Graphic Novel Review – Monstress Vol 7: Devourer by Majorie Liu and Sana Takeda (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Graphic Novel/Fantasy
Length: 160 pages
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: September 13, 2022
ISBN-13: 978-1534323193
Stand Alone or Series: 7th TPB volume in the Monstress series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Humans and Arcanics are at war once again, but battles of the heart and soul are the most dangerous of all. Caught in the calculating grip of the Dusk Court, Maika and Zinn uncover painful secrets of the past while Tuya fights to preserve her future — and young Kippa might be the Known World’s only hope for the present.”
Series Info/Source: This is the seventh trade paperback in the Monstress series. I bought a copy of this book.
Thoughts: As with a lot of the volumes in this series, this volume was a bit hard to follow at times. There is just such a vast cast of characters at this point and the plot is incredibly complex. This series could seriously benefit from a recap or at least a list of the characters at the beginning.
This is still incredibly interesting and I feel like things are finally coming to a head here. The art is still amazing but I did feel like some of the panels had a bit less detail than in previous volumes. There are many truly beautiful detailed panels as well and these more than compensate for the lack of detail in some of the other panels.
Maika is captured throughout, which leaves Zinn and Kippa working to try to save her. Meanwhile, Tuya is doing her best to navigate the complex politics here and maintain her mind as her own (with the Baroness struggling to take over her personality).
I’d be lying if I said I followed everything that happened here. This is just so complicated at this point. If I had more free time I would benefit from going back to re-read this series as a whole so I could follow all the intricacies here. However, I don’t have that sort of time. I still enjoyed this and can follow the gist of what’s happening. I continue to enjoy the beautiful artwork as well.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I really enjoyed this latest installment in the Monstress series. It is a bit confusing and hard to follow but the artwork is stunning and the story is very creative and intriguing. At some point I will need to go back and read all of these at once. I really wish there was a recap and a list of characters at the beginning of each volume. I plan to continue this series and would recommend to those who enjoy dark epic fantasy.
