In this third volume we follow Maika and her gang (mainly consisting of Kippa and Master Ren) as they are still trying to get away from the Blood Queens and thus have no choice but to seek refuge in Tear Shed in Pontus Waters. Tear Shed is a harbour town full of refugees. They have an ancient shield they are desperate to get to work again so they are trying to enlist Maika's help (because of her bloodline) in exchange for granting her and her companions sanctuary.Thus, old and new characters are...

The 3rd volume of Monstress, Vol. 3: Haven features great graphics a fast-moving if convoluted storyline. Definitely worth reading if you enjoyed the first two. That being said, it is a bit repetitive in the storyline with respect to Monstress, Vol. 2: The Blood which was a bit of a downside. Some of the images, like to zoom on the mean-fox dude seem copied from that previous volume. That being said, Monstress, Vol. 4: The Chosen is really good and even more incomprehensible if you don't wade th...

Love the characters in these books! Mel 🖤🐺🐾

Actual review: 3.5There's something wrong when I love the artwork more than the story. The artwork is absolutely gorgeous! It is the best I've seen in graphic novels. It's intricate, delicate, with a lot of detail. The story, however, lacks a good background for understanding. Recently, I've found myself disappointed in graphic novels with a high fantasy story, and it could be that it's a format that doesn't work for me. There is just something lacking in reading a high fantasy story in this for...

Art, amazing as always.Plot, continuing to grow ever more convoluted as new players, places, and powers are added. This isn't exactly a criticism, but I must admit they are hard to keep straight when reading a serial publication over time (like, the black lady with white hair who is a spy? I think was around earlier but that's all I remember). I guess later I can go back and reread for specifics. I notice that this world has trains, and also uses the adjective "olympian" as in heights. I hadn't

4.5 stars.I love this series so much.Maika has been explicitly confirmed as queer! I mean, it was pretty obvious from the first two volumes too, but there are people who will ignore every hint when it comes to women liking other women. Her past romance and complicated relationship with Tuya is both very compelling and heartbreaking to read and I want to know more.Maika isn't the only queer character - I described this book as a "gay steampunk Asian matriarchy", because by now I pretty much assum...

Buddy read with Nana!Wow, the Kazu Kibuishi's Amulet parallels just keep getting stronger. Except Amulet is good and idek what this was.It was pretty. I'll give it that. The aesthetic is on point. I had no clue what was happening most of the time, but it sure was pretty. I could barely keep track of the characters, and almost everything that happened was pure self-indulgence. It really took me out of the narrative when certain large sea monsters were spouting certain words that sounded like some...

This volume was wild and chaotic as there was SO much going on all at once. There are so many different little stories and perspectives that are running along side the main story arc and at times I feel like it's hard to catch everything happening, but I also like how much is going on all at once. I think this one had some of my favorite art in the series so far and that's saying something as the illustrations have already been amazing leading up to this volume. We must protect pure little Kippa...

From Bitch Planet to Lumberjanes to Monstress, the idea in many girl/woman-centric comics in the present time would seem to be depicting a world with as few men as possible. And if you watched any of the recent Kavanaugh SCOTUS hearings, it may have crossed your mind to envision this kind of future, too: How can we get rid of all these vicious, aging mean-spirited representatives of the patriarchy that is destroying women and the planet? The tones differ; Bitch Planet (for adult women) is snarky...

In a lot of ways, this third volume of Monstress is better than all the rest. But why? Didn't I love the death of Halfwolf's mother or the island or horrors in the second?Of course I did!But this third volume is all kinds of great reveals and a wonderful new location that I actually love. I have an investment here. Oh, and god battles kick major butt. :)The understory is getting SWEET, the conflicts are ramping up great, and war is here! Not just rumors of war or rememberings of past atrocities,...

3.5 starFantastic art. Love how women-centric this story is. But I can't always keep track of all the characters, especially the dark-haired women with their faces covered in some way. Hope there is a Monstress character guide somewhere on the net, or I'll be completely lost at some point.

3.5 starsThe art is gorgeous, but there just wasn't enough clarity in the plot for me to love-love this volume. Everything that basically everyone says or thinks in Haven is annoyingly cryptic, and/or just when it seems they're about to answer a question, they stop and let their sentence trail off. It got to the point that I wanted to shake the characters and yell at them to say what they mean. Or, at the very least, finish what they were saying! Maika was having these 'conversations' with Tuya...

4.5 stars.First 2 volumes where on tip to get 5 stars but quite there. Volume 3 goes slightly over that threshold and gets 5 stars. What I like about volume 3 the most is that we see character development in Zinn. He is no longer shapeless Lovecraftian horror (he is not even horror for that matter) but an actual character.Illustrations are still one of prettiest I seen.

"He didn't say you were a good person. He said you were a hero. There's a difference." I adore this comic series. I love seeing Zinn & Maika working together. Zinn is reeeeeally growing on me. Loving Vihn and Corvin as well. Who is an ally? Who is a double agent? I have no freaking clue. No one knows. This is not a comic you can read when not paying full attention. It is too intelligent and in depth. I still don't completely understand the world or what is happening but I don't care. It's stunni...

In short? Another stunning, if sometimes confusing, installment. It took me a while to remember details after a two-year break from keeping up with these, and I actually spent quite a bit of time on the Wiki, but I found it easy to get reinvested in these characters. [image error]So, a brief reminder of the politics of the known world. On one side of the world is the human federation, oppressive to Arcanics and the cats alike. On the other side lie the Arcanics, half-human & half-animal beings p...

Vol. 1: Awakening ★★★★★ Vol. 2: The Blood ★★★★★Vol. 3: Haven ★★★★★For some reason, I originally thought Monstress was only ever going to be a 3-volume series, so I went into this one expecting things to wrap up at the end. That's definitely not the case, and I'm so glad, because that cliffhanger ending juuuust about killed me. This was my least favorite volume so far overall, and I can't quite place why — maybe just too much going on, plus a bit of back-tracking on a certain character's developm...

Monstress Volume 3: Haven is a 2019 Hugo Awards finalist in the Best Graphic Story category. Maika, Kippa and Ren have now made it to Tear Shed, a refugee camp. Corvin is also there and he, Maika and Kippa have some awkward moments in a coffee shop. Maika also meets Vihn Nem, the Royal Engineer of Pontus, who offers Maika and her friends sanctuary in exchange for her reactivating the Pontus Shield. Lady Atena and Resak meet up with the Prime Minister and Admiral Brito to discuss politics, f...

4.5Why would you do this Marjorie Liu?! THAT WAS EVIL AND I NEED VOLUME 4!!*after reread October 2019*Just as awesome I remembered!!

I still don't really follow what's going on in this story. It moves fast and doesn't really connect dots and yet it still draws me in and fascinates me. It is a violent and interesting story who horrible horrors happen and people back stab each other. It does not seem like a very nice world. It's very cut-throat. We are on a voyage going to some island looking for a mask I think, or pieces of a mask. We learn more about the thing Inside Maika. I do love the little foxgirl. She is my favorite cha...

The story is finally coherent and fluid enough to say at last this series was well worth its five Eisner and Hugo awards. :)Five tar-black, tentacle-nimble and ornately gilded stars.