Illustrated by Nao Kodaka
Translated by Christine Dashiell
2.5 stars
Kilala and Rei continue their request to collect the gems for the tiara and save Paradiso, visiting different Disney princesses. But this time they are joined by Sylphy, a woman claiming to be Rei’s fiancée. Will she help or hurt their cause?
We get two princesses in this one, which messes with the pacing a bit, but it does make the story progress more quickly.
I am a bit disappointed in how this series is going. What initially intrigued me about this series is what is falling particularly flat now. The whole princess plot just isn’t working for me. I don’t find the princess messages all that helpful. They are very vague things like believe in love. Kilala mostly just finds inspiration in them being in love rather than actually learning anything from them.
Sylphy only exists to be a direct foil to Kilala with a more “mature” beauty, questionable motivations, and tendency to complain. She could have been a really interesting character but is just treated as a plot devise.
There are also some weird elements chosen to include in a children’s book such as a jealous love rival, belly dancer costumes to distract a bar full of men, and more guns. Gaston hitting on Kilala was particularly weird for me.
I am still enjoying the overall plot of finding the different gems and working to save Paradiso. I’ll finish the series out but it just isn’t living up to the promise of the first book.