The Prince and the Dressmaker is the story I didn’t know I needed. It’s beautiful, sweet, cute and oh so powerful. This story packs a punch right to the feels.

This story honestly brought a tear to my eye by the end of it. Which if you knew me, would know that it’s very difficult to do. (I have yet to have read a book that makes me cry.) When I bought the book, the guy how sold it to me said that it made hims cry “but in a good way” and know I know why. I do think that this book could easily make someone cry because it is a very moving story.

This genderqueer fairy-tale was a delight to read.

This story is about how the two main characters, Prince Sebastian and Frances (the dressmaker), learn how to fit into the world. Learning how to be themselves and feel accepted by the world around them, while also figuring out their dreams and how to achieve them.

I loved how, because they are teenagers, everything is so intense. It’s set in a time in their lives that they are unsure about the world and how they can fit in and survive in it. The two of them go on a journey to figure out their places in the world. While trying to support and help the other in their decisions. Even if it pushes them apart.

I loved the art style in this graphic novel. It colourful and imaginative. I loved that the two main characters looked like normal teenagers. Plus the fact that Prince Sebastian looks enough like his parents that you can tell that they’re related but not as if he was a carbon copy of one of them. When it said in one of the early chapters, before they are seen in the story, that he looks like his father I was expecting the two of them to look very similar. But instead they shared features but they weren’t copies of each other. I thought that you could really see that he was a mix of his two parents’ looks while also looking like an individual. I mention this because way too many graphic novels, comics or mangas will have the father look like an older version of the son(s) which really annoys me.

At the end of the book there is also bonus material that shows a look into Jen Wang’s process, an excerpt of the script and the different stages of sketches and artwork. I love it when the creator shows the behind the scenes process to how they make graphic novels. I find it super interesting to look at. I always find it really interesting when you get to have a peek into the creative process like this.

This is definitely a book that I wish I had read sooner. Because it is simply so amazing. I fell in love with these characters and their story and would be happy to read more about them. (But even if there isn’t more books/stories, I would be happy. Because it did feel like a very self-contained story.)

I would recommend this graphic novel to anyone that enjoys historical fiction and LGBT+ reads. This story is a lot like a fairy-tale. A poor girl that is given the chance to achieve her dreams and a young prince with a secret life that he can only life at night. It really is a beautiful story that I thoroughly loved reading.