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A review by squid_vicious
Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie Liu
5.0
I had seen this graphic novel on my Goodreads feed for ages, and I came across a copy while browsing at my local used bookstore: I figured this was as good an occasion as any to check it out, and I was very pleasantly surprised.
My main gripes with graphic novels in general, is that they seem to fall in one of two categories: amazing art and meh story, or uninteresting art and fantastic story. The “Monstress” series might be that elusive unicorn of a graphic novel where the art is fantastic and the story riveting.
As other readers have mentioned, the story can be confusing to get into: we don’t get much exposition, and are thrown in the deep end of a weird and very violent world without much information. But it is absolutely worth pushing through the cloud of question marks, because things start coming together and solidifying the world, making “Awakening” a rich and rewarding reading experience. I am being purposefully vague about the story because I think that going in as blind as possible is the way to go with this book: really let it confuse and shock you, trust me, you’re in for an amazing ride!
The used bookstore sadly doesn’t have the rest of the series on their shelf, but I enjoyed this so much, that I am happy to look for new copies! Definitely recommended for fans of fantasy and steampunk, but beware: you need a strong stomach for this one, as you will not be spare the goriest details.
Merged review:
I had seen this graphic novel on my Goodreads feed for ages, and I came across a copy while browsing at my local used bookstore: I figured this was as good an occasion as any to check it out, and I was very pleasantly surprised.
My main gripes with graphic novels in general, is that they seem to fall in one of two categories: amazing art and meh story, or uninteresting art and fantastic story. The “Monstress” series might be that elusive unicorn of a graphic novel where the art is fantastic and the story riveting.
As other readers have mentioned, the story can be confusing to get into: we don’t get much exposition, and are thrown in the deep end of a weird and very violent world without much information. But it is absolutely worth pushing through the cloud of question marks, because things start coming together and solidifying the world, making “Awakening” a rich and rewarding reading experience. I am being purposefully vague about the story because I think that going in as blind as possible is the way to go with this book: really let it confuse and shock you, trust me, you’re in for an amazing ride!
The used bookstore sadly doesn’t have the rest of the series on their shelf, but I enjoyed this so much, that I am happy to look for new copies! Definitely recommended for fans of fantasy and steampunk, but beware: you need a strong stomach for this one, as you will not be spare the goriest details.
My main gripes with graphic novels in general, is that they seem to fall in one of two categories: amazing art and meh story, or uninteresting art and fantastic story. The “Monstress” series might be that elusive unicorn of a graphic novel where the art is fantastic and the story riveting.
As other readers have mentioned, the story can be confusing to get into: we don’t get much exposition, and are thrown in the deep end of a weird and very violent world without much information. But it is absolutely worth pushing through the cloud of question marks, because things start coming together and solidifying the world, making “Awakening” a rich and rewarding reading experience. I am being purposefully vague about the story because I think that going in as blind as possible is the way to go with this book: really let it confuse and shock you, trust me, you’re in for an amazing ride!
The used bookstore sadly doesn’t have the rest of the series on their shelf, but I enjoyed this so much, that I am happy to look for new copies! Definitely recommended for fans of fantasy and steampunk, but beware: you need a strong stomach for this one, as you will not be spare the goriest details.
Merged review:
I had seen this graphic novel on my Goodreads feed for ages, and I came across a copy while browsing at my local used bookstore: I figured this was as good an occasion as any to check it out, and I was very pleasantly surprised.
My main gripes with graphic novels in general, is that they seem to fall in one of two categories: amazing art and meh story, or uninteresting art and fantastic story. The “Monstress” series might be that elusive unicorn of a graphic novel where the art is fantastic and the story riveting.
As other readers have mentioned, the story can be confusing to get into: we don’t get much exposition, and are thrown in the deep end of a weird and very violent world without much information. But it is absolutely worth pushing through the cloud of question marks, because things start coming together and solidifying the world, making “Awakening” a rich and rewarding reading experience. I am being purposefully vague about the story because I think that going in as blind as possible is the way to go with this book: really let it confuse and shock you, trust me, you’re in for an amazing ride!
The used bookstore sadly doesn’t have the rest of the series on their shelf, but I enjoyed this so much, that I am happy to look for new copies! Definitely recommended for fans of fantasy and steampunk, but beware: you need a strong stomach for this one, as you will not be spare the goriest details.