CBR14 Bingo: Monster (there are several monsters in this story, both humanoid and not)
Official book description:
Set in an alternate matriarchal 1900’s Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steampunk, MONSTRESS tells the story of a teenage girl who is struggling to survive the trauma of war, and who shares a mysterious psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, a connection that will transform them both and make them the target of both human and otherworldly powers.
So total honesty here. This was my local fantasy/sci-fi book club pick for March. Yup, nearly eight months ago. I read the first three issues, then got incredibly distracted by something or other, I don’t even remember what anymore, and just left the trade paperback lying unattended until I finally got round to finishing the book in the middle of October, because it seemed like the easiest way to complete the “Monster” bingo square. Also, I was annoyed at myself for not finishing what is basically six issues of a comic book, something I can normally get through in about an hour.
Splitting my reading of the story this way means that I barely have any memory of what happened in the earliest issues, and my comprehension of the later issues was somewhat hampered by me just spending some time re-reading. As the blurb says, the story is set in an alternate history, in turn of the 20th Century Asia, where instead of the majority of society being ruled and controlled by men, women are in power. So far, so cool. There’s clearly been some sort of horrific war, and there are humans and talking cats and strange animal/people hybrids.
Full review here.
Bingo #6: Rec’d (The Queer Principles of Kit Webb), Monster (this), Verse (The Poet X), Bird (An Enchantment of Ravens), Time (Just One Damned Thing After Another)
Bingo# 7 (diagonal): Gaslight (The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes), Scandal (Subtle Blood), Star (She Who Became the Sun), Monster (this), Bodies (Fangirl, the Manga, vol 2)
