Ladycastle by Delilah S. Dawson and Ashley Woods

Ladycastle
by Delilah S. Dawson (writer), and Ashley A. Woods (artist) [YA PB (Graphic Novel) Dawson]

A delightful fantasy graphic-novel (a compilation of shorter comic-book format issues), that turns traditional fantasy tropes on their ear!

Having met fantasy/SF author Delilah Dawson at a local genre convention here in Lincoln a few years ago, I recently searched online to see what she’d been writing lately, and stumbled across this marvelous little comic-book series, which was collected into a graphic novel format. Written by Dawson, with art by Ashley A. Woods, Ladycastle tells of the adventures and misadventures of a group of highly capable young women in a faux-medieval setting — what most epic fantasy sagas tend to be set in. The big difference here is that the small kingdom of Mancastle is missing all its men. They’ve all gone off on a military expedition, leaving their wives, sisters, and female children to run the walled city in their absence. When a lone soldier, Sir Riddick, returns to announce that all the men have been eaten by a dragon, and a curse has been placed on the Kingdom of Mancastle that attracts “monsters” to attack the walled city, the ladies all decide they’re going to become the kingdom’s leaders. The blacksmith’s wife, Merinor, becomes the King, a princess who had been locked in a tower to await an arranged marriage becomes the head of the armed forces, etc., etc. Sir Riddick, a bit of a blowhard and buffoon, soon finds himself training a large group of very capable women in the arts of warfare, survival and governance.

When the monsters start coming, the women’s completely different approaches to warfare lead to some fascinating plot twists. The characters are all vibrantly realized, particularly Merinor the “King”. The artwork by Woods is absolutely fabulous! This was a terrific little find for me, and I was highly disappointed when I reached the end of this graphic novel compilation. It ended on a cliffhanger, however it appears that the series did not continue beyond what is included in this volume. None-the-less, I do recommend sampling this one, especially if you like light-hearted fantasy works that don’t play by the rules!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Dragon Business, by Kevin J. Anderson, the Disc World series, by Terry Pratchett.]

[ publisher’s official Ladycastle web page ] | [ official Delilah Dawson web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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