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Monstress by Marjorie M. Liu & Sana Takeda: Review/summary
Book cover for Monstress

Monstress

By Marjorie M. Liu & Sana Takeda

Length: 202 pages

Rating: 8/10

First Published: 2016

Get it: UK 🇬🇧 | US 🇺🇸

Last read: 2020

5 Eisner awards for 2018, two years after the first publication. That must say something, right? It’s a dark, bloody story of a quest happening in a realm of demons, dark magic and war. The universe is of the huge, epic-fantasy kind.

Review

TL;DR: Amazed by the art, intrigued by the universe, let down by the writing and the story.

Let’s start with the bad news.

At 200 pages, it’s a big volume, where lots happen. My problem is, I felt like I hardly understood anything about the story even after I finished it. The main character is on some kind of quest. I have no clue what that quest is. There are villains, very cruel ones. The creatures are cool. That’s about all I can tell you for certain. The rest is unclear, told by proxy through what people said, but never stated explicitly.

Onto the good bits, I loved the art. The universe and its mythology are interesting and intriguing. The art really lets it all shine.


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