Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula by Andi Watson

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Princess Decomposia is overworked and underappreciated.

This princess of the underworld has plenty of her own work to do but always seems to find herself doing her layabout father’s job, as well. The king doesn’t feel quite well, you see. Ever. So the princess is left scurrying through the halls, dodging her mummy, werewolf, and ghost subjects, always running behind and always buried under a ton of paperwork. Oh, and her father just fired the chef, so now she has to hire a new cook as well.

Luckily for Princess Decomposia, she makes a good hire in Count Spatula, the vampire chef with a sweet tooth. He’s a charming go-getter of a blood-sucker, and pretty soon the two young ghouls become friends. And then…more than friends? Maybe eventually, but first Princess Decomposia has to sort out her life. And with Count Spatula at her side, you can be sure she’ll succeed.

Andi Watson (Glister, Gum Girl) brings his signature gothy-cute sensibility to this very sweet and mildly spooky tale of friendship, family, and management training for the undead.

I thought this would be a lot cuter than I thought it was going to be? Like, I mean, it was cute and all, but it wasn’t super super super adorable and funny, which I thought it was going to be. So, yeah, there’s that.

First item on the list is that I thought the art was great. It reminds me of the comic strips that I read back when I was younger, and it’s definitely a different type of graphic novel than I’ve been reading. I thought the sketches were quite nicely done and quite pleasing. A lot of the images were very cute even when they were supposed to be kind of evil creatures?

Overall, I did think this was a cute read. I’m not sure it had a plot, but I kind of just enjoyed going with it. Princess Decomposia was a strong, super capable heroine that was so realistic. Count Spatula was cool, and I liked Clove as well. It was just a cute read that didn’t really have too much going on, but it’s still super easy to get through.

Belle gets the struggle of being a princess. I mean, she had to take over a lot of duties when everyone became un-household-objected.

I did have some issues with the world building, though. You apparently really have to read the summary of the book or else you’re screwed to understand what the creatures are and what’s happening. There’s absolutely no backstory besides that, so I kept going, wait, I thought these people were vampires? Are they not vampires? I think Princess Decomposia was a princess of the Underworld? Like, maybe? And I don’t know what the king was supposed to be other than looking a bit like an onion? I DON’T KNOW. I AM SO CONFUSED. I DIDN’T GET ANYTHING ABOUT THIS WORLD AND WHAT WAS GOING ON AND WHY THINGS WERE HAPPENING. I AM SO CONFUSED STILL BUT I MEAN, I STILL KIND OF ENJOYED IT.

And the romance was kind of meh. Wasn’t feeling it too much.

Overall, this was a short fun read, but it didn’t really have much a plot, deep characterization, or in-depth or really any world building. Andi Watson definitely has a talent for art, and it did have some super fun moments. If you’re looking for something light and not deep at all, this is your story that will fill up a little bit of your time. 3 crowns and a Belle rating!

What do you think? Can you really enjoy the art and not the story? Does world building really impact your feeling of the story? Let’s discuss in the comments below!