Title: The Chosen
Author: Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda
Series: Monstress #4
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Graphic novels, Steampunk
Dates read: 27th March 2020
Pace: Medium
Format: Graphic novel
Publisher: image
Year: 2019
5th sentence, 74th page: It will just take time for lesser beings to grasp the truth.

A new war between humans and Arcanics is bubbling to the surface. A rift in the sky has revealed the devastating potential of the long-imprisoner Monstra. And Maika Halfwolf is at the center of it all.

In this fourth volume of MONSTRESS, collecting issues 19 – 24, Maika comes closer than ever before to the answers she’s long sought – but those answers carry a steep price. As her friends and allies reveal long-held secrets and shifting allegiances, Maika finds herself at the mercy of the Lord Doctor, a charismatic demagogue whose connections to Maika and Zinn run deeper than anyone could have imagined.

This is a glorious graphic novel. Just like the rest of the books in the Monstress series. They are dark, twisted and intense. Completely, beautifully graphic. And I honestly can’t tear my eyes away from the pages whenever I open that first page.

The plot is seriously thickening in this series. I am waiting impatiently for the next collection to come out because, as with every other volume in this series – it ends on a bit of a cliff hanger. There is something about this that makes you ridiculously excited to pick up the next story and immerse yourself again and again and again. But, now I have to wait…

Graphic novels are a medium that are seriously growing on me. However, I still do find that I can’t keep track of the characters as well as I do when it’s a novel written in prose. So there were probably a few important moments throughout this that I missed. A few key characters from the past that are reappearing, and it took me a little longer than it usually would to recognise them. Yet, this makes the adventure so much more fun. After all, I’m stretching some new mental muscles in doing so.

This is definitely a book that I’m going to pick up again and again and again. Whenever I want something a little bit dark, and kind of easy to enjoy. It’s just fantastic and completely impossible to forget.

Image source: Goodreads

Title: Haven
Author: Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda
Series: Monstress #3
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Graphic novels, Steampunk
Dates read: 19th September 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Graphic novel
Publisher: image
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: If we’re here, it’s because family protects family.

Maika Halfwolf has begun to unlock the mysteries of her past – but the challenges of the present are only growing. In this third volume of MONSTRESS, collecting issues 13-18, Maika’s journey takes her to the neutral city of Pontus, where she hopes to find temporary refuge from her pursuers. Unfortunately, Pontus may not be as safe as Maika and her allies had hoped.

s the impending war between humans and Arcanics creeps ever closer, and powerful players fight for the chance to control her future, Maika finds she must work with Zinn, the Monstrum that lives inside her, in order to ensure their mutual survival. But even that alliance might not be enough to prepare Maika for the horrors to come.

I’ve been putting off reading the next instalment in The Monstress series until it would complete a little more of one of my reading challenges… and when it finally came up on that week in my challenge… well, I completely devoured this. It probably helped that I was having a kind of dark week, and the darkness in the illustrations and storyline of this graphic novel hit the spot perfectly… now I just have to save up the money for the next book in the series…

I’m not someone who reads a lot of graphic novels… actually I’ve really only become interested in the genre in the last eighteen months… but for me, this is everything I never knew I wanted in a graphic novel. A fantastic combination of east and west… with a very healthy dose of mythology and steampunk thrown into the mix. But, mostly, I’ve loved how as this series has progressed, the story has gotten darker and darker, more complex and intensely twisty.

What started as an easy story about Maika Halfwolf has by this point become an incredibly complex tale of politics, war and the gods. There are a few points throughout which I lost a bit of track of who was who, but it was incredibly easy to quickly pick up the thread of the storyline again. After all, Liu and Takeda have done an amazing job of telling the story.

Although I enjoy this story, it is the stunning beauty and power of the illustrations which truly drew me in. There is an intensity and power to the panels which I haven’t seen in many illustrations, one that will leave goose bumps up your arms as you flick through the pages. And quite possibly linger in your dreams when you lay your head down at night.

Image source: image Comics

Title: The Blood
Author: Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda
Series: Monstress #2
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Graphic novels, Steampunk
Pace: Fast
Format: Graphic novel
Publisher: image
Year: 2017
5th sentence, 74th page: Oh, no.

Maika Halfwolf is on the run from a coalition of forces determined to control or destroy the powerful Monstrum that lives beneath her skin. But Maika still has a mission of her own: to discover the secrets of her late mother, Moriko.

In this second volume of MONSTRESS, collecting issues 7 – 12, Maika’s quest takes her to the pirate-controlled city of Thyria and across the sea to the mysterious Isle of Bones. It is a journey that will force Maika to reevaluate her past, present, and future, and contemplate whether there’s anyone, or anything, she can truly trust – including her own body.

I enjoyed this more than volume one of the Monstress series. Awakening was a great introduction, it was incredibly violent. And it was weirdly beautiful (especially considering the violence). But The Blood had a storyline that I found much more engaging, and a lot simpler to follow.

There was a lot more light in the panels of this novel – it acted as a brilliant counterpoint to Maika’s memories and internal conversations with the Monstrum. It also highlights the potential hope for the future, against the dark backdrop of her past. All interwoven in such beautifully illustrated panels that I frequently found myself stopping and staring at the pages, unable to move on until I had absorbed every minute detail.

The complexity of this picture story still makes me feel as though I have probably missed a lot in this reading. And I’m going to need to read it a few more times to really let the tale sink in. But, something about The Blood helped me to understand Maika’s world in a lot more detail than Awakening. Now to wait until the next volume is released…

Image source: Amazon

Title: Awakening
Author: Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda
Series: Monstress #1
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Graphic novels, Steampunk
Pace: Fast
Format: Graphic novel
Publisher: image
Year: 2016
5th sentence, 74th page: Let us hope that will be enough to bring down this wild child.

Set in an alternatie world of art deco beauty and steampunk horror, Monstress tells the epic story of Maika Halfwolf, a teenage survivor of a cataclysmic war between humans and their hated enemies, the Arcanics. In the face of oppression and terrible danger, Maika is both hunter and hunted, searching for answers about her mysterious past as those who seek to use her remain just one step behind… and all the while, the monster within begins to awaken…

This is my first ever hardcore graphic novel. And, although it was seriously enjoyable, it was also a little twisted. A little confronting. And a little bit addictive.

I’ve read a few graphic novels before, but they are always an addition to a novel series. So the introduction and personification of the main character has already occurred. As has the world, and most the rules by which they live. To read a graphic novel that must do all of this from the outset with pictures was an interesting experience, and did I mention confusing? I think that this is one of those stories that the more times I look through it and read it, the more I’m going to notice about it.

I loved the imagery that was used in this graphic novel. It was a great mixture of anime-style drawings and what I imagine the world of steampunk would look like. There was a lot of violence in this, but it was beautifully, and a little disgustingly drawn. The emotions that are shown throughout the piece are great drivers of the story, and I can’t wait to read the next volume in this series.

Image source: Booktopia