In preparation for the final volume I decided to go back to the beginning and re-read Monstress! When I first read this several years ago my major gripe was that information about the setting wasn’t slowly introduced throughout the story but dumped on the reader in the form of one page lectures given by adorable, sentient cats at the end of each chapter. It’s a lot of text to take in all at once and will likely scare away certain readers (I know it was a turn-off for me in my first reading). However, if you love story rich environments with tons of lore and backstory on every town, race, and country, you’ll probably love these lectures. Regardless, I don’t think these lore dumps are entirely necessary to get across the tone and plot. The war-torn world is interesting and vibrantly depicted by the intricate artwork, Maika Halfwolf is a little one note with rage being her only emotion the whole book, but the mystery of just what the heck is attached to her will likely compel readers to at least check out the next volume. The first volume of this series isn’t its best, but I’m noticing several hints and plot threads I never picked up on the first time I read Monstress. Enjoying the re-read so far, and looking forward to the rest because it just gets better from here!