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Review: Princess Princess

Princess Princess Princess Princess by Katie O'Neill
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Princess Princess was okay... Yeah. That's pretty much it.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ *EDIT* Lmao I'm editing this before I've even posted it because while I was writing I found more things to bitch about. I was planning on rating this two stars, but honestly, this comic has absolutely zero value both as a story and in its failed attempt at trying to make some important points.

I get what the author was going for: To make a gay fairy-tale-type-thing in the name of representation and talking about issues such as self-worth, female empowerment, and the impact of other people's expectations and whatnot. But... The author did nothing with these great ideas. It was literally just: Princess saves other princess from tower. Then a prince. Boohoo we learn their "tragic" backstories and then they overcome them. It just felt like... Nothing, really.

This felt like the most shallow and uncreative way anyone could have ever tried to talk about these topics. This wasn't even a discussion. The author just plopped these things into the story without actually doing anything with them. They're mentioned and then these problems just get fixed almost instantly. I could even see how this could be interpreted as offensive, as if the author is just brushing aside these issues and showing how "easily" they can be fixed. This book feels akin to when someone tells a depressed person to "just be happy" or an anxious person to "just stop worrying". It's not that easy, but apparently in Princess Princess it is. Hm.

Political agenda aside, the story was also just plain garbage and lacked any creativity whatsoever. It was the same simple shit we've already seen a million times... But Now With Added Lesbianism!!!!!!!!!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧. Everyone bitches and moans about instalove in every other book, but when it's gay suddenly everyone's okay with it? I literally don't care, overused and annoying tropes are still overused and annoying tropes no matter the context.

(view spoiler)

This was just such a disappointment. There were so many things that made this story seem so empty—plot-wise and message-wise. Nice try, I guess, but ultimately just a hollow and unsuccessful attempt at creating something that could have potentially been meaningful.

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