Libby and May, two best friends, created a princess together. Libby drew the comics, May wrote the stories, and Princess X fought monsters, ghosts, and other assorted creepazoids from her haunted house high on a hill.
A few years later, Libby was in the car with her mom, driving across a bridge on a rainy night. When the car went over the side, Libby passed away, and Princess X with her.
Now, May is sixteen and lonely when she sees a sticker slapped in a corner window – a figure in a gold crown, pink dress, red Chucks, and a long katana sword…
Princess X?
Suddenly, May sees the princess everywhere: stickers, patches, graffiti – an entire underground world built around a website at IamPrincessX.com. The more May explores the comic, the more connections she finds between Libby’s death and Princess X’s adventures. And that means only one person could have started this phenomenon – her best friend, Libby.
This book is part regular teen novel, part graphic novel. As someone who loves reading comics, on paper and online, I loved that this book had a comic theme to it. I was a bit disappointed that there weren’t more comics. They only lasted about halfway through the book.
Telling a story based on things that happen to a character but spicing it up with powers and/or specific details isn’t a new concept. It’s been used before. Examples: The Disney Channel Original Movie, ‘Read It and Weep’ and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends episode ‘The Bloo Superdude and the Magic Potato of Power.’ But the mystery and story in this book are better than all those other stories combined.
Another big part of the story’s plot is the Internet and computer hacking. As someone who visits only a handful of websites and has zero knowledge of hacking, most of that stuff was lost on me. For info on hacking, check out the show ‘Limitless,’ episode ‘Arm-ageddon.’ The episode talks about how hacking is really boring and complicated.
I kind of cheated with this book. I bought the book from ‘Barnes and Nobles’ a while ago and recently found the book on audio. So, I just listened to the audio while following along with the physical book. I kind of recommend doing this. May has a Georgia accent, and it doesn’t show unless you listen to the audio. Plus, it plays music in the background at the exciting parts.
This week’s Weird but True Fact about the Internet
There are more than 300-trillion-trillion-trillion possible Internet addresses – 100 for every atom on Earth’s surface.