This is a review for the second volume in a series. To read the review for the first volume, click here.

Genre: fantasy (comic)

Pairings: f/f

Queer Representation: cis lesbian

Warnings: none

Review

Book two picks up right where we left off, with the all female crew of Raven’s pirate ship off on their first adventure! In this collection the crew sails to The Island of the Free Women–an island Raven’s grandmother set up decades ago to beat back the patriarchy. Unfortunately now it’s just a wretched hive of scum and villainy, as these things go.

The crew are still getting to know one another, and as they split into teams to get the supplies they need to beat Raven’s brothers, the brothers strike first and Raven must go head to head with her family.

While the series still has my attention, I felt like this volume wasn’t as well done as the last. There are too many characters and we’ve not spent enough time with most of them for me to remember their names, much less their backstory. It makes their peril less interesting to read about, and the action scenes harder to parse.

The font also seems to be smaller in this edition (or my eyes got worse in the… two months? between reading volume one and volume two), or there was just too much going on in the panels to focus on the words. Whatever it was, reading this volume gave me a headache and I actually put it down for a few days. Volume one I read to cover to cover in one sitting, so enthralled was I by Raven and her crew.

This volume might have had more punch if it had a contained arc to it, which volume one certainly did. In this one we spend a lot of time on character building (and yet somehow still not enough, since there are so damn many characters) and only get action with the brothers at the very end. As that action ends mostly unresolved, I was left with a ‘that’s it?’ taste in my mouth at the end of the volume. I don’t mind being along for the extended ride, but I need touchstones and progress markers, or I’m going to wander.

Regardless, it’s still a lot of good solid lesbian pirate fun. If you’re like to get back with Raven’s very diverse pirate crew, pick up the next volume here.

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Genre: fantasy (comic book)

Pairings: f/f

Queer Representation: cis lesbian

Warnings: none

 

Review

Okay so I don’t generally like comics. I’d much rather make the images in my head than let them be made for me on the page (and comic reading slows me down, so I can’t read as fast as I would like). But wow, was this worth it!

Book one covers the story of Pirate Princess Raven, out for revenge against her brother and fathers who thought she was better off locked in a tower, guarded by a dragon, than inheriting her father’s pirating business. We get to see Raven collect her motley crew, get a decent number of origin stories, and get the first hint of romance (yay!) between Raven and Sunshine.

The comic has all the good stuff. Action. Adventure. Kissing. Various body sizes. More than one skin tone. Solid voice. The crew are diverse and three dimensional and oh-so bingeworthy. We’ve got a chemist (yay!) who loves to make things explode, a mapmaker with an axe to grind, a half-elf thief/dancer (YES PLEASE), and ‘the muscle’, a Brienne of Tarth character, for the Game of Thrones fans out there. Raven herself  is a pirate princess I would follow anywhere. Seriously, sign me up for the next voyage.

The art style as well (by Rosy Higgins and Ted Brandt) is detailed without being overwhelming. It flows well with the writing and the panels aren’t so overwhelmed with detail that you get bogged down in looking (and then get distracted from the story).

I promptly went and bought the second book after finishing the first. I’d suggest buying the whole series, because it is really hard to put the comic down. High tension on the high seas for sure. BUY IT!

 

You can snag your own pirate princess and her crew of misfits here in paperback and here in ebook.

To read the review for the second volume in the series, click here.

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Hey readers! Did you know you can subscribe to this blog? Don’t miss out on review Sunday and Ardulum Wednesday ever again! Look on the right sidebar for the grey box that says ‘Get my blog posts via email,’ enter your email, and hit subscribe. It’s that easy! (if you can’t see it, just scroll down a bit.)