Marjorie Liu – Cannonball Read 17

The monster, the thief, and the vampire lover

Monstress Volume One: Awakening by Marjorie Liu

Once Burned by Jeaniene Frost

Bayou Book Thief by Ellen Byron

December 31, 2023 by teresaelectro Leave a Comment

I’m wrapping up the CBR15 Passport Challenge with three books from my bookshelf. I’ve had some of these for YEARS, so it was past time. I’ve enjoyed a few of Marjorie Liu’s short stories in paranormal romance anthologies like My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding. When I learned she penned a graphic novel featuring magic and monsters, I was all in! I won an Amazon gift card from Mocha Girls Read and picked this up. And then it sat on my endless TBR pile until I […]

Bloody, beautiful Monstress

March 12, 2018 by LittlePlat Leave a Comment

I adored the first volume of Marjorie Liu’s Monstress. Sana Takeda’s art is one of the most stunning that I’ve come across in a comic. At the same time, it’s also unbelievably violent and brutal. I find this pairing somewhat evocative of the Hannibal TV series, which I also loved. (I don’t know what this says about me – that I am ok with gore, provided it’s beautifully presented?) Monstress is set an alternative, matriarchal, steampunk Asia, which is inhabited by humans, anthropomorphic animal gods […]

Gets me thinking

July 28, 2017 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

This graphic novel does a good job of dealing with a fundamental question I always have in nearly every fantasy novel, movie, cartoon, video game, or anything else. It deals with it, but doesn’t fix it, but still it’s something. It’s a common issue with the genre for me and something I am not sure I will ever figure out so long as I persist in reading (etc) fantasy. That fundamental issue is: how does the world function? What I often understand about fantasy worlds […]

The Art is Better Than the Story

April 15, 2017 by ElCicco Leave a Comment

I think a few Cannonballers reviewed the Monstress series last year, and when I saw volume one at the local comic book store, the art was so beautiful I decided to make the purchase. The art is truly stunning, a combination of anime and Art Deco (the blurb on the back says Art Deco, but I think it looks a bit Nouveau; maybe elements of both). The story itself is complicated and involves a variety of races of creatures that have a complex history together. […]

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Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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