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Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie Liu, Marjorie Liu

90 reviews

allie_fawn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This series is gorgeous. There is a lot of names and lore to consume and that can be overwhelming, but I still highly enjoy it and the artwork is beautiful. 
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jesspajamas's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

monstress is a queer steampunk matriarcal fantasy world that Liu and Takeda bring to life with so much beauty and nuance. this series is a challenging read both for the darkness within this story (genocide, warring factions, etc) and for the scale of the world that Liu builds around Maika, the main character.

lots of reviews say that this series is confusing - and i agree that Liu presents the reader with tons of mysteries and questions - but she does a good job of dropping answers and unraveling the history of this world and Maika’s own history over the course of the series.

i picked up Monstress after starting another one of Liu’s series, The Night Eaters, and i’m so happy that i did! if you like queer dark fantasy worlds that basically don’t involve men, i would 10/10 recommend.
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laurenvoice's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

 Monstress, volume one was fun but intense!

This was way more graphic than expected; nonetheless, it was the perfect read to start the spooky season. I am curious to know what happens next! 
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vr_alyssa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

An intricate world with beautiful images. Very curious to see where this leads. 
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nadiaherondale's review against another edition

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

4.0

I decided to pick this up because the vibes felt similar to Claymore and oh boy it didn't disappoint. The art is amazing and deserves all the awards in the world and I'm liking the story so far. Although I can't in good faith give it a perfect rating 'cause I'm feeling way too lost about the plot and I feel everything is going too quickly, this is still a respectable 4/5. 
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jenniferlynnkrohn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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danielles_reads's review against another edition

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

3.0

We’re all the same inside the cage. When they put the collars on us.

This was fine. I spent most of it very very confused, until the random insert of the lecturing professor cat lol. I’m glad that was there to explain things, but that’s like the absolute worst kind of world building, so I wish the author would have woven that information in more seamlessly.

I’m like kind of curious what will happen next, but not very. There was so much violence and gore that seemed kind of gratuitous to me tbh. Very over the top. It doesn’t help that I still don’t really understand the purpose of the violence, like what the war is really over, and why is the mask so important? I do like that the world is mostly women, with all of the powerful figures women. The world building is pretty interesting with the different races (and I love talking cats hehe). The character designs and background designs are phenomenal. The art is beautiful, but I don’t like how the artist doesn’t color in the whites of people’s eyes unless they’re in a close-up? It’s very eerie to see eyes be basically the same color as skin…

(There’s also the fact that there was one fat character, who was pretty much sadistic, is literally called a pig, and then is killed right away. Since this was first published in 2015, I can only hope it progresses beyond fatphobic imagery in future issues.)

I am interested in Maika’s story, and I like her friendship with Tuya, but she is pretty heartless. Justice for Kippa, that bb was too loyal to someone who didn’t deserve it (even the cat didn’t!). 🥺 I’m not sure if I will continue the series. I’m not totally against it but I’m not excited about it either. Maybe one day.

Yes, Miss Halfwolf scares me. A lot. But that doesn’t make her a monster. Don’t be like the witches, Master Ren. They call us monsters because it makes it easier to hurt us. But monsters are people, too.
Oh, Kippa!! 🥺
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mburnsides's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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vincci's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

It took a bit for me to understand what was going on, and the violence/gore is a bit off-putting, but I am interested in reading the rest of the series. The illustrations are beautiful and the colour scheme really sets the tone (no pun intended) for the story. Interesting to see a work like this coming from a female writer-illustrator duo! 
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miayukino's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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