Monstress Vol. 3 - Refuge: the review of the third volume of Liu and Takeda
The awakening of an Ancient God After the revelations made in Maika on Isola delle Ossa, in the second volume of Monstress, the young Halfwolf took off again on board the Jolly Ravager; however, the Queens of Blood that rule over the city of Thyria hunt her and, right among the first pages of Refuge, we find the vessel besieged by enemy ships. The awakening of an Ancient God, the Guardian of the Frontier who lives in the sea depths, however, prevents the passage to the fleet of the Queens and instead allows the captain Syryssa of the Jolly Ravager to land at Lacrima Amara, port of the city of Pontus.
So while Zinn, the monstrum that houses in Maika, has been sleeping silent for several days, the girl and her friends are studying a way to reach Thyria again, where the Queens of Blood seem to guard an object that Maika wants to obtain: one of the five fragments of a mask capable of awakening unimaginable power. However, their plans are interrupted by the return of Corvin D’Oro, who leads Pontus' royal engineer, Vihn Nem, from Maika. The latter claims that the young Halfwolf is the only one who can power and reactivate the shield designed centuries before by the Empress Shaman to protect Pontus: the shield, last used during the terrible war that tore the whole world apart, is now deactivated and only those who have the blood of the Empress Shaman in their veins can put it back into operation.
After a first, failed attempt, Maika must go in the ancient laboratories in the basement of her ancestor and find the device that can repair the shield has been destroyed; here, the girl and Zinn the face of the many guardians mechanics scattered in the ancient halls, while on, in the city of Pontus, the witches of Cumaea make their appearance to take advantage of the lack of defenses, and to awaken an Old God, a bearer of destruction, using two fragments of the mask.
The old brother of Zinn looming over the skies of Pontus, and it will be the task of Maika and the entity that lives in his body to prevent the god now awakened unleash his power on the population: the young arcanica will have to be able to re-enable the shield and put an end to the threat. But the danger does not come only in the form of an ancient divinity: Kippa will disappear suddenly , and Ren Mormorian might know more of that which shows about the whole affair.
the Refuge The third volume of the comic book created by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda, published in Italy by Mondadori Oscar Ink , has been proposed up to now as a fantasy characteristic of the elements of steampunk , its notes of horror and darkness , the constant references to the eastern culture , as for some of his beautiful plates that look almost like illustrations art nouveau dark . Struggles also gave, in the first two volumes that collect the chapters of the comic, a certain degree of action and mystery attracting the readers.
Struggles Vol. 3 – the Refuge compound, instead, within moments, “reflective,” and lying down, which dilute slightly the plot , to pages full of tension and twists. You could say that the first half of this graphic novel is more through dialogue , where several characters are working “behind the scenes” of the conflict that marks the Known World are working to bring forward their machinations.
so We have some exchanges between the figures of Federation (the fringe that governs the Human), for example, or among the witches of Cumaea, who, with their mysterious plans lend to the reading of the tones the most enigmatic, but at the same dampen the tension that Struggles can build especially when you are Maika and his companions, to be the protagonists of the scene. Here, then, is that, as long as the latter is not to be found in the darkness of the laboratory of the Shaman Empress, we do not have true moments of real action.
A note of credit, however, goes in this volume to the space (albeit small) dedicated to the refugees that Pontus have found a refuge. The city is in fact home to a refugee camp in which you collect hundreds of individuals survived the war and here we went to Kippa, after he discovered that among them there are also several arcanici in the form of a fox just like her. The small want to in fact get closer to “their people”, and so decides to remain with it to bring your own help to those who need it the most.
Is a brief, fleeting glimpse into the Struggles on that slice of the population that does not live between the pages gilded, and covered with a pattern in which you move the main characters and where in the past he has also Maika: one way to tell also those who suffer from the conflict and the evil plans of machinery from other, living in hunger and misery, but without giving up the mutual aid and solidarity. Hut, then, probably, not only for what Pontus is thanks to his magic shield able to defend the city from any danger, but also to the presence of the camp in which those who live at the margins of this world find hospitality and support.
Off the monsters Although in this third volume of Struggles, there are many dialogues which dilute a bit of the plot in its initial part, the graphic novel Liu and Takeda also contains a good dose of suspense, given by the clashes of Maika and Zinn against the guardians awakened in the laboratory, for example, or between the girl and the witches of Cumaea, who here seem to succeed in their intent.
An item which however strikes in the Struggles Vol. 3 – the Refuge is the presence remarked several times – and highly appreciated – Of the Ancient gods . The monstrous entities that appear as a frightening tangle of tentacles and eyes , they seem to have here a greater emphasis on, and make their appearance repeatedly, with their presence, immense and overwhelming. The huge monsters in this world have divine powers are without a doubt of the creatures from the flavor gained and tinged Struggles of multiple notes with horror , given here especially from the Old God, awakened on the Pontus from Cumaea – horrifying and scary.
Needless to say, however, that the real monster, the protagonist is here "Zinn", which alternates between attitudes sinister and grotesque conduct almost “paternal” and loving towards Maika, leading your reader to develop a sort of sympathy – always with a lot of reservations towards this character so mysterious and ambiguous, beyond that gruesome to look at.
The third volume of Struggles find Struggles Vol. 3 – Retreat by clicking on this link .
