This veers from historical fiction to Mary Shelley's other novel, The Last Man in the second half of the story and it's so off-putting. To go from a real world story to an end of the world scenario just doesn't make any sense. Anyway, even the historical fiction part isn't that great. It's written more for people who already know Shelley's history and can fill in those gaps rather than a real biography.

I liked the art and was enjoying this comic as a work of historical fiction, but then it took a left turn into sci-fi/fantasy land and I lost my enthusiasm for the book. Not awful, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Received via NetGalley.

In this graphic novel, we continue following the life of Mary and Percy Shelley.

I read the first book of the series and enjoyed it. It was not the best but it was still fun to read. This one was not like that. The story took a weird turn and it became so boring! I don’t know what happened or what was lacking in this book but it was so much worse than the first.

I suddenly became uninterested in the characters and the story. It did not make me want to read the book. Nothing was keeping me invested in the plot.

So, if you read the first, maybe don’t pick this one. I don’t recommend it.

"Shelley" is a decent graphic novel. It would be difficult to do someone like Mary Shelley justice, but this graphic novel does good work.

Highly entertaining and innovative. Both my 8-year-old son and I enjoyed this. We will be reading more!

It was a pleasure to read second part of "Percy Shelley" series. In this part we spent more time with his wife Mary, the author of "Frankenstein". We follow young couple on their perilous journey to freedom and independence. It turns out to be also a journey to poverty and disillusionment. Mary and her sister are lured into Percy's world. Under his influence Mary starts to create herself.

Many tragic events occur during this comic book, but we don't get to see the death of Percy Shelley. We only see glimpses of his infidelity, friendship with Lord Byron, poor health, creative struggles. That was a treat to encounter Lord Byron at last and read about his reckless and bawdy behaviour. Mary tries to make a life for herself dealing with heartache, limited means and her awkward position as Percy's mistress and a social outcast. We see Mary at the end of the comic book writing her best novel "Frankenstein" and reading it to friends. Then the story changes dramatically and instead of showing real life events turns into pure fiction. It shows more or less the events of another Mary's novel "The Last Man". I heard about this book, but haven't read it. It is an apocalyptic vision of the whole humanity dying from pandemic. The last woman standing is Mary Shelley, who travels the world on her own, looking for other survivors, but encountering not a living soul. Her only companion is a stray dog. It is fictional, but ample description of Mary's life. She was surrounded by desolation and demise. It was in a way a relief that the comic book ended with fiction instead of telling about her real life and death of Percy.

To sum up: the story was enjoyable and the artwork was beautiful.

Shelley part 2 tells the story of Mary and Percy Shelley, and their wild misadventures. From an escape to France to that fateful rainy day in Switzerland, the two had both fascinatingly romantic and dark lives.

It is so fun to see this story painted out before you in illustrations, and I would love to read many more literary stories this way. The storytelling style is fun and the pictures are wonderful. I learned things about the Shelley's that I didn't know before, and enjoyed the story of them in much the same way that I enjoy the stories they wrote.

This is certainly a book for adults, and I hope that that is apparent on the print copies. It is whimsical and fun, but not appropriate for children because of its sexual content. There are also some scary bits and questions of general morality a guardian may wish to consider before letting a child read it.

This book claims to be about Mary Shelley, but I found this not to be the case. I felt that the focus was rather on the rakish, selfish and unfaithful character of Percy. I don't want for us to forget about all the wrong he did, but it feels very disrespectful to me to say that a story is about Mary when in fact it is about the wrong done to her by Percy, as though those things are more significant than who she was and what she did. I just would have preferred the focus to be shifted more to her side of the story than it was.

Overall this graphic novel was very fun, and I would recommend it to fans of the Shelleys, Byron and general literary history.

(I am a former academic who specialized in the study of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley).

First, there are so many inaccuracies in this graphic novel. Second, the tonal and genre shift makes it so that people who don't know MWS on more than a "she wrote Frankenstein" level would be confused. Not useful in an educational or historical aspect, and ultimately stilted and awkward. I wish someone would give Mary's story a proper telling. If you're interested in learning more about the Shelleys and their time at Villa Diodati, I ultimately recommend Mary's letters and diaries. If you're looking for a strange retelling that sticks the landing, I recommend the film Gothic.

I was very interested to read a biographical graphic novel about Mary Shelley. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to follow with characters jumping from one thing to the next. Then about halfway through, it switched from somewhat biographical to an alternative history where the characters are living through Mary Shelley's The Last Man. It's a really interesting idea, but I found the shift confusing.

