MADAGASCAR | Kirkus Reviews

Prince tells the story of the rise of the real-life Queen Ranavalona I in a three-part YA graphic novel.

Ramavo, who later becomes the queen of Madagascar, is a young girl in this work based on real events in Madagascan history. After the book introduces teenageRamavo and her people, including her best friend, Hanitra, and Toky, a young warrior, it tells how the Sakalava, another tribe, have invaded other parts of their kingdom. Toky and Hanitra support their king, Andrianampoinimerina,in his efforts to unify the kingdom. Ramavo, however, wonders why they can’t all live in peace. Unexpectedly, a Frenchman named Clementarrives, pretending to be a merchant. He’s part of the faction working to assassinate the king and install Andrianjafy, the king’s uncle, to rule. Ramovo’s father, Tsalamanjaka, reveals the plot to the monarch, garnering his favor. In return, Andrianampoinimerina takes Tsalamanjaka’s daughters as his own. Prince jumps between storylines, which is confusing, as he doesn’t include captions to explain scene or setting changes, except to advance time (“Next Morning”). Prince includes two characters speaking French, but doesn’t provide any English translation, apparently to simulate the main characters’ unfamiliarity with the language. There are some notable scenes of action, as when one character is killed by a crocodile and another is bitten by a snake and kidnapped. After another is killed by the king, Ramavo becomes a princess, and a deception is revealed. The story is disjointed and fragmented, however; also, characters are drawn in very similar styles and can be hard to differentiate at times, though the varied hairstyles help. That said, too many characters initially appear without any identification at all.

An ambitious but unevenly executed biographical illustrated work that lacks cohesiveness.