Review:
Frances, a young dressmaker, gets noticed due to a dress she designed - it fit the young lady's requirements ("Make me look like the devil's wench.") but horrifies nearly everyone else...except a mysterious aristocrat who wants to hire her to be their private dressmaker. Then Frances learns that her new patron is Prince Sebastian. After listening to him, Frances decides to continue with their agreement - Sebastian gets to be the beautiful and mysterious Lady Crystallia, and Frances' work gets seen by larger and larger audiences.
However, as Lady Crystallia gets more attention, Prince Sebastian worries about his parents finding out about his cross-dressing, particularly if people see Frances with him and connect Lady Crystallia and Prince Sebastian. At the same time, if Frances wants to achieve her own dreams, she can't just stay in the shadows for Sebastian's sake.
I've been a fan of Jen Wang's work since her Strings of Fate webcomic days (which I think was back when she was in high school, so who knows how she'd feel about that?). The artwork in this volume was just as good as I expected - lovely and very expressive.
Story-wise, maybe this turned out too well to be fully believable, but whatever - I enjoyed that the potential disaster turned into joyful fluff. (And for folks looking for something similar, I recommend giving the K-drama Under the Queen's Umbrella a try - there's a subplot involving one of the princes that gets pretty tough for a while but does resolve in a positive - but more believable? - way by the end.)
There's a hint of romance here, but the friendship aspects and themes of acceptance and being true to one's self are stronger.
Extras:
A few bonus sketches and behind-the-scenes pages about Wang's process and the creation of this graphic novel.
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