Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Monstress, Book One by Marjorie Liu

3 reviews

ladypalutena's review against another edition

It feels like we're dropped in on the third or fourth volume of the comics, rather than the first. I gave it 1/3 of the book to see if anything would happen, and found myself googling Monstress to see if it gets better. It seems to be a very divisive comic, but most people seemed to agree with if it hadn't grabbed you by the end of chapter 2, you're not going to find it any easier going forward. I gave it until chapter 5. 

So this is my first DNF in several years, and I don't know how to feel about it. But I don't want to force myself through multiple books and feel like I wasted my time in the end. The art is gorgeous, but the subject matter is hard, and the story is almost...non-existent? I know the main character has some sort of amnesia, but the world building is so slow it's hard to want to pay attention. I kept seeing the phrase "very, very slow burn" thrown around when I was reading about it, and decided this one wasn't for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Medical content, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

mburnsides's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense fast-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

4.0

 I had read the first volume months before the rest of the book and had not reread it before finishing, so the first six chapters I don't remember well. Sometimes the story could be hard to follow and I didn't start remembering characters' names until about halfway through. The art is phenomenal and the characters design, ugh *chefs kiss* If you like hot women, this story is for you. If you like matriarchal perspectives and eldritch horror, this story is for you. I enjoyed the greyness of Maika’s character and the story’s willingness to paint “heroes” as bad people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Grief, and Cannibalism

Minor: Genocide, Racism, and Slavery

nyoom's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, and Cannibalism