*I was given an ARC of The Court Charade in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Abrams ComicArts and Flore Vesco for my copy of this graphic novel*
Synopsis:
Serine is a poor but plucky daughter of a sickly nobleman who must make her way in the royal court to avoid being married off once her father dies. Although she is illiterate and owns only one dress, she manages to charm her way into the fickle queen’s good graces—but the royal court is not a kind place for a country bumpkin.
Silly, sweet Serine must smarten up if she wants to survive the queen’s fits of pique, the court ladies’ gossip, and the royal advisor’s evil schemes.
With nothing but her wits and the help of the friendly, handsome torturer’s apprentice, can she find a way to save her job, save the kingdom, and find true love along the way? Or will she be forced to play the fool?
Review:
The Court Charade looked like a fun read but it fell incredibly flat for me. It’s rare for me to DNF a graphic novel, but that’s what happened here. I just didn’t care enough to finish the story as there was sadly nothing compelling about it.
I love a story set at royal courts that don’t focus on the royals themselves, so this sounded right up my street. The story was all over the place though. I imagine there’s a slight disconnect due to this being translated from French.
The majority of The Court Charade read like a children’s graphic novel but then suddenly you see Serine, whose age I’m not sure about, topless as part of a prank in front of a room full of people. She looks pretty young to me and it came out of nowhere so this made me feel very uncomfortable. The art style of this graphic novel gives you no indication that it’s for adults, the cover very much looks like a middle-grade read to me.
I get that this is set back in the day but the fact that the ‘not like the other girls’ trope has been used because Serine is a quirky (a horrific word that is pretty much only used to describe women who are interesting) girl who likes to read is ridiculous. Can we please leave this trope in the bin where it belongs? It’s overused, it pits women against each other and it just doesn’t make sense – no two people are the same so why is it always women that have this trope used against them?
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