 | Author: Cherie Priest Illustrator: Kali Ciesemier Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Sub-sequential Art / Graphic Novel, Fiction and Contemporary Length: 227 Summary: Once upon a time, two best friends created a princess together. Libby drew the comics, May wrote the stories, and Princess X fought monsters, ghosts, and other assorted creepazoids from her haunted house high on a hill. Once upon a few years later, Libby was in the car with her mom, driving across a bridge on a rainy night. When the car went over the side, Libby passed away, and Princess X died with her. Once upon a now, May is sixteen and lonely, |
wandering the streets of Seattle, when she sees a sticker slapped in a corner window - a figure with a gold crown, pink dress, red Chucks and a long katana sword...
Princess X? Suddenly, May sees the princess everywhere: stickers, patches, graffiti - an entire underground world built around a webcomic at IAmPrincessX.com. The more May explores the comic, the more she sees disturbing similarities between Libby's story and Princess X online. And that means only one person could have started this phenomenon - her best friend, Libby, who lives.
My Thoughts: Wow. Just wow.
Okay, so I haven't read a book in a while (for school or for pleasure), and I decided to read this one. I had gotten this book from my library's summer program and I was really excited to read it. So when I started it, I was hooked.
But it didn't exactly draw me back.
Don't get me wrong, the beginning was a hooker, and the writing was lively, but I might've just been out of it or something, but I wasn't thinking about, "Hey, I really want to read that book. I should go and do that." Since that was the case, I didn't really read it at the beginning. Only while I was on the bus one day, reading the book because my iPod needed to be charged, did I give my full attention to this absolute masterpiece.
I instantly loved May, our main character. She had such a unique personality. She wasn't that girl who'd just sit around doing nothing (though that was a portion of her summer before she found that Princess X sticker), but she wasn't that girl who was super crazy defiant who'd go and wreck havoc across the town. She was a girl who missed her best friend and defended her even when she was dead. She's got such a strong will, but when her friend died it broke. I don't really know how to explain it, but she was kind of in this limbo state with her life.
I super loved Patrick. He. Was. Great. Though his book description didn't match with what I was thinking, it didn't matter! His personality fit and that's what mattered. He was such a troublemaker, but not, if that makes any sense. He did the wrong thing for.. the wrong.. reaso- OKAY. WELP. He's just a troublemaker! We're just going to stick with that But he was a good one. 'Cause he was a hacker. I already loved hackers (because of their skill, not what they do with that skill), and he wasn't the best hacker, but MAN! Was he serious about it and that was nice!
There was a fabulous cast that were engaging, real, and had their own voice, which is really important to me. I like to be able to identify who is who and that book did it perfectly. There are other characters I'd like to spotlight, but that might be WAAAY too much of a spoiler because the guy in question doesn't come in until later. But when he does come in, that's where some of the young adult themes are presented. Nothing bad, at all! He's just queer and likes guys. It's kind of a statement that is there, is slightly referred back to and that's it.
There is also some cursing and bad language, which is a slight turn off for me. They didn't curse a lot, maybe a max of 4 or 5 times throughout the whole book.
There isn't much I have to say about the setting. They were in Seattle. I might've thought it was a bit too bright, but that's my mind's own fault. There were something that I didn't know about Seattle, like the Underground, which is, after googling it, is some tour about old Seattle...? I don't know, but you don't particularly need to know about it. I read it just fine.
The antagonist is whHOOOAA!! H-He's something, he really is. He's smart, which I really, really, really appreciate. That is the one thing that I want from all antagonists. They need to be smart and ALWAYS 1 to 2 steps ahead of the protagonist. (And I also want them to be good looking with a good and innocent back story so that I can sympathize more, but that's not exactly a requirement...) And when he said he was going to do something, HE DID IT. LIKE WHO DOES THAT!
IT'S PERFECT!!!
I-I mean, that's not particularly good, but it's been a while since I've read someone committed to doing something and that commitment is so strong that their willing to TOW DOWN THE WHOLE WORLD to get what they want. So yeah. Good job for all dedicated antagonists. (That should be a celebrated day and featured on Google or something...)
The plot was intense, I didn't know what was going to happen and because I didn't know, I was stressing, but that's good because that means the book has successfully sucked me in. After those few chapters on the bus, I was entranced. I wanted to finish so badly! And when I did, it was perfect. It ended wonderfully. Not exactly the way I had wanted (because I wanted Patrick and May to be a thing, but they're okay as friends), but it was fabulous nonetheless. It was fulfilling and wrapped it all up.
All-in-all, this was a wonderful read. I would reread this book in a heartbeat!
So I give this book 4 and 1/2 stars!
Have you read this book? If so, did you like it? If you didn't read the book, would you want to? Tell me in the comments!
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