I think it would easier to follow for those already familiar with Mary Shelley's story.

Thank you to Europe Comics for making available via NetGalley ‘Shelley - Volume 2 - Mary Shelley’. The text is by David Vandermeulen and the artwork by Daniel Casanave. It is translated by James Hogan.

In February I had read and enjoyed very much the first volume of this series and was very pleased to see the second volume was available.

There is a continuity in the artwork though I found as the story progressed it became rather wordy. Also, while the first part of the story roughly followed events in the life of the Shelleys, when they came into contact with Lord Byron and his companion, Claire Clairmont, who was also Mary’s stepsister, more liberties were taken.

Yet these departures were mild given that just after half way through as Mary is about to share ‘Frankenstein’ with the group gathered at Lake Geneva, the text abandons any relationship to history and enters into the scenario of Mary’s 1826 semi-biographical dystopian novel, ‘The Last Man’.

While I can appreciate having Mary become a character in her own novel and acting out with her companions the events of her lesser known novel about the end of the world was interesting creatively, it seemed strange and I imagine quite confusing for some readers.

I wish that some context was provided about why the switch was made from a light-hearted fictional biography to this more experimental format.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

My thanks to NetGalley and Europe Comics for a review copy of this book.

This graphic novel is the second volume on Shelley’s life (I read and reviewed the first a few months ago), and written from the point Mary Shelley takes more of a centre stage in the ‘story’, picks up in 1814, where the first volume left off. Percy had fallen in love with Mary Godwin, and with her and her sister Claire Clairmont were about to elope. As this story opens, the four travel to Europe, struggling with money troubles, and living an itinerant life, and seeking adventure. In Europe, first Claire and then Mary and Percy join Byron (that is they take a house next door, and visit constantly). Here also joined by Byron’s doctor Polidori, the little group enjoys themselves with conversations and walks until the weather turns inclement. And so comes the famous time when each of them takes on the challenge of writing a horror tale—we see Polidori narrating his Vampyre, and then Mary being inspired to write Frankenstein—the task more or less taking possession of her. Each of the group’s complicated relationships and moralities are also explored. But then the story takes a rather odd turn, which made me stop and actually look up what was happening—instead of continuing as a biography, it moves into the world of fiction, and more specifically Mary Shelley’s The Last Man, the devastation caused by the plague and the depths to which people can fall even amidst such disaster, with the Shelleys and Byron taking on a central role among the last few survivors.

I really enjoyed the first volume of this series and thought it a very cute way to getting to know a little about Shelley’s life and work. This second volume opens the same way, and up until the time in Villa Diodati, where all of them composed or began to compose their horror stories remains on this track, and this part I enjoyed very much, as much as I did the first volume. In fact, the composition of Frankenstein, etc. was a part of this book that I was looking forward to very much and I was glad that the authors included it in detail, and went a little into the works, and also tried to imagine the kind of conversations the Shelleys, Byron, and Polidori might have had in their time there. But then the story’s turn towards the fictional gave it a very weird feel which while interesting in a way didn’t make any sense to me in this book, especially considering the way the two volumes proceeded from the start. If the authors had chosen to take a fictional path entirely or from the start combined fact and fiction, it might have still worked but when one is reading something biographical, even if done with humour as these books have been (the art work too is caricature-like, which was fun), one kind of expects it to continue that way, and it is a touch disappointing when it doesn’t. I enjoyed the first part of the book a lot, and while the second was done imaginatively, and was interesting, it just didn’t seem to ‘fit’. 3 stars for this one!

The book released on 17 April 2019 in English!

Although the bilogy focuses and starts with real events, it deviates from history quickly, focusing instead on a representation of Mary's feelings of devastation, loss and pain. She for sure had an interesting life, but I couldn't quite get into this retelling of her life, maybe for the art used. It was a nice combination, though, but didn't work that much for me.

Full review on MAY 27: https://tintanocturna.blogspot.com/2019/05/comic.html

The story of the Shelley's seems to be the flavour of the year, as there have been several interpretations of their lives released over the past few months. I liked that volume 1 was from Percy's POV and this one was from Mary's. It was a nice split. However, while Volume 1 was loosely based on historical facts, Volume 2 had a change in direction and told a different story using the historical characters and not following their history. I'm still not entirely sure if the dystopia and destruction of mankind was the story or symbolic of Mary's pain and grief.

