Illustrators: Kyla Vanderklugt, Kwei Lin Lim, Emily Carroll, Olivier Pichard, Afu Chan, Rebecca Taylor, Giannis Milonogiannis
Publisher: Archaia
Release Dates: January 24, 2012 (vol.1); March 12, 2013 (vol.2)
Lono lived the typical life of a princess, sitting, reading, and dreaming. Then Pira, a princess from a neighboring kingdom arrives to tell her that Lono's father has been murdered and they must escape. Together Lono and Pira decide to become adventurer's, always on the run from Pira's mother, but determined to make their way in the world.
There is a lot of potential to this story. Pira and Lono are everything I want in my heroines. Lono, although definitely a more "soft" and girly princess, is willing to learn and try. She does grab a sword when a situation calls for it and has some smarts about her. Pira is our swashbuckling heroine whose magicked sword can take down any foe.
The difficulty in the series for me, especially with the first book were all the illustrators. Now, I have read enough graphic novels to understand that this is nothing new. Marvel's Runaways, another good teen read, used such methods. However, what it did do was turn the graphic novel part into a bunch of short story vignettes. It gave the stories a feeling of inconsistency and drew me out of the story every time there was an illustration change.
Spera Volume 2, felt a bit more cohesive, but didn't draw me in as much. That said, if I can get my hands on the third volume, I would read it.
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