The Courageous Princess

Title: The Courageous Princess
Author: Rod Espinosa

What it's about: Princess Mabelrose lives in the tiny kingdom of New Tinsley. Her life is a happy one, with loving parents and freedom to grow and play. Then one day she's kidnapped by an evil, powerful dragon who intends to keep her prisoner. Not one to put up with this sort of treatment, Mabelrose steals some things from the dragon's hoard and escapes, meeting new friends and allies in her quest to get back home.

What I thought: So, yeah, this is a graphic novel, and it has a simple charming style. It's not really in manga style, nor is it like American comic books. It reminds me most of Rapunzel's Revenge, actually, a graphic novel written by Shannon Hale that I reviewed a couple months ago. Anyway, the story starts out simple enough, with the (by now) cliche of a spunky princess who rescues herself, but Mabelrose becomes pretty well-developed as a character. I liked her because she had a good mix of strengths and weaknesses. She wasn't perfect, but she also didn't success just because of a deus ex machina. Basically, this is a pretty well constructed fantasy story, and I only wish that the library or Amazon had the next two volumes for sale.

Overall: A fun adventure in graphic novel format.