Mini review: Princess Ninjas – Dave Franchini

Release date: 14 May 2019
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Princess Ninjas (Princess Ninjas, #1) blurb:

When the kingdom is under attack who do we turn to? The king and his guards? A knight of myth and legend? Or the prophesized, chosen Princess Ninjas who battle evil and will save the day? I think we all know who!
Working together to protect their home, adopted sisters Bridget, Megan, and Elyce along with their sidekick Turtle-Bear, will find out that being a ninja isn’t all about sticking to shadows, magic, and cool karate moves. Sometimes it’s about honor, loyalty, and finding out what being a family truly means.

Princess Ninjas tells the story of three princesses who have hidden ninja powers. Yup, you heard me. Ok, so there’s bit more to it than that. Let me expand slightly.
Once upon a time there were five kingdoms. And a bad guy called Bogymn. (I honestly don’t know why they just didn’t say Boogeyman. Is it copyright? This seems like a weird rip off.) Bogymn took over three of the kingdoms, but before he did, each of them snuck out a princess of the royal family and took them to a fourth kingdom. The royals of the fourth kingdom couldn’t have children, so they adopted these three as their own and raised them. The three princesses are also the only three ‘champions’ in a prophecy that could defeat him. And they have secret ninja powers.
The book has 3 comics in it, that are about 46 pages each. I will say that the art is really lovely, definitely the best thing about this story. The story itself is a bit cheesy, and really fast to set up. There is definitely not a lot of time spent on exposition here. The pace and storyline of the three comins in this remind me of Saturday morning cartoon plots from my childhood. This is definitely a middle grade, or possibly younger, story, and maybe someone of that age group would have enjoyed it better, but I just found it immature in age, but also plot and character development.
Two outstanding thoughts: what is happening with the fifth kingdom? And what is Turtle Bear? (I didn’t even realise he couldn’t speak until the third story.)
Until next time, happy reading ??

I received an early copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.