About This Book:
A fierce warrior must save the heart of her beloved prince before it’s too late in the first book of a new YA fantasy-adventure graphic novel trilogy, perfect for fans of Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona and Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet
Evony is an orphaned princess from a kingdom destroyed by a power-hungry witch. Prince Ammon has recently been drawn to her, or at least he’s drawn to her uncanny ability to sense when familiars―servants to the witches―are approaching his kingdom’s borders. And Evony, well Evony has always longed for something more with Ammon. Wanting to prove himself to his kingdom and parents, Ammon takes Evony outside the borders to fight the familiars head-to-head. All is well until they’re captured by witch Aradia, who steals Ammon’s heart and leaves his body to turn into one of her familiars. What’s worse, his sister Nissa has been taken hostage by Aradia’s daughter. Evony makes it her mission to retrieve Ammon’s heart and save Nissa, taking her into the mysterious Witchlands. There, she will discover a secret about her past that will change everything.
*Review Contributed by Olivia Farr, Staff Reviewer*
HEARTLESS PRINCE is an intriguing graphic novel that takes place in a world with witches, who use hearts for their magic. When they take a heart, they leave behind a shell that turns into their familiars. Evony was the princess of Destirith, a country who was destroyed by a power-hungry witch when she was only a baby. She was raised in a neighboring kingdom protected by a magical wall by the royal family and has a particularly helpful gift – she can sense familiars to sound out the warning.
She is secretly in love with the prince, Ammon, but they are too devoted to saving their country to consider anything more, even though his little sister wishes it so. When they begin to hunt the familiars together, things seem to be going well- until they aren’t. Ammon’s heart is stolen, and he begins his transformation into a familiar. Desperate to stop it, Evony heads into the Witchlands to accomplish the impossible.
This was a really engaging story, told largely through the gorgeous panel illustrations throughout. This graphic novel really relies on the images to tell the story with sparse text, mostly dialogue. I would have appreciated a bit more text, as it can be tough to get your bearings in places and fully understand what is happening, particularly at the beginning of the story. I ended up rereading it a couple times to fully grasp what was happening. That being said, it’s still a really clever and interesting story, and I loved the premise with the witches, hearts, and this warrior princess. I always love a strong heroine, and Evony delivers here with the skills to save the day.
The illustrations are really lovely, and I appreciated the use of color that evolves during the story, as well as the imaginative creatures and settings throughout. The images really carry the book, and they are stunning! This is definitely a graphic novel that focuses on the graphics.
Overall, HEARTLESS PRINCE is a fascinating and imaginative YA graphic novel that I really enjoyed. I am definitely interested in following this trilogy with the future stories. Highly recommend for fans of BRING ME THEIR HEARTS, THE PRINCESS WILL SAVE YOU, and AIR AWAKENS.
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