The artwork in this series is stoning. I love the Asian/Western steampunk kind of vibe too it. Interesting writing. I enjoyed the series.

THE ART! Wow, this was really gorgeous. The cover immediately had my attention and I've been wanting to read it for some time now. Not sure what was stopping me, but we're in it now. From the first page there's a ton of info and backstory thrown at the reader. It gets confusing and hard to follow so I just ended up going with it with hopes it would all click into place down the line. It never really did for me. I'm still missing some key elements here which I guess is a good reason to continue... The middle lost my attention a bit too. It didn't seem like much was helping propel the story forward. Again with the info dump, but the good news is that it picked back up. Things get really interesting. And dark. These steampunk vibes ended up working really well for MONSTRESS as did the cliffhanger. I'm intrigued and may need to sit with Vol. 2 to see whether I continue with the rest of the series or not.

This is one comic you don’t want miss. Stunning art, an intriguing plot and fascinating world all combine into one addicting series about the monsters within

---
Over on my website death of the author reviews we covered the first six issues over Monstress in a video review.
I'll attach the links below.

I love this series. It is so fascinating, and the art is incredible. I am glad the series is still going and will keep reading!

This was one of the most beautiful comic books I have ever read. The story is interesting and original. Needless to say, I am a fan.

It was good! i like the world as well as the characters.
And beautiful art!

It was lovely! http://www.fangirlhappyhour.com/2016/06/24/fangirl-happy-hour-episode-47-tiger-blowjobs/

This was a very different experience than what I usually get from comics. For one, the art was much, much better than one typically sees, and it stayed consistently good throughout. The world was much more unique and fresh than a lot of comics or fantasy fiction in general that I come across. It was also nice to be treated as an intelligent reader who doesn't need their hand held-- the world is vivid and alive and doesn't slow down to explain itself to you. The main characters were interesting, particularly the heroine whose darkness literally cannot be held at bay.
I did question the cat characters, however. They seemed too light and silly in many ways to fit in with the otherwise grimdark world. They felt more like the obligatory small animal sidekicks you so often see in mediocre anime series rather than something that was organic to the world. I just felt like the writer or artist just has a thing for cats, not that their inclusion was actually right for the story.

This review is for volume 1 as a whole.

Warnings: violence, gore, cannibalism, slavery, body horror, torture, concentration camps, severe burns to one character, fatmisia.

Takeda's art and character design is absolutely breathtaking, like if Alphonse Mucha drew visions of a fantastical, steampunk future. Visually it's an absolute pleasure to read, and the image of the ghosts of massive, eldritch gods floating unseeing above the world will stay with me a long time. I'm almost tempted to raise the rating to four stars on the basis on the art alone.

This world is not homogeneous, there's a lot of diversity in terms of race, among humans and ancients, and there's an f/f relationship between two side characters. However, of the three fat characters presented, one is horrendously evil, they and one other die horribly, and the third is lovely but not treated well because she helps the main character. I could have done without that kind of fatmisic violence. Pretty much everyone else in the comic is ethereally tall and slim.

The story is interesting, but does not have enough exposition for my taste. I did get some of the answers I was looking for by the end of the volume, but it didn't feel like enough – and I wasn't terribly invested in what happens next until the last two issues.

This volume isn't enough to make it a favourite series, but maybe the next one? Monstress certainly has all the makings of an amazing fantasy series, and almost every element of this is something I usually love, so we'll see.

3.5/5.

Copied from review of chapter 1, as this covers the volume as a whole:
Monstress caught my eye because of the absolutely gorgeous art! I didn't fall in love with the first volume however. I will say that it was intriguing enough a concept that I did purchase and read the second volume. I am glad I did, as volume 2 is so much better than volume 1. Volume 1 has action, but it is not nearly as exciting as volume 2.

Beautiful art, but too heavy. Every page is crammed full of details, and while that is not a bad thing, it doesn't help the eye to easily flow through action. I'm curious where the story will take me.

What is this story about?

In this issue, Maika and her crew finally make it to the Dusk Court, only to be ambushed by the Dusk Court themselves and they ended up locking Maika up in a casket in order to experiment on her. Meanwhile, the Warlord wages war against the Dusk Court, effectively cornering Maika and her crew in the process!

Will the demon inside Maika wake her up in time to defeat the Warlord and her army?

Read this book to find out!

What I loved about this story:

Marjorie Liu has done it again and this time, this issue not only has great character moments between Maika and the demon, but it is also the most action packed of the series! I loved the way that Marjorie Liu wrote Maika and the demon’s relationship with each other as it is quite unique to see the demon and Maika trying to come to an agreement to save themselves from both the Warlord and the Dusk Court and I really enjoyed the funny quips that the demon and Maika has with each other. I also enjoyed the way that Marjorie Liu wrote the action sequences with the Warlord’s army fighting against the Dusk Court as it was written extremely well and exciting to read about as I was sitting on the edge of my seat trying to figure out who was going to win this battle! Sana Takeda’s artwork never fails to amaze me as the war sequences between the Warlords and the Dusk Court are beatifically detailed and I also loved the scenes of Maika and the demon exploring Maika’s inner memories as Maika takes on a ghostly appearance to separate herself from her memories which are in color.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

There are some scary images in this issue, especially of the demons that are shown in this book. I will not reveal which characters are the demons in this issue since I do not want to spoil this story for anyone, but these characters’ true demon forms are truly terrifying to look at.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Monstress Volume One: Awakening Part Six” is a truly fantastic finale to the first volume of Marjorie Liu’s legendary “Monstress” series and I definitely cannot wait for the second volume to come out!

This book tells the story of a fantasy world ruled by women. There are humans and Arcanin (non-human beings that can have different appearances).

The art is stunning, it features beautiful backgrounds and breathtaking eyes.

This book’s cast of characters is diverse and every single one of them is interesting.

The story is great, it’s intriguing and dark.The ending was amazing, it made me need to pick up the following issue.

I highly recommend this book to fantasy loving readers, even to those who usually don’t read graphic novels.

Well, I don't know what to think. This is much better than the first part that I read, but it's too gruesome for my tastes. The art is brilliant, but given the context, parts of it are hard to stomach. The world is very thoroughly built and I can see why so many people have been recommending this series, but I suppose I'm just the wrong audience for it.