On the plus side, I still really liked the art. It is very Tintin-esque, and hot air balloons!! WIN! The downside was the characters were not very likable and I wanted to punch some of them in the face. Percy was a complete buffoon and git and Mary ending up isolated in a deserted wilderland with only a stray dog for a companion is an ideal ending than having to deal with Percy and his crap anymore.

Blogger at Momotips

I liked the first volume as I like second one. The story regarding Percy and Mary Shelley continues, in this second volume they travel around Europe. This second volume, as it was the first one, has vivid colors. From the cover throughout the graphic novel we find nice illustrations that take us through the main events of their lives. In particular Mary’s life, that thanks to these adventures, wrote one of the best novel of every time, Frankenstein. It was a pleasure reading this graphic novel, because it allowed me to learn more about their life together as family, as authors, and understanding better the background where Mary’s most famous novel came to life.

A longer and more accurate review is available at Momotips blog.

This Graphic Novel is a continueation of the Percy Shelly. I like the art and the heneral mood and tone that it sets for this graphic novel. Story wise it picks up right after the first novels and continues the story of Percy and Mary shelly. My only issue is it is not completly accirate, as Percey Shelly died in a boating accident. I would reccomend this but I would also reccomend that you reaserch the actual person afterword.

Hmm… I accused the first book in this series of having a little less educational value than it might have, but this is a whole other ball game. Named after Mary Shelley this time, and not Percy, the errant anti-hero of his own book, we get the build-up leading to the night of the ghost stories, and then it all goes completely cockamamie. It might then appeal to certain literate types who relish such japes, but looking at other reviews it didn't, and from my point of view it's just too bonkers to be at all satisfying. If you do wish to come here still, thinking the larks will be based on Frankenstein, or The Vampyre, or anything else borne that night, you're completely wrong. So, like I say, expect disappointment. One and a half stars.

I'm afraid I cannot rate this book positively. I did not like the art - my bad probably and tastes differ, but it makes for a difficult read when you have an entire book based on a style you do not care for. I did not find the story to be particularly accurate either. For example, it relates as matter of fact that Shelley and Mary's stepsister Claire Claremont had an affair and that she got pregnant with his child (based on what? Claire's first child was Lord Byron's illegitimate child, he would have hardly acknowledged another man's bastard). All things considered, I do not think I will read the future installments of this series, but I would not like to discourage others from doing so. Tastes differ and the art that I did not like may be to somebody's else taste.

Mary Shelley is the genre-bending conclusion to the two-part comic biography Shelley by David Vandermeulen and Daniel Casanave. It picks up the history of Romantic poet Percy Shelley and teenage Mary Godwin Wollstonecraft in 1814 as the couple depart England for the continent with Mary’s sister Claire Clairmont - later a lover of luscious-lipped Lord Byron.

“Our adventure into the unknown begins here, girls!” quips Percy on the docks, surveying the ships with nothing more than spontaneity to guide him. As with the first instalment, Percy is portrayed as equally sympathetic and repellant: an adulterer and financial leach, yet brimming with infectious joie de vivre.

Travelling by mule, they journey towards Paris and later to lakeshore Villa Diodati in Switzerland where one stormy night Lord Byron challenges the house-guests to write ghost stories: an evening’s entertainment which not only sparks Frankenstein but the modern vampire novel as well.

Curiously, physician John Polidori is given over twenty panels in which to thrill his breathless companions with The Vampyre, yet when Mary stands to read Frankenstein she is immediately silenced and the biography instead veers from history and plunges into the fiction of Mary Shelley’s 1826-novel The Last Man. In a mind-bending Möbius-strip, Mary henceforth represents her hero Lionel Verney who was originally based on Mary herself - and she tramps through Europe and beyond widowed and woebegone as the last woman on the planet, the only apparent human survivor of a devastating plague.

At around 75 pages, Mary Shelley is a quick, lighthearted amuse-bouche. It is neither a comprehensive literary biography, nor a full-fledged graphic novel - but it may prompt you to read her travel writing or other novels - and this is, I think, its intention.

This volume is preceded by Percy Shelley, chronicling Percy’s escapades between 1811 and 1814.

After the first book, this was nothing but a massive letdown. I still like the artwork but that's it. I can not rate this higher than 1,5*.

Wow. Having not read the first volume, I can say that this book begins in very familiar territory, and ends in a very different place. Now I really need to read the first volume, and I really hope there's more to come!