Review by Booklist Review
In the twenty-second century, the patriarchy exerts control over countless planets via a sporting event in which 40 mech-suited male cosmoknights duke it out in a space-joust battle royal. The last man standing wins the hosting planet's princess, who is married off to the victor's royal-family sponsor. Five years after Pan helped her best friend escape life as a princess, she stows away with a pair of Spartan, off-world women who resist the patriarchy by winning games and freeing princesses. This volume collects the first arc of Templer's recent web comic, covering what is mostly an introduction to the world, characters, and greater conflict and an excellent introduction it is. The neo-medieval design is an engaging aesthetic, fusing castles and suits of armor with space-tech and cyberpunk cityscapes. The art, rooted in cosmic pinks and blues, beautifully renders the pivotal action sequences, capturing the frantic cadence of combat in easy-to-follow panels and serving plenty of glorious hero shots. A timely piece of queer, feminist sf with a bright future and an enticing option for Fortnite gamers.--Ronny Khuri Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Templer (the Glow series) breaks out in her first solo title, a gorgeous and timely space adventure saga. Pan, a young and rebellious mechanic, helps her planet's princess (who happens to be her best friend) escape a forced marriage. Five years later, this has rendered Pan persona non grata in a quasifeudalistic society obsessed with royalty. But when Bee and Cass, a pair of charismatic "cosmoknights"--mech-suited fighters who compete in gladiatorial jousts to "win" princesses for their sponsors--show up wounded at her door, Pan discovers that she's not the only person in the galaxy who hates the system. Pan stows away on the knights' ship, and convinces them to let her join in their quest to liberate as many princesses as possible, by winning their hand and then setting them free; but will the newly formed trio survive their first bout? And who is the mysterious woman following them? Every panel hums and crackles with glowingly lush, well-realized worldbuilding. The dynamic action sequences, which merge tech and renaissance tropes, seem to leap off the page. But as lovely as Templer's art is, it's her political commentary that shines brightest: blunt yet incisive, Templer skewers patriarchal "go along to get along" mindsets and offers a dazzling vision of radical direct action--with rocket boots. Agent: Charlie Olsen, Inkwell. (Oct.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Princeless meets TV's Firefly in a feminist webcomic-turned-graphic novel.The night Pan helps Princess Tara evade a forced marriage by escaping the planet, she loses the one friend she ever had. Five years later, she is helping her mechanic father in the shop and groaning as the men watch tournaments on TVthis is outer space, so the jousts happen with high-tech spacesuits, not horses, though the prize is still marriage to the planet's princess for the cosmoknight's sponsor. The night after one particularly gruesome battle, a lesbian couple arrives at Pan's doorstep, asking for her doctor mother's help. Pan figures out that the wounded woman is a cosmoknight, accompanied by her wife, but what really shocks her is their secret: When they win, they whisk the princess away to freedom. That's all it takes for Pan to stow away on their spaceship to join them. At first they are angry, but she proves her worth at the next joust. The jewel-toned, full-color illustrations use different palettes to mark flashbacks, fights, and the present day but can still be confusing. Pan's journey to recognizing her own worth and identity as a feminist is earnest and believable. To say the book ends on a cliffhanger is charitable; the conclusion is incredibly abrupt. Pan and the knight are white; her wife and Princess Tara are black. While the plot feels too unfinished for publication, readers will enjoy the ride. (Graphic science fiction. 15-adult) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
