Extraordinary: A Story of an Ordinary Princess Review: Interesting

The fairy tale princess is what many young girls want to be. There is a lot of glamour and the idea of marrying a prince is a great idea. One thing that princesses aren’t is ordinary. Comic writer Cassie Anderson, on the other hand, decided to play with the idea of an ordinary princess in “Extraordinary: A Story of an Ordinary Princess” and it has some interesting ideas.   

In the kingdom of Florin, all the princess were blessed with amazing gifts from fairies. The seventh child, Basil, however, was given the gift of being ordinary. Now, after escaping a dragon that her mom hired to kidnap her, Basil is on a quest to find a way to stop being ordinary. It’s an interesting plot with some brilliant ideas. Basil’s mom hiring a dragon to kidnap her so a prince can save her and marry her is a hilarious concept. The rest of the story is a fetch quest that ends in a giant battle. The journey is interesting as Basil does meet Hudson who, once we get to the end, we find out is also ordinary. The climactic fight is cute and touching, although some may think it’s just saccharine hogwash. The only real downside is that some of the lines come off as too sarcastic. While sarcasm can be great writing, sometimes it just comes off as irritating. Basil may be sarcastic for good reason, but what she says comes off as irritating.   

The artwork looks like it belongs in a fairy tale setting. It’s the type of images that many publishers use in illustrated fairy tale books with plenty of bright, vibrant colors oozing from every character. The only real downside is that some of the eyes look creepy. Basil’s eyes are just two dots which may be a way to make her stand out. That would be brilliant since ordinary means it doesn’t stand out and Basil’s eyes do.  

“Extraordinary: A Story of an Ordinary Princess” is a modern fairy tale about how two ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things. With art that fits the fairy tale theme and a great story despite it is a joy to read despite some minor nitpicks.