Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

Monstress, Vol. 1. Risveglio by Rus Wooton, Marjorie Liu, Jennifer M. Smith

21 reviews

our_bookish_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This is just the kind of graphic that I love to stumble upon and find out it's actually pretty fucking amazing! 

I love the art and characters, yes, even the bad ones! Very supernaturally and I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Gore, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Murder, Body horror, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Medical content, Animal death, Blood, Death, Slavery, Trafficking, and War

ocean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Body horror, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Trafficking, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, and Child abuse

melsmagicalreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny 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? N/A

4.75

Kicking off 2022 with a graphic novel and I couldn't have chosen a better way to start my year! The world is on the brink of war, with humans and witches of the Cumaea against the Arcanics, half-human half-Ancient hybrids. Monstress follows a 17 year old girl, Maika, who travels deep into enemy territory. While doing this, she is fighting to keep a literal monster at bay who is residing inside her. With the unlikely traveling companions of a sentient cat and a cute little half-fox, she seeks answers to her unknown past while dodging all the different people who want her and her monster dead. 

I was so impressed by the depth of world-building in this graphic novel! It is so complex with multiple sentient species, warring factions, complex systems of power, and of course, monsters. The art is absolutely outstanding, unlike any other graphic novels I've read. It's definitely got a dark and gory steampunk vibe.

The story had the potential to be too dark for me, but the addition of sentient cats and a cute little half-fox sidekick for our monstress added much-needed comic relief. I imagine I will be flying through the next few volumes this week!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Slavery, Trafficking, and Violence

elly29's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

This was hard to read. At times the plot seemed nonsensical, and it was very, very violent. Like, dismemberment, rolling heads, blood, wanton killings, life-sucking tentacles that make you age in the blink of an eye, etc etc. The art style is mostly beautiful when it's not bloody, and Kippa is cute and Ren the Nekomancer is funny. I'm not sure they and even four-tailed nekomancer Professor Tam Tam can keep me reading the next installment... I have it checked out of the library, so I probably will give it a go...

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Slavery, Trafficking, Torture, and Physical abuse

Minor: War and Suicide

robinks's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into when I started this graphic novel. It is very intense and very mysterious, and even at the end, I have many unanswered questions (like Maika). The illustrations are beautiful and horrific.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Torture, and War

Minor: Death of parent, Genocide, and Sexual violence

fictionalportal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

For real one of the best books I've read, graphic novel or otherwise. Astonishingly good. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Child abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence

kelpiebooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Child death, and Trafficking

Moderate: Blood and Torture

Minor: Sexual assault

woollyleanne's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, and Trafficking

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I saw this had won a "Best Publication forTeens" award, so I was surprised at how dark and graphic it was in the end. This has a ton of horror elements, but if you cannot handle gore I would not pick this up. 

So the art is 100% 5/5. It is absolutely gorgeous, and I can stare at some of the pages forever. On the flip side of that there are some terrifying scenes. The artist can make someone look beautiful in one panel, and then grotesque when they show their true colors. It's really fantastic. Some character designs and outfits really give off a Final Fantasy feel as well. 

The story is quite interesting, and I am invested in the characters. I for sure want to continue this series, but it kinda falls into the trap of Fantasy books where you don't really understand what the characters are talking about in the beginning, because we don't know the words for the places and people yet. At the end of a lot of the chapters there is an info dump page as well that goes more in depth on the history of the world and why this conflict exists. It just shows how complicated the universe this story is based in is. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence

hanarama's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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

4.0

First off, the art is beautiful. I was first drawn to this book by the art. It's very elegant and expressive even in depicting violence. 

I don't know how much I can say on the story yet. The first volume (issues 1-6) set up a lot of the groundwork for what I suspect will be explored later. This early on, the story consisted mostly of world building and character establishment. 

The world building is very good and is what carried me through most of the book. So early on the characters haven't undergone a lot of character development so it's really the world building that gets you interested in learning more. There seem to be many secrets hinted at, just waiting to be uncovered later on. 

This volume ends on a major twist/reveal, that I think is going to drive a lot of character moments in the next volume. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Confinement, Torture, Trafficking, Suicide, Slavery, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Murder, Gore, Genocide, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Racism, Sexual content, and Violence