Reviews

Saints by Gene Luen Yang

harlando's review

4.0

This was good, but when combined with Boxers it gets a magnification effect that bumps it up to really good. The two books are both about the boxer rebellion, but each tells the story from a different angle. Boxers follows a young man who falls in with the boxers to drive out the foreign devils who are dominating China. Saints tells the story of a girl who is dominated and terrorized by her family and becomes a Catholic (joins the foreign devils), in order to emancipate herself.

Both of them regularly experience visions and are probably fully qualified in crazy. It's great!

toebean5's review

3.0

I'm glad I read Boxers first, because I needed more context for the events in this book. The ending took me by surprise, and I'm not sure it worked for me in the same way as Boxers, but it was still very powerful, and this is simply an invaluable work (the two, together). Not many other books (especially for young people) really reflect that history is more complicated than good guys/bad guys. Also, I read this before going to hear Gene Luen Yang speak and I basically developed a literary crush on him; he was excellent and so, so good with all of the young boys present, which was, in itself, kind of amazing. Insert heart eyes here.

erine's review

4.0

These two books would make a for a great discussion about extremism, delusion, religion, nationalism and a whole bunch of other "isms."

Plus the artwork is worth the journey.

kirstenrose22's review

4.0

Possibly even grimmer than Boxers. I loved the back story of how Vibiana became a Christian.

blairmahoney's review

4.0

A fine accompanying volume to Boxers. Joan of Arc provides the supernatural visitations in this volume, which parallels the timeline of Boxers with a different point of view. It adds a brief epilogue that extends the story slightly to bring the two stories together.

roeckitcody's review

3.0

I really liked the main character and development- but oops I read the companion first

gracepickering's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

manha10's review

4.0

This graphic novel was going great but then it got kind of confusing but i still enjoyed it

headingnorth's review

2.0

My collective review of Boxers & Saints is here.

amanda1793's review

4.0

A great companion and finish to this tale.

I particularly enjoyed seeing the main character find herself in this one. Seeing Joan of Arc was very interesting in this story especially seeing how the girl was seeing how Joan's story in some ways matched hers.

The continuation of seeing the two religions collide in one place was very interesting. The end of both stories featured in this book was very enlightening.