author: Marjorie M. Liu
name: Wayne
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2016/07/23
date added: 2016/07/23
shelves: graphic-novels
review:
'Monstress Volume 1: Awakening' by Marjorie M. Liu with art by Sana Takeda is at times beautiful and grotesque. I loved the worldbuilding, the art and the almost completely female cast.
In a strange, alternate Asia that has a sort of steampunk feel to it, there is a war going on between humans and a race of Arcanic beings which seem like human/animal hybrids. Maika Halfwolf finds herself in the middle of this. With only one good arm, and a strange eye tattoo on her chest she is taken into the fortress of a religious order called the Cumaea. She wreaks havoc on them when she discovers they only want the Arcanics to harvest something called Lilium, and she escapes with a partial mask. Now on the run with a talking cat called Master Ren and a small foxlike girl called Kippa, she also finds herself with a terrifying ally. They are on the run from everyone, but Maika seems either brave enough or indifferent enough to see things through.
At first glance, there are things about this that should have put me right off of it. Overly pretty art and talking animals for a start. Something intrigued me about it, and I'm really glad I gave it a chance. I loved the look and mood of this story. I liked Maika's "don't give a crap about anything" attitude. The beauty and grotesqueness was a good balance, and it's an interesting world in which gods and men live alongside each other, but not so peaceably. As a bonus, since the volume wasn't finished, I got to read the individual issues, which also included fan mail and fan art, and some really nice interactions between the creators and fans.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Image Comics, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
via Wayne's bookshelf: read http://ift.tt/2amf5rt
No comments:
Post a Comment