Monstress Volume 1: Awakening (Monstress, #1)

by Marjorie M. Liu

Sana Takeda (Artist)

2018 Eisner Award winner, Best
Writer
2018 Eisner Award winner, Best
Painter/Multimedia Artist
2018 Eisner
Award winner, Best Continuing Series
2018
Eisner Award winner, Best Publication for
Teens
2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Cover
Artist
2018 Harvey Award winner, Book of
the Year
2018 Hugo Award winner, Best
Graphic Story
2018 British Fantasy Award
winner, Best Comic/Graphic Novel
2018,
2016, 2015 Entertainment Weekly's The Best Comic Books of the
Year
2018, Newsweek's Best Comic
Books of the Year
2018, The Washington
Post's 10 Best Graphic Novels of the
Year
2018, Barnes & Noble's Best Books
of the Year
2018, YALSA's Great Graphic
Novels for Teens
2018, Thrillist's
Best Comics & Graphic Novels of the
Year
2018, Powell's Best Science-Fiction,
Fantasy, Horror, and Graphic Novels of the
Year

Set in an alternate matriarchal
1900's Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steam punk,
MONSTRESS tells the story of a teenage girl who is struggling to survive the
trauma of war, and who shares a mysterious psychic link with a monster of
tremendous power, a connection that will transform them both and make them the
target of both human and otherworldly
powers.

About the
Creators:

New York Times bestselling and
award-winning writer Marjorie Liu is best known for her fiction and comic books.
She teaches comic book writing at MIT, and leads a class on Popular Fiction at
the Voices of Our Nation (VONA) workshop. Ms. Liu's extensive work includes the
bestselling "Astonishing X-Men" for Marvel Comics, which featured the gay
wedding of X-Man Northstar and was subsequently nominated for a GLAAD Media
Award for outstanding media images of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
community. Prior to writing full-time, Liu was a lawyer. She currently resides
in Boston.

Sana Takeda is an illustrator and
comic book artist who was born in Niigata, and now resides in Tokyo, Japan. At
age 20 she started out as a 3D CGI designer for SEGA, a Japanese video game
company, and became a freelance artist when she was 25. She is still an artist,
and has worked on titles such as "X-23" and "Ms. Marvel" for Marvel Comics, and
is an illustrator for trading card games in Japan.

• ISBN10: 1632157098
• ISBN13: 9781632157096
• Publish Date: 19 July 2016 (first published 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Image Comics
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 192
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sarah Says]

I’m not sure how to feel about this one. The art of dark, but beautiful. I can’t say that I liked it, or that I enjoyed reading it. But I couldn’t put it down and I do intend to read the next volume.

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Rating: 4.5 Stars!

RTC/// but LOVED IT!

I can’t get caught up in writing a review or I will break my reading streak! And I’m having an endoscopy at 11 so... psh better get reading 😂.

[bumblingbookworm]

This review was originally posted on The Bumbling Bookworm

I DNFed this graphic novel and I really didn't enjoy it.  I spent most of my time reading this confused about what was going on, who was on what side, and what they were fighting about, and this didn't change after reading 50%.  The illustrations were very well done, but that wasn't enough to keep me reading.  Also, the type of violence in this novel really grossed me out.  While I could've finished this rather quickly, I had no desire to keep reading it so I decided not to - DNF.
Check out the rest of my review here!

[leahrosereads]

Re-read 2019:
Upon re-read, my rating has stayed the same, but I pulled more from the story this time around. I was able to understand more context and immerse myself even further into the story. This volume is very info-dumpy but after reading 3 volumes, and a re-read, I was actually able to understand parts that I honestly didn't get the first go around. Definitely happy that I took the time to pick this series back up!



This was all kinds of epic.

MONSTRESS is a brilliantly told story that kept me completely entranced with art that brought all the creep factors of what I was reading to life. I'm not even remotely sorry at giving this 5 stars. It can have all the stars, every day of the week. I'm completely hooked.

Maika is my kind of hero. She's a product of her world in the best and worst ways, damaged, tragic, and I can't help but root for her and hope for best. Even if it seems pretty futile.

Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda did an incredible job at fleshing out Maika, the other characters, and this world. This volume stands on the shoulders of these two talented individuals as a terrifyingly beautiful piece of storytelling.


There are so many great comics out there, but this one should definitely not be overlooked. With this one volume, MONSTRESS surpassed all my expectations and has easily risen to the top as one of my favorite comics.

It has so much going for it, and I cannot wait to get the second volume and possibly trying to collect these as single issues, because I'm not sure if I can wait to continue this story.

[inlibrisveritas]

Full review to come.

[Heather]

This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story

[Chelsea]

This wasn't the best intro to a graphic novel that I've seen. I found that I was mostly confused and I honestly have no idea what happened during this first part. There was a lot of words thrown around that had no definition and I found myself mostly lost.

It wasn't a horrible story though, I might be tempted to pick up the next part but I'm not in any rush. I think the plot could have used some explaining at the beginning and I don't think we've even seen many character names yet. All we know is that our main character has some kind of power and isn't human. Even that I'm not 100% sure of.

So this was an ok intro, nothing special but the potential for the rest of the series could be great. We'll have to wait and see.

[nannah]

My initial impression still stands: this is the most gorgeously illustrated graphic novel I've ever set my eyes on! The illustrations never waver in quality; they're intensely detailed and elegant, and I'm almost tempted to say it's worth buying the graphic novel for the illustrations alone.

Book content warnings:
slavery
fatphobia
lots of gore, horrific images, etc.

Monstress takes place in a matriarchal alternate 1900's Asia with five main races: the Ancients, anthropomorphic animal-like immortal beings; the Old Gods, horrific formless monstrosities; Cats, multi-tailed wise and powerful . . . cats; humans (as we are); and Arcanics, the powerful human x Ancient hybrids.

The story is told in two main polar points of view: through Maika, the main protagonist, an arcanic whose body is forcibly shared with an Old God, and through some of the witch-humans, who vehemently oppose arcanics. The two races have been in a violent war, and the readers are taken into the meat of the conflict between them.

Maika is unwillingly put in a tough spot. She's wanted by everyone for the thing inside her, and above all else she wants it out. But if she's to survive and stop an even greater evil from coming, she might have to come to terms with this monster inside . . .

Worldbuilding and character designs are so lush and gripping. I wanted more and more, and was disappointed when I reached the last page. This world has so much life and structure and character, it's difficult not to become engrossed in it.

But the graphic novel is not without it's faults, though. The only larger woman is an awful character whom Maika calls a "pig". Not exactly pleasing representation. There's also a ton of PoV and time switches that make it a bit difficult to follow the timeline of the story (until maybe the halfway point). It's difficult to understand the story until you're a couple chapters in. Also, the book's design is a little annoying; the font is so tiny I had to turn on extra lights and hold the dang thing up to my nose, and I know I'm destroying the poor book's spine as I'm trying to read the dialogue printed so close to the middle spread.

But Monstress is definitely the best graphic novel I've read so far. I can't wait to see more (note: I haven't read many graphic novels . . . but still).