https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/hugos-2023-best-graphic-story-or-comic/

Lots of people love this series, and I’m sorry, but I don’t; the art is gorgeous, but I have lost track of the plot by now, and I find the violence too squicky. ( )

Every year, I read the latest volume of Monstress for the Hugo Awards, and every year, I think to myself, "This series is baffling and you're not enjoying it; you should stop picking it up." But then the next year rolls around and I think to myself, "You own all the previous volumes, why would you stop now? How bad can it be?" Then I read the newest volume... and I am baffled and don't enjoy it. Too many characters, too many plot threads, too much backstory. Maybe this would read better straight through, but that's not how it was released; it was released over seven years with absolutely no concession to that fact. Maybe when it's done I'll take a stab at it again, and maybe volume seven will make more sense if it hasn't been a year since volume six.

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. ( )

The seventh collection of the horror/fantasy comic Monstress. This one features, among other things, dreamscapes and glimpses of the past. I still feel about this the way I pretty much always do: that it's a great series I am doing a huge disservice to by reading it in widely-spaced installments. There's some very intense stuff happening here, but I'm quite sure it'd feel a lot more intense if I hadn't just had a year-long interruption in the story and managed to forget a lot of the complex details of what was going on. Hopefully once it's complete, I'll find the time to re-read the whole series at once and appreciate it properly. In the meantime, even so, this one was still interesting, and the artwork is just stunning. Perhaps even more so than usual. ( )

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/iODvMcNTAG8

Enjoy! ( )