I loved this graphic novel that I read via NetGalley. I think readers who enjoy ancient settings with a good storyline will love it. The drawing is impressive with warm colors and a lot of nice details, the characters are well-defined and relatable for an adventure with a timeline in ancient history.
The story is paced well enough to enjoy the visual elements in each scene. I especially enjoyed general views of the ancient cities that look rather realistic, and I took my time to study them closely.
There is also a short glossary with the names mentioned in the book that includes very brief information about the history of ancient Egypt and Babylon empires.
I will be looking forward to the second part.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this one and the historical references it made. It felt like this could have been a true story with the cultural, political, and historical figures mentioned in the novel. I was a little confused for the first half of the novel which made it difficult to get into. My favorite part was the amazing colors and artwork that balanced the Egyptian culture depicted so well!

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This begins with two half siblings, children of the Pharaoh, running away and ending up in slavery in Babylon. The sister ends up as a nanny for the prince's child and maid to his concubine, while the brother ends up as the Straw King. From there the sister tries whatever she can to keep her brother from going through the ritual of the Straw King.

If you like ancient society settings and warm colors, this may be worth taking a look at if the story interests you. I will say the font is kind of hard on the eyes. I wear glasses, and I needed to pretty much pull my computer too close to my face to be able to read some of the text because of it.

An interesting historical graphic novel. Nothing really grabbed my attention here. It was trying to be exciting but sort of fell short with heavy dialogue and non-dynamic pages. Not my thing at all.

Politics is personal in ancient Egypt and Babylon. Focused on the ins and outs of court (of Pharoh Amasis II) and palace (of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon) intrigue, the characters were engaging, the art was well-drawn, but the plot wasn't quite byzantine enough for my tastes. Fun and well worth a read.

The art in this book was fabulous! With all colored pages and nice detailing, also had in engaging story to back it up!!!

It was beautiful drawings and that i really liked, but the novel felt too informative and i wasn`t too fond of the whole story. I had other hopes for this story, but they kind of crashed. I give it 3 stars, but that is actually mostly for the beautiful graphics/drawings.

I intially wanted to read this graphic novel for the egyptian theme and wasnt disappionted on that part. The art style in this is absoluetly lovely and fitted well with this type of graphic novel. However that is where this good review stops as although you can tell the writer put in alot of research into Egyptians and Babilonians that was all this novel was. I did not feel I was reading a story, more that I was reading a graphic inforamtion book. So many details were cramed into the story that I just couldnt get my head around what the actual plot was. I also found that the story did jump way too quickly and the jumps/gaps in the timeline were too big and didnt make sence. I really wanted to like this but it was just too confusing.

This first part focuses on Neith and Sennedjem, who are very far removed children of the current pharaoh, that decide they're going to leave Egypt and try and make their way elsewhere, but bad luck befalls them. They end up in Babylon as slaves, Neith given to the prince and Sennedjem made to be the Straw Man, a body double in a ritual for the king that will end in his death. Neith is not OK with that and a rescue attempt is planned - though things do go awry.

Dethan Isabelle wrote and illustrated this and while I find the pacing to be weird (I have this problem with a lot of graphic novels, so that may just be me) and some of the characters seemed a bit off looking to me, the scenes of the just buildings and nature were beautiful.

I'm interested in seeing where this story goes as it does leave on a bit of a cliff hanger!

Thank you NetGalley for providing this arc for review.

The Straw King is a graphic novel set in ancient Egypt. I love reading and studying anything Egypt so when I saw this, I was really intrigued. The story mainly follows Neith and her brother who went on an adventure to escape Egypt and became enslaved to Babylon. I am not the hugest fan of graphic novels… but I loved each illustration as it depicts the time period and the way of life.

I can’t wait to read the next one!

This graphic novel is about Neith and her brother Sennedjem who are the pharoah’s children. They decide to run away together because Neith doesn’t want to become her own father’s concubine, and Sennedjem is not the heir but one of many sons down the ladder, so he isn’t really important to his father. He would most probably end up as a leaf bearer for one of his older brothers.

Unfortunately they are caught by slave traders, and are sold to the King of Babylon, who is an enemy of the Egyptians. The King decides to use Sennedjem as a Straw King. This means that Sennedjem would be forced to pretend to be the King and then sacrificed at the temple to get rid of all the bad omens and curses that would befall the real King otherwise. Neith is horrified to learn this and decides to save her brother from this terrible fate.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel as I learnt a lot of facts about ancient Egyptian and Babylonian customs and traditions, that I did not know before. I do really like reading about that time period and this was very interesting for me.

The illustrations were really beautiful and a treat to behold. Very vibrant, rich and colorful. It felt like they transported me back in time.

This was volume 1 of the two part series and now I really want to read the second part, to know what happens next, as the story was so engrossing.

I recommend this book for people who love history, and love reading comics and graphic novels with beautiful illustrations.

I have been a big fan of Ancient Egypt since I was a little kid. There's something charming about its mythology, architecture and even pharaohs. That's why I couldn't pass an opportunity to try The Straw King.

The Straw King is first in the two-book series, The Pharaoh's Daughter. It's focused on Netih, daughter of the Pharaoh and her brother, escaping from their country and being enslaved and sent to Babylon. Author focused on many aspects of the society back then - monarchy itself, politics and relationships, slavery and female position in the society. Story itself was very intriguing, gripping and unpredictable. I would personally appreciate more of Egyptian setting, but Babylon was surely interesting enough to keep me interested.

One thing I must pinpoint is art of the comics. It's very vivid, colorful and eye-catching. It sets the atmosphere perfectly, especially bigger panels with no text. Comics itself is not very long, which was a bummer because I wanted more, but I am sure we'll get nice conclusion in second volume.

I'd recommend this comics to anyone interested in Ancient Empires (especially Babylonia and Egypt), strong female lead and lot of politics.

This was my first graphic novel. I love the Egyptian background. Egyptian mythology is one of my favourites.
Two siblings, children of the Pharoah, who are nowhere near next in line for the throne, decided to leave Egypt, only they find themselves in strife from the get-go, and now they need to get home.

The siblings are fierce and I love that. They find their path and are doing what they can for each other, even separated. It shows the love and commitment that comes from family.
I really enjoyed the mention of the Gods. I would definitely say it's for a younger audience than myself, possibly around 15-19 years old. However, I loved the graphics and it was super easy to follow the story. Thank you!

This started out well but then just dragged on for no real reason. The illustrations are beautiful and I love the colors used that evoke the Ancient Egyptian time period.