She struggles to control, and eventually cooperate with, this creature throughout the series. She's also (in a twist that begs for interpretation) the host of a huge, scary, tentacled being that bursts out of her body at unpredictable times. Protagonist Maika Halfwolf, a teenage orphan seeking to solve the mysteries of her childhood, is cranky yet relatable. Stuffed with intricate myths, dense history, crisscrossing political relationships and magical technology, the world of Monstress is everything a fantasy reader could want. Otherwise, it's practically impossible to avoid being swept up in Liu and Takeda's alluring vision. It's only when you reflect on that last question that you may start to wonder whether Monstress truly breaks new ground. But just how great is it? Is Monstress indeed brilliant? Is it exceptional? Is it genre-defining - or perhaps genre-defying? Not surprisingly, it's piled up a stack of awards - including five Eisners last year - and critics have almost uniformly celebrated it. From the very first page of this volume, containing issues 1-18, Monstress is so assured, elegant and beautifully drawn that it practically compels acclaim. But since nothing between the covers of Monstress is merely 'nice' - chilling, puzzling, engaging and enraging, but definitely not 'nice' - it's no wonder that evaluating it doesn't feel like a 'nice' task. You'd think it would be nice sometimes to have the chance to assess, not just whether a work is great, but precisely what degree of perfection it attains. Yep, 'great' is definitely the word to use.

Let's get one thing straight: Monstress, Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda's wildly successful graphical epic, is great. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Monstress Subtitle Book One Author Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

Monstress, Vol. 4 by Marjorie M. Liu