Scan barcode
A review by mynameismarines
Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie Liu
5.0
I looooved it. The art is fantastic, the characters are intriguing and the world is complex and high-stakes. In going through reviews with lower ratings, there seems to be two general complaints: violence/gore and confusion. I definitely will say that if you are easily offended by violence, this isn't for you. I didn't think anything was overly graphic, personally, but the story itself is dark and contains elements of cannibalism, war and murder. For the second complaint, I already mentioned that the story is complex. If you expect to receive all the answers in the first volume, you'll be sadly disappointed. There are so many lines of the story introduced that remain open by the end. First volumes of graphic novels tend to be exposition-y in general (like pilots of TV shows), but its actual job is to introduce you to world and characters. I think this did an excellent job of weaving in those necessary elements with intrigue and action.
I don't often pre-order for anything, but volume 2 of this is a must.
Edited to add: I recently saw a thread on Twitter about the fatphobia in Monstress. This was clearly not something I picked up on, but I thought it was worth mentioning and including! It's not a prevailing theme, but rather the depiction of a minor characters. She's the only overweight character featured, she's evil and she's called a pig right before she's brutally murdered. It is definitely not something I would've noticed had it not been pointed out. The work itself is very good in terms of diversity, but it got this one thing wrong, I think, and it was a cheap cliche to use to telegraph villainy.
Merged review:
I looooved it. The art is fantastic, the characters are intriguing and the world is complex and high-stakes. In going through reviews with lower ratings, there seems to be two general complaints: violence/gore and confusion. I definitely will say that if you are easily offended by violence, this isn't for you. I didn't think anything was overly graphic, personally, but the story itself is dark and contains elements of cannibalism, war and murder. For the second complaint, I already mentioned that the story is complex. If you expect to receive all the answers in the first volume, you'll be sadly disappointed. There are so many lines of the story introduced that remain open by the end. First volumes of graphic novels tend to be exposition-y in general (like pilots of TV shows), but its actual job is to introduce you to world and characters. I think this did an excellent job of weaving in those necessary elements with intrigue and action.
I don't often pre-order for anything, but volume 2 of this is a must.
Edited to add: I recently saw a thread on Twitter about the fatphobia in Monstress. This was clearly not something I picked up on, but I thought it was worth mentioning and including! It's not a prevailing theme, but rather the depiction of a minor characters. She's the only overweight character featured, she's evil and she's called a pig right before she's brutally murdered. It is definitely not something I would've noticed had it not been pointed out. The work itself is very good in terms of diversity, but it got this one thing wrong, I think, and it was a cheap cliche to use to telegraph villainy.
I don't often pre-order for anything, but volume 2 of this is a must.
Edited to add: I recently saw a thread on Twitter about the fatphobia in Monstress. This was clearly not something I picked up on, but I thought it was worth mentioning and including! It's not a prevailing theme, but rather the depiction of a minor characters. She's the only overweight character featured, she's evil and she's called a pig right before she's brutally murdered. It is definitely not something I would've noticed had it not been pointed out. The work itself is very good in terms of diversity, but it got this one thing wrong, I think, and it was a cheap cliche to use to telegraph villainy.
Merged review:
I looooved it. The art is fantastic, the characters are intriguing and the world is complex and high-stakes. In going through reviews with lower ratings, there seems to be two general complaints: violence/gore and confusion. I definitely will say that if you are easily offended by violence, this isn't for you. I didn't think anything was overly graphic, personally, but the story itself is dark and contains elements of cannibalism, war and murder. For the second complaint, I already mentioned that the story is complex. If you expect to receive all the answers in the first volume, you'll be sadly disappointed. There are so many lines of the story introduced that remain open by the end. First volumes of graphic novels tend to be exposition-y in general (like pilots of TV shows), but its actual job is to introduce you to world and characters. I think this did an excellent job of weaving in those necessary elements with intrigue and action.
I don't often pre-order for anything, but volume 2 of this is a must.
Edited to add: I recently saw a thread on Twitter about the fatphobia in Monstress. This was clearly not something I picked up on, but I thought it was worth mentioning and including! It's not a prevailing theme, but rather the depiction of a minor characters. She's the only overweight character featured, she's evil and she's called a pig right before she's brutally murdered. It is definitely not something I would've noticed had it not been pointed out. The work itself is very good in terms of diversity, but it got this one thing wrong, I think, and it was a cheap cliche to use to telegraph villainy.