Monstress, Vol. 2: The Blood

The Art in this volume is even more gorgeous and violent at the same time. The plot is also equally confusing even though we did get some answers and lots more questions.

Maika has some character development in this one as her journey to find her mother's truth leads her to learn so much more.

The little snippets in between gave much needed world building information. The journey through the sea was also much more interesting.

Kippa is as usual the star for me. She is loyal, compassionate and fierce even when Maika is being indifferent to her. I would love to read more just to know what happens to Kippa next.

Felt a strong drop compared to the first volume, perhaps due to the time gap between my reading of them. The fascinating worldbuilding, including multiple perspectives from the powers of this fantasy world, was subdued here for a more Maika-centric, personal tale. Whilst I appreciated the character building of Halfwolf, the Monster, fox, cat and motley pirate crew, I felt detached from the stakes of the world as it suddenly became a personal quest for matriarchal details. When the plot wasn't confusing, the art held up well and there was a lot of blue as the cast journeyed to the isle of the dead god. Will definitely finish up the series, hopefully closing the gap between volumes.