in science will aid her in her adventures.

Thank you, NetGalley for an advanced ARC of this graphic novel

This was a fun read showing the journey a pirate Kings daughter has on the sea and during this adventure finding out her father is not who she was made to believe he is, blowing her whole world open and facing a truth she never wanted to face but also trying to do what's right in this coming of age story.

Highly enjoyable and worth a read 📚 👌

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this book!
2 stars

The cover is very pretty. I like the colors used. The idea of this story is nice, and I will always love found family being utilized.

However... I couldn't tell you what was happening in this book 75% of the time. The art was strangely indistinct, scenes jumped around so a person would just be there, the action felt impossible to follow, and the art style could be inconsistent what seemed a non-intentional way. It had me tempted to DNF despite the shortness.

It may have been better in paper form, where it would be larger, but I've only experienced with in ebook format on my phone, so I'll never know v_v

This novel had a fast paced plot and a rather pretty art style (I hated how skinny the mc’s arms were though), but overall the plot seemed a little confusing to me, almost as if there were some small parts of the story missing.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing the ARC.

I love pirates and sea adventures so this one intrigued me straight from the title + the cover is beautiful.
The concept of the story was really cool but this story did not meet the expectations. It's a fairly short graphic novel that falls short on multiple points. First shortcoming was the transitions from page to page. This part was what bothered me the most because it felt like being constantly thrown around from page to page, like I was missing important parts of the story. Topics and scenery switched so fast it gave me whiplash. I checked multiple times if maybe my version was missing pages. Secondly there was way too much action scenes and they weren't even executed in any interested way. This packing of action was what caused the third shortcoming which were the underdeveloped characters. With so much action scenes there wasn't enough space for character development and therefore the characters fell flat.
Overall I was bored and uninterested. The story has potential to be really good. I mean who wouldn't want to read a story about a pirate princess that also makes explosives and has adoptive queer uncles?!

True rating: 2.75

A girl who likes to experiment grew up on an island, when the men who were like her fathers came for her to bring her to her real father. She gets to go on an adventure and learns about her past and her family. The art is very cute, and it is a fun read if you like pirates.

This was an action-packed first volume in an interesting – but very cool – drawing style. I like stories about pirates, and the theme works very well for comics.

Short fun adventure. I was expecting more pirates at time at sea and so didn't get that. The story could have a used a little more backstory, but it was fun non the less.

This could have been a really good graphic novel, were it not so chaotic.
Sadly, it skipped over much important details and switched topic and scenery way too fast, so I as the reader often didn’t really know what was going on or what relationship the characters had with each other.
I do like the message of choosing your own family though.
The characters themselves were a bit flat as there was too much plot going on, so we actually were unable to really get to know them, but I liked Maxime and Stephanie. Everybody needs queer adoptive uncles.
All in all, the book had potential, but sadly didn’t use it.

I don’t usually DNF graphic novels because typically they’re short and interesting enough to just finish but unfortunately I couldn’t with this one. I wasn’t a fan of the art style and the story itself just didn’t interest me enough to keep reading, I am very grateful to NetGalley and to the publishers for giving me this arc in exchange for my honest review.