Graphic Novel Review – Monstress Vol 9: The Possessed by Marjorie Liu, Sana Takeda (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Graphic Novel/Fantasy
Length: 176 pages
Publisher:‎ Image Comics
Release Date: November 26, 2024
ISBN-13: 978-1534392618
Stand Alone or Series: 9th volume in the Monstress series
Source: Bought in Paperback
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Maika, Kippa, and Ren return to their own world to discover a full year has passed in their absence—and Zinn is back in the clutches of Maika’s father, the megalomaniacal Lord Doctor. From the relative safety of the pirate-controlled Spice Islands, Maika and her friends must regroup, recover, and find a way stop the Lord Doctor’s murderous rampage before he destroys the Known World.”

Series Info/Source: This is the ninth volume in the Monstress series. I bought a copy of this book in paperback.

Thoughts: This book was just as beautifully illustrated as previous books and I really enjoyed that the story returns back to the main world. The story is pretty complex at this point, and I was still a bit confused by some aspects of it…but it made a lot more sense than Vol 8 did.

Maika, Kippa, and Ren return to the normal world to find out a year as passed. Zinn has been trapped by Maika’s father. Maika and crew need to regroup and plan to stop Maika’s father from destroying the world.

This is full of amazingly beautiful illustrations that I just like to spend time looking at. The story remains complex with a ton of characters, but I understood what was going on a lot better in this volume since we are back in the main story arc. I do continue to wish that these had a synopsis in the front or a character cheat sheet to help keep track of things. This series has been going on forever and I would like to see it wrap up at some point so I can sit down and re-read it in its entirety.

My Summary (4/5): Overall, if you enjoy this series I think you will enjoy this installment in it. The illustration remains amazingly beautiful; I enjoy the characters, and the plot on this one was easier to follow than some of the previous volumes. I do wish that this series would wrap up soon just so I can sit down and enjoy the whole thing from beginning to end and have an easier time following all the intricacies of this series. If you are a fan of epic fantasy graphic novels, I would recommend this.