Review: All Princesses Die Before Dawn

All Princesses Die Before Dawn by Quentin Zuttion
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rating 3 out of 5 | Grade: B; A simple slice of life, coming of age tale

All Princesses die before dawn, by Quentin Zuttion is a French work which I presume from the afterword is based on the author's own childhood.

It deals with the childhood of a young boy Lulu, who is different from others his age, and has an unrequited love towards his best friend Yoyo. Still too young to understand his own feelings, he seems to be in conflict with what is expected of him, versus what he actually wants.



To add to his worries, is the strained relationship between his parents, as well as his pubescent sister, who is going through that phase that teenagers go through, with all of the inner conflicts that come with it.

Even though the storyline of Lulu & yoyo is those in the forefront, I empathized more with the struggle of Lulu's mother, who, through a difficult marriage, and emotionally distant husband, was still doing her best to take care of her children.

She takes great pains to make sure that whatever ugly feelings there are between herself and the husband, doesn't spill over to their lives. Being Essentially a single parent, she is caring and wise, and makes time in the day to sit down and listen to what the children are up to.

And when either of them is going through their own inner conflicts, she is there is lend a shoulder to cry on, and comforting words to calm them.



The Sister Cam, who for the most part is wrapped up with her own changes and romantic feelings, nonetheless is receptive of what is going on in their home. She too tries to keep her younger brother from being affected by the problems with the adults, and in her own way is there is give Lulu some well needed human connection.



Other than the story, which is simple and straightforward, what I loved about this is the interactions between the characters. They all behave much like a family, telling jokes, getting on each other's nerves, and being there for one another in times of grief and sorrow.

And most of all, they seem like real people, and react to events as real people ought to. Even the father, who, throughout the story, is portrayed in a negative light, and does ultimately separate from the mother, feels like he is someone with human weaknesses, who is dealing with his own shit. Even when he knows, what he's doing is not conducive to the children, he does it anyways, and at least has the decency to give the children a clean break.



The final panels, where the rest of the family are in each other's arms, giving comfort and reassurance to one another is heartwarming. It feels like, whatever the future may hold, they are ready to face it, and support each other through hard times.



The art, it's not exactly the first focus in such stories. Still, the art does serve to give us a clear understanding of the character's emotion. Which is even more challenging when you consider that they're drawn in likeness of real people, than cartoonish caricatures who can be made to emote in a pronounced way.



The pages are bathed in sunlight for the most part, and even during night scenes there is this ample brightness to go around. The drawn art does have a certain quality to it, as if they're drawn with a child's crayon. Which does work into the intended POV of the story.

Oftentimes, the character, especially the mother, is drawn with no emotions in her face. But her posture, appearance, the shadows over her eyes and the words spoken communicate the emotions and pain that she has to process in regard to her broken marriage.

Similarly, Lulu, who is going through his own inner demons mostly internalizes his feelings, but we can still feel the fear, wanting and conflict which he feels in trying to express his feelings.

This is a simple story, with some well rendered characters, who you as a reader can empathize and sympathize with. It will leave you in an introspective mood after reading, calm almost meditative. I would definitely recommend it.

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