Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Monstress - Despertar by Marjorie Liu

8 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.

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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

vr_alyssa's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

An intricate world with beautiful images. Very curious to see where this leads. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

fraxisle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Violence, and Xenophobia

vigil's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kanra's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

This is a dark fantasy graphic novel about a girl with power she can't control. The artwork is absolutely stunning and the story sucks you in as you learn more about the world and what's happening. At first it switches between present and past so you can learn more about why the MC is making the choices she is but then it levels out into the present. There are also some cute lore pages between chapters to give you a little more insight into the world. I'll definitely be picking up the next volumes. If you dislike reading about death, abuse, gore, and slavery then this isn't for you. If you don't mind those topics and are looking for a good fantasy world then this might be for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse and Blood

Minor: Animal cruelty, Racism, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.5

I saw this had won a "Best Publication forTeens" award, so I was surprised at how dark and graphic it was in the end. This has a ton of horror elements, but if you cannot handle gore I would not pick this up. 

So the art is 100% 5/5. It is absolutely gorgeous, and I can stare at some of the pages forever. On the flip side of that there are some terrifying scenes. The artist can make someone look beautiful in one panel, and then grotesque when they show their true colors. It's really fantastic. Some character designs and outfits really give off a Final Fantasy feel as well. 

The story is quite interesting, and I am invested in the characters. I for sure want to continue this series, but it kinda falls into the trap of Fantasy books where you don't really understand what the characters are talking about in the beginning, because we don't know the words for the places and people yet. At the end of a lot of the chapters there is an info dump page as well that goes more in depth on the history of the world and why this conflict exists. It just shows how complicated the universe this story is based in is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Murder

hanarama's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

4.0

First off, the art is beautiful. I was first drawn to this book by the art. It's very elegant and expressive even in depicting violence. 

I don't know how much I can say on the story yet. The first volume (issues 1-6) set up a lot of the groundwork for what I suspect will be explored later. This early on, the story consisted mostly of world building and character establishment. 

The world building is very good and is what carried me through most of the book. So early on the characters haven't undergone a lot of character development so it's really the world building that gets you interested in learning more. There seem to be many secrets hinted at, just waiting to be uncovered later on. 

This volume ends on a major twist/reveal, that I think is going to drive a lot of character moments in the next volume. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, and Death of parent

selyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Blood, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Suicidal thoughts