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Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening

Marjorie M. Liu (Writer),

Sana Takeda (Illustrator)

Start date: March 1, 2023

Finish date: March 31, 2023

Discussion: Book of the Month

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What Members Thought

Nov 12, 2018 Ashley (gotbookcitement) rated it really liked it

Shelves: adult, interesting, library-book, 2018-read, weird, fantasy, graphic-novel, comics, different, violent

This Graphic Novel is Beautiful! It's so pretty. I will forever judge all other comics/graphic novels harder for their artwork now, especially when they have panels that feel rushed. Reading Monstress was such a pleasure just because it was so freaking pretty. I'll probably just keep repeating over and over how pretty it is, but I don't think you realize. Sana Takeda's art makes me drool. Every panel, every page was gorgeous. There was such detail put into it, none of it was rushed. The artwork ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Jul 11, 2023 Ashley (gotbookcitement) added it · review of another edition

1 like · Like

Jul 03, 2016 Vanessa Gayle ⚔️ Fangirl Faction rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed, arc, wish-list-physical, favorites, fantasy, comic-books, trade-paperbacks, graphic-novels, cover-love

I received this book for free from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw the gorgeous cover for this, and read the intriguing title, I knew that I would definitely be reading it!

The deco and steampunk elements in the artwork are stunning!

I admit to being rather confused at the beginning of this story. Things didn't really fall into place for me until Issue 6. However, I kept up with the story and I am glad that I did. The story is intriguing and it is very muc ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Dec 09, 2016 Suzanne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2018, goodreads-choice-award-2016, top-50-fantasy-books-on-gr-2018, top-50-fantasy-books-on-gr-2017, nprs-best-books-of-2016

I'm copying and pasting the transcript from an article on Bookriot.com about this comic book series because it's interesting and gave me a different perspective of this series after I read it. To read the article on the original site click here. After reading the article it made me love this series even more than I did before!

"ON MONSTRESS AND MENTAL HEALTH
COMMUNITY
02-28-18
When Mel Burke isn’t singing ’80s love songs to her dog, she writes about books, food, dating, travel, and the constantly w I'm copying and pasting the transcript from an article on Bookriot.com about this comic book series because it's interesting and gave me a different perspective of this series after I read it. To read the article on the original site click here. After reading the article it made me love this series even more than I did before!

"ON MONSTRESS AND MENTAL HEALTH
COMMUNITY
02-28-18
When Mel Burke isn’t singing ’80s love songs to her dog, she writes about books, food, dating, travel, and the constantly weird adventure that is living in California. Follow her on Twitter @melreadscomics.

Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda came out in 2015 from Image comics and has since gained critical acclaim and a die-hard readership. It has mutants, witches, political intrigue, talking cats, and costumes so detailed and intricate it makes even the most low-key readers want to cosplay. But Monstress also tells a deeply painful story, of how an individual engages with trauma and other mental health issues, and how that can sometimes be ugly, dark, and overwhelmingly difficult. It can be hard for readers to handle material that is simultaneously vulnerable and alien, but Liu and Takeda treat it in a way that’s so rich and engaging, the reader feels invited to look it in the face and deal with it.

Monstress follows Maika Halfwolf and her companions through an alternate turn-of-the-century Asia as she tries to discover the truth behind what happened to her mother during the war between the Arcanics, magical beings, and the Cumea, a cult of sorceresses. Maika carries within her a powerful dark spirit that she struggles to understand and control, frequently to the detriment of those around her. Maika’s conversations with this spirit revolve around discovering what it is and how it got there, but the questions she asks may sound familiar to readers struggling with mental illnesses. For example, “what are you,” “why are you here,” and “what have you done to me,” among others.

Maybe it’s extreme to assume that everyone with a mental illness personifies said issue to the same extent that Monstress does between Maika and the dark spirit, but the metaphor of a young woman dealing with deeply traumatic experiences facing down a swirling, unknown entity that frequently causes her to lose control is hard to miss. And Liu and Takeda place it smack in the middle of both the plot and the lead character’s development, a move which demands conversation around what is actually happening to Maika. We don’t see this much in popular media, despite how mental health topics gain volume in 2018, and we certainly don’t see it in comics.

One of the things that stood out about Monstress upon its debut was how deeply flawed the mostly-female cast is. Not only do we not get conversations around women and mental health in media, but we especially don’t get to see the messy parts. Learning how to deal with life after trauma—or how to move through the world with crippling anxiety, or how to get out of bed during a depressive spell—is not a clean-cut process, regardless of how you slice it. There are days where we mess up, unintentionally or otherwise, and that’s normal and okay. It isn’t always soft-spoken self care and guided meditations. Sometimes it’s snapping at a friend because you’re anxious or repeatedly canceling plans because you can’t leave the house today. If you’re Maika, maybe you let the dark spirit inside you eat a fellow arcanic.

After infiltrating a Cumea laboratory in search of answers about her mother, Maika escapes with a few rescued Arcanics, expecting to find her friend and traveling companion Tuya waiting for her. Tired of telling her to let go of her violent need for revenge, Tuya has left, passing on the message that she could no longer wait through a talking cat named Ren. Ren then becomes the outside voice to Maika’s constant battle to understand the dark spirit. He breaks the news that, during a black-out where Maika thought she was in conversation with the spirit, she ate one of the rescued Arcanics, an event which prompts Maika to begin shoving her companions as far away as she can despite their insistence on returning. Ren warns Maika to not lose control and to not give in to the dark spirit. His frank tone and refusal to leave Maika on her own makes Ren a welcome presence in Maika’s struggle—even if only to the reader.

It’s important that readers see that even as Maika fights the darkness within herself and shoves her companions away in the process, they continue to come back, to care for her, to guide her as much as they can. Mental illness can be an isolating struggle, especially in a society where we’re told not to talk about it. But no one is alone in that fight.

Despite her messy moments, Maika isn’t interested in fixing her rage, propensity for violence, and need for revenge. But she wants to understand the thing living inside her—she wants information. And she has to travel the far reaches of the continent to find it. This mimics a lot of people’s journey in mental health in that, for an endlessly wide variety of reasons, people seek information that helps them better understand the way they function and why they function that way, with the hope that the end result will be a better quality of life. But the resources aren’t always readily available—not everyone can afford therapy or get to a center where therapy and similar resources are available. It’s a fight, one that in most cases, doesn’t stop in the presence of resources, so much as it just becomes a little easier.

This is what Maika does well in the face of all the darkness contained within her—she doesn’t give in. She keeps fighting and searching and demanding answers. And that’s what it is to live with trauma or mental illness—it’s a daily fight to keep moving. The beauty of Monstress is that Maika gives that fight a name and a face for readers to relate to and pull from in their own struggle. It’s a flawed and complex face to give, but it’s what readers need to see so they can know they’re not alone—whether in a fantasy world or real life." ...more

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Oct 03, 2019 Lukutar ☘ rated it really liked it

Loved this! Interesting and pretty grotesque story and such a beautiful artwork. In the beginning I think the story was pretty confusing for not knowing all the terms and words for different factions. But there was luckily info boxes after halfway through the comic that helped to understand the world and all the conflicts. Can't wait to read next volume! ...more

1 like · Like · see review