Reviews tagging 'Death'

Monstress, Vol. 1. Risveglio by Jennifer M. Smith, Marjorie Liu, Rus Wooton

70 reviews

jenniferlynnkrohn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

danielles_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

We’re all the same inside the cage. When they put the collars on us.

This was fine. I spent most of it very very confused, until the random insert of the lecturing professor cat lol. I’m glad that was there to explain things, but that’s like the absolute worst kind of world building, so I wish the author would have woven that information in more seamlessly.

I’m like kind of curious what will happen next, but not very. There was so much violence and gore that seemed kind of gratuitous to me tbh. Very over the top. It doesn’t help that I still don’t really understand the purpose of the violence, like what the war is really over, and why is the mask so important? I do like that the world is mostly women, with all of the powerful figures women. The world building is pretty interesting with the different races (and I love talking cats hehe). The character designs and background designs are phenomenal. The art is beautiful, but I don’t like how the artist doesn’t color in the whites of people’s eyes unless they’re in a close-up? It’s very eerie to see eyes be basically the same color as skin…

(There’s also the fact that there was one fat character, who was pretty much sadistic, is literally called a pig, and then is killed right away. Since this was first published in 2015, I can only hope it progresses beyond fatphobic imagery in future issues.)

I am interested in Maika’s story, and I like her friendship with Tuya, but she is pretty heartless. Justice for Kippa, that bb was too loyal to someone who didn’t deserve it (even the cat didn’t!). 🥺 I’m not sure if I will continue the series. I’m not totally against it but I’m not excited about it either. Maybe one day.

Yes, Miss Halfwolf scares me. A lot. But that doesn’t make her a monster. Don’t be like the witches, Master Ren. They call us monsters because it makes it easier to hurt us. But monsters are people, too.

Oh, Kippa!! 🥺

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood

vincci's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

It took a bit for me to understand what was going on, and the violence/gore is a bit off-putting, but I am interested in reading the rest of the series. The illustrations are beautiful and the colour scheme really sets the tone (no pun intended) for the story. Interesting to see a work like this coming from a female writer-illustrator duo! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, and War

miayukino's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood

jetix's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cannibalism and War

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Death of parent

the_bookish_rose's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I’ve had this book waiting on my shelf for *a while*, so I’m glad I finally got around to it. I did not expect for it to be so dark, but the illustrations really make up for it! It isn’t a lighthearted tale, but I like the way it was handled for the main character to not be so much of a 100% good or bad guy.

My only wish is that I wish that some of the exposition would’ve happened sooner, since I didn’t fully understand the world building until I was almost done. I also wish I could’ve gotten to know the main character Maika more than what I got of her, but I think that leaves more suspense for the next volume 😅. I really like the magical system in the book, and I really look forward to continuing the series- I’ve been on a graphic novel kick lately and it’s really cool! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

matcha_pages's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War

a_very_dyslexic_reader's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Cursing

itsmemiana's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 it was a lot darker than I was expecting but still very cool. and the artwork is absolutely stunning. Kippa is my favourite character, she's so adorable.

look up trigger warnings before reading if you get easily triggered. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

hngisreading's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War