Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Monstress - Despertar by Marjorie Liu

32 reviews

celestriakle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I was just lamenting the way western comics tend to be stiffer and less dynamic than most manga, and then along comes monstress. the art in this is absolutely stunning. (though a few points lost for some characters who look so similar i struggled to tell them apart.) the lore is DENSE and they just throw you in, but its still progressive enough you can put things together. dont sweat the names, you'll pick it up. i never felt overwhelmed.

i also really liked how most of the characters were women, even mooks and minoe bg charaters.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, and Pedophilia

Minor: Rape, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Abandonment

mary_c's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

This graphic novel was very very violent and gruesome.  It is not for people who are sensitive to pictures of children being harmed.  It depicts medical violence, and  torture or torture victims.  I wish someone from book club had warned me before I opened it.  I think much of the artistic design was beautiful, but I just couldn’t appreciate it because I was affected by the very dark content. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Torture, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

growintogardens's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

The art is so beautiful. The story is a little confusing at times and quite dark.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

cthulhu_calamari's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide and Toxic friendship

startjpw23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book is a graphic novel. It is the first volume in a series. The story is set in an alternate earth. I can't really place the time it takes place in, but it is fairly modern. There are no mechanized vehicles. But there are guns and airships. The main character is Maika HalfWolf. She is an Arcanic. Arcanics are half human. Maika has a powerful creature inside of her. There is a simmering dispute between Arcanics and humans. There are other races in the book (one is a race of intelligent, speaking 3 tailed cats). The Arcanics and humans are matriarchal societies. The story is told from multiple POVs. There is impressive world building in this book. The story is dark. There are some brutal scenes. The art if beautiful. The characters are complex. This is one of the best graphic novels I ever read. I will definitely be continuing the series. I recommend it to anyone who wants to read a dark graphic novel about an alternate earth with complex characters, multiple races, matriarchal societies, and great world building. Possibly look at content warnings to make sure the brutal scenes wouldn't be too much. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

proudtobeabookaholic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Maika Halfwolf is a 17-year-old survivor in the war between humans and Arcnics. In search of her past she becomes both hunter and hunted. At the same time the monster within her starts to awaken. 

I've been wanting to read this series for a long time, but now that I've read the first book I'm not sure what I really think about it. It's an unusually complex world building for a graphic novel, so I sometimes had trouble understanding all connections. Maika is also a rather complex character, and I shift between feeling sorry for her and thinking she behaves poorly. I enjoy the steampunk inspired environment and the style of drawing, but I find it unnecessarily bloody and violent. The fact that it takes place in an alternative Asia is interesting, but the question is if it's enough for me to keep reading the series? I honestly don't know. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

baibe's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

joscelynhe's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Monstress Volume 1 by Marjorie M. Liu is an amazing introduction to a new comic book world. The world building was wonderful, intriguing, and just down right entertaining. The art has been done by Sana Takeda and it's so beautiful, the art style is very "steampunk" and it just brings so much life to the story. 

Monstress is the story of Makia, a 17 year old who has grown up around war and she has lost so much. She has a psychic link with an entity inside of her, one that she struggles to control. She sets out on a mission and she ends up traveling/escaping with some friends after she finishes said mission. 

This was really entertaining and I had so many questions after the first volume, I'm so excited to dig into the later volumes to see if my questions will be answered. I really enjoyed this comic so I'm giving it a 5 out of 5 stars! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

allie_fawn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This series is gorgeous. There is a lot of names and lore to consume and that can be overwhelming, but I still highly enjoy it and the artwork is beautiful. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail