--- product_id: 30543203 title: "Monstress Volume 1: Awakening" price: "€ 29.23" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.be/products/30543203-monstress-volume-1-awakening store_origin: BE region: Belgium --- # Monstress Volume 1: Awakening **Price:** € 29.23 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Monstress Volume 1: Awakening - **How much does it cost?** € 29.23 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.be](https://www.desertcart.be/products/30543203-monstress-volume-1-awakening) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description "For page after gorgeous page, Monstress engulfs the reader in layers of masterfully drawn figures, textures and details." —NPR Set in an alternate matriarchal 1900's Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steam punk, 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. Collects MONSTRESS #1-6. Series Awards and Accolades 2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Writer 2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Painter/Multimedia Artist 2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Continuing Series 2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Publication for Teens 2018 Eisner Award winner, Best Cover Artist 2018 Harvey Award winner, Book of the Year 2018 Hugo Award winner, Best Graphic Story 2018 British Fantasy Award winner, Best Comic/Graphic Novel 2018, 2016, 2015 Entertainment Weekly's The Best Comic Books of the Year 2018, Newsweek's Best Comic Books of the Year 2018, The Washington Post's 10 Best Graphic Novels of the Year 2018, Barnes & Noble's Best Books of the Year 2018, YALSA's Great Graphic Novels for Teens 2018, Thrillist's Best Comics & Graphic Novels of the Year 2018, Powell's Best Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Graphic Novels of the Year Review: My Favorite Graphic Novel of All Time - *review may contain mild spoilers* I loved absolutely everything about this graphic novel. To date, it is by far the best graphic novel I have ever read, and even surpasses my love for Saga. I am completely blown away, and will count down the days until Vol. 2 releases (June 6th, 2017). This story follows a seventeen year old girl named Maika, whose story starts out where she is being sold as a slave. The reader will immediately notice that Maika has a very strange tattoo of an eye on her chest, and she is missing an arm. Yet, it becomes very clear very early that Maika is much stronger than what she seems. Maika is struggling to hold in her monster, while also trying to get answers from her past. With the help of an adorable little half-fox and a poet cat, Maika is on a journey to discover herself, her past, and what's truly inside of her, all while she carries a very mysterious and sought after item. In this world there are five races: ➽Humans - Like you and me. ➽Ancients - Immortal, animal-like rulers with an immense amount of power. ➽Cats - Much like people, can speak and fight, but much more adorable. ➽Old Gods - Little to no knowledge of them. ➽Areanics - Half-breeds. Also in this world, there are factions at war: ➽The Federation - Humans, who just hate magic users and refuse to let them live and breed. These humans will take Arcanics and make them slaves to do whatever terrible things they wish. ➽Arcanics - Magic users, who are sort of hybrids of the Ancients. Also, two powerful courts, the Dawn Court and the Dusk Court, have risen up to defend against the Cumaea. ➽Cumaea - Witch-like people that use Arcanic's body parts to make Lillium. People in this world will use a drug like substance called Lillium for power, regeneration, and in some cases, resurrection. Between the war and the use of this magical substance, this world is also now aware of things much bigger than the Federation and Arcanics. This graphic novel is not only bigger than most bind-ups, but it has significantly more writing than most graphic novels, too! You receive a lot, and I do mean a lot, of information and very quickly. This really worked for me, because it became way more of an immersion, while also reading closer to a book. Yet, I can understand how this would be a different reading experience for some, so I felt the need to bring it up. The story is so brilliant and impactful. I can already tell I'm going to be thinking about this world for such a long time, because this is the type of story that just sticks with you, while festering in your heart. I truly love everything about this. The art was so magnificent and I found myself constantly just staring at some pages in disbelief that a human created it. This art also brought very many tears to my eyes very many times, constantly evoking so much pure emotion from me. On top of having an amazing story, it is the best art I've ever seen in a comic, ever. Trigger warnings for human trafficking, slavery, child brutality, and many other dark themes that are in the violence and gore vein. This is a dark story, and it doesn't shy away from that darkness or its brutality. I loved everything about this graphic novel: the story, the characters, the art, the representation, everything. I honestly cannot see any graphic work ever beating this. I am in awe and my thoughts probably aren't even coherent, but this is something unique and special. Please give this comic series a try if you haven't already. I swear to you with my entire soul, this is nothing short of a masterpiece. This is maybe even a once in a lifetime masterpiece. I never put graphic novels on my "best of the year" list, but I think this is the year I make an exception for Monstress. Review: A unique blend of steampunk, fantasy, horror, and manga. Beautiful art and deep social allegory within. 5 stars - Interesting story, beautiful art, and a wonderfully priced first paperback in the ongoing series Monstress. This book is incredibly eclectic, making it hard to attach it to any one genre, but to me that is a positive thing. Within the pages lies a bewildering blend of steampunk, art-deco architecture, manga, sci-fi, horror, and social allegory/metaphor. Most of all, Mostress is a very beautiful book. Sana Takeda's art is painstakingly detailed and most of the coloring is painted with watercolor, which adds tremendous depth and pulls the book up to a whole new level of technicality. Some of the negative reviews of this book said that is was "confusing" and the writing did not help the reader empathize with the characters. To that I would say this series definitely has many layers and can seem somewhat confusing at first; however, I can tell the purpose of this first book was mainly to introduce the ideas, characters, and set the stage for what is to come. The book starts with a lot of things unknown to the reader, but to me that allows more psychological depth for it encourages the reader to actually think and figure some things out for their self instead of the writer just giving them all the info which can result in way too much inner dialogue. There has been much discussion in books and television that people want less "hand holding" from the writer. We have all seen or read some things where the writer tells you everything, almost like an unwanted narrator that belittles our intelligence by assuming we could never figure out what is going on without some silly monologue to explain it to us. As quickly as this series became popular, I imagine it ongoing for a while. Even with whatever flaws people may point out, I think everything will fall together and the first installment of Monstress shows that there is some serious potential here. I am very interested to see where the next book will take us next. 5 stars for now. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #82,008 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #6 in Science Fiction Steampunk Graphic Novels #113 in Historical & Biographical Fiction Graphic Novels #182 in Image Comics & Graphic Novels | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 2,905 Reviews | ## Images ![Monstress Volume 1: Awakening - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81bGs636lzL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ My Favorite Graphic Novel of All Time *by M***) on March 9, 2017* *review may contain mild spoilers* I loved absolutely everything about this graphic novel. To date, it is by far the best graphic novel I have ever read, and even surpasses my love for Saga. I am completely blown away, and will count down the days until Vol. 2 releases (June 6th, 2017). This story follows a seventeen year old girl named Maika, whose story starts out where she is being sold as a slave. The reader will immediately notice that Maika has a very strange tattoo of an eye on her chest, and she is missing an arm. Yet, it becomes very clear very early that Maika is much stronger than what she seems. Maika is struggling to hold in her monster, while also trying to get answers from her past. With the help of an adorable little half-fox and a poet cat, Maika is on a journey to discover herself, her past, and what's truly inside of her, all while she carries a very mysterious and sought after item. In this world there are five races: ➽Humans - Like you and me. ➽Ancients - Immortal, animal-like rulers with an immense amount of power. ➽Cats - Much like people, can speak and fight, but much more adorable. ➽Old Gods - Little to no knowledge of them. ➽Areanics - Half-breeds. Also in this world, there are factions at war: ➽The Federation - Humans, who just hate magic users and refuse to let them live and breed. These humans will take Arcanics and make them slaves to do whatever terrible things they wish. ➽Arcanics - Magic users, who are sort of hybrids of the Ancients. Also, two powerful courts, the Dawn Court and the Dusk Court, have risen up to defend against the Cumaea. ➽Cumaea - Witch-like people that use Arcanic's body parts to make Lillium. People in this world will use a drug like substance called Lillium for power, regeneration, and in some cases, resurrection. Between the war and the use of this magical substance, this world is also now aware of things much bigger than the Federation and Arcanics. This graphic novel is not only bigger than most bind-ups, but it has significantly more writing than most graphic novels, too! You receive a lot, and I do mean a lot, of information and very quickly. This really worked for me, because it became way more of an immersion, while also reading closer to a book. Yet, I can understand how this would be a different reading experience for some, so I felt the need to bring it up. The story is so brilliant and impactful. I can already tell I'm going to be thinking about this world for such a long time, because this is the type of story that just sticks with you, while festering in your heart. I truly love everything about this. The art was so magnificent and I found myself constantly just staring at some pages in disbelief that a human created it. This art also brought very many tears to my eyes very many times, constantly evoking so much pure emotion from me. On top of having an amazing story, it is the best art I've ever seen in a comic, ever. Trigger warnings for human trafficking, slavery, child brutality, and many other dark themes that are in the violence and gore vein. This is a dark story, and it doesn't shy away from that darkness or its brutality. I loved everything about this graphic novel: the story, the characters, the art, the representation, everything. I honestly cannot see any graphic work ever beating this. I am in awe and my thoughts probably aren't even coherent, but this is something unique and special. Please give this comic series a try if you haven't already. I swear to you with my entire soul, this is nothing short of a masterpiece. This is maybe even a once in a lifetime masterpiece. I never put graphic novels on my "best of the year" list, but I think this is the year I make an exception for Monstress. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A unique blend of steampunk, fantasy, horror, and manga. Beautiful art and deep social allegory within. 5 stars *by A***R on October 22, 2016* Interesting story, beautiful art, and a wonderfully priced first paperback in the ongoing series Monstress. This book is incredibly eclectic, making it hard to attach it to any one genre, but to me that is a positive thing. Within the pages lies a bewildering blend of steampunk, art-deco architecture, manga, sci-fi, horror, and social allegory/metaphor. Most of all, Mostress is a very beautiful book. Sana Takeda's art is painstakingly detailed and most of the coloring is painted with watercolor, which adds tremendous depth and pulls the book up to a whole new level of technicality. Some of the negative reviews of this book said that is was "confusing" and the writing did not help the reader empathize with the characters. To that I would say this series definitely has many layers and can seem somewhat confusing at first; however, I can tell the purpose of this first book was mainly to introduce the ideas, characters, and set the stage for what is to come. The book starts with a lot of things unknown to the reader, but to me that allows more psychological depth for it encourages the reader to actually think and figure some things out for their self instead of the writer just giving them all the info which can result in way too much inner dialogue. There has been much discussion in books and television that people want less "hand holding" from the writer. We have all seen or read some things where the writer tells you everything, almost like an unwanted narrator that belittles our intelligence by assuming we could never figure out what is going on without some silly monologue to explain it to us. As quickly as this series became popular, I imagine it ongoing for a while. Even with whatever flaws people may point out, I think everything will fall together and the first installment of Monstress shows that there is some serious potential here. I am very interested to see where the next book will take us next. 5 stars for now. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ An interesting dark and gothic graphic novel you may want to check out. *by J***E on September 3, 2023* For more than 7 decades my voracious reading passions have always been strong and unrelenting. My interests have ranged from A to Z, from classic literature to westerns, and from poetry to graphic novels. This is why while browsing on Amazon when I saw this 208-page graphic novel, (Monsters: Volume one: Awakening by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda), I decided to purchase it. I found the story fascinating and the graphics absolutely fantastic. This is a tale of horror, mystery and fantasy about Maika, a beautiful teenager who lived through a war between humans and Arconics. She is a survivor and the monster within her has begun to make its presence known to her inner consciousness. This is a dark gothic like graphic novel you may want to check out. I have made it a habit to never give away too much information when reviewing any type of novel, but if you enjoy strange and dark graphic novels you might want to check out this new series. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and artwork. Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Tanto-Jutsu Techniques: An official Bushi Satori Manual). ## Frequently Bought Together - Monstress Volume 1: Awakening - Monstress Volume 2: The Blood - Monstress Volume 3 --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.be/products/30543203-monstress-volume-1-awakening](https://www.desertcart.be/products/30543203-monstress-volume-1-awakening) --- *Product available on Desertcart Belgium* *Store origin: BE* *Last updated: 2026-06-08*