I really enjoyed this graphic novel! The art was really pretty and the concept was very interesting. The plot wasn't very strong but I enjoyed it nevertheless! My favorite part of monster fantasies is always learning about the different monsters so my favorite part was definitely the Monster Compendium of the Modern Monster in the back.
I hope we get a sequel because I'd love to learn more about certain monsters and characters!

I really enjoyed this. This is definitely a perfect read for the fall season.
I can't wait for the next volume.

I received an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored this graphic novel take on the descendants of Mary Shelley. Her granddaughter, named after her, is struggling with her self identity and what/who she wants to be in the future. Something that I can really relate to. I loved the story line, the characters and the dark moody feel to the entire novel.

Classic horror fans, fans of The Umbrella Academy, A Series of Unfortunate Events and Sabrina may well enjoy this new series. I certainly am looking for more adventures with Mary!

3.5 stars

Mary Shelley is the ascendant of *the* Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Her family are all successful authors, but Mary is the black sheep of her family. That’s at least what she thinks, until she discover that she has hidden abilities and that a world full of monsters exist.

It felt a bit rushed and there were a couple of scenes where it quickly jumped from one point to another, like it expected me to already know what was going on, and it kinda threw me out of the magic of the story.

The writing style is a cliché sort of style. It adds to the vibes of the book, giving it that My Babysitter’s a Vampire vibe, which i don’t know why the book reminds me of that show, but i grew up watching it and i really adore it.

The dialogue is the same as the writing style. Kinda cliché which might make the characters come off as annoying, but i think it just adds to the charm of the book and the humor.

The drawing style is super cute and I love all of the character designs.

If I get the chance I will definitely read the series when it continues. In the next volumes I would love to see some more worldbuilding and get a deeper understanding of the characters and their actions, since they so far have appeared a bit flat. I would also love some background for the monster world and the monsters and their powers. I also have a lot of questions about Shirley Jackson and when they were alive. What unfinished business do they have? I hope I'll get my questions answered later on in the series. The same with Rhonda and her powers. I hope we will dive deeper into how her powers work in the next volumes, and the background of her powers.

I am worried about the romance. I hope it won't take up too much of the story, but so far it's very cute though it is a bit rushed.
It’s a quick and easy read, I finished it in about an hour, so if you're looking for a book to get you in the Halloween mood without giving you nightmares then this is perfect. Especially because the book comes out October 6th - just in time for spooky season.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me an e-book version of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited when I read the synopsis of this, as I love stories that have a twist including famous authors or their descendants. I really enjoyed following Mary, a descendant of Mary Shelley, who is expected to follow the long line of writers in her family. She finds out pretty quickly that her normal teenage life of struggling in school and having family issues is not what it seems. Her adventures from there are comical and portray a struggle for her between doing what she's expected to do and what she wants to do - as well as actually figuring out what she wants to do.

I also really enjoyed the art style, it seemed to perfectly capture the different characters and the different members and ancestors of Mary's family. All in all it was a fun story and take on a famous figure's descendant.

I liked this book not what I usually read but I like the artwork. Read this in one sitting interesting story.kept getting lost along the way but I don’t usually read this format but I am looking at reading more like this and try something out of my comfort zone love Mary as a character .

This is a fun graphic novel perfect for fans of the iZombie comic series.
The story follows Mary, a distant granddaughter of Mary Shelley, who discovers she has the power to heal monsters.
There's a great little club of characters, and I enjoyed seeing Mary go from grappling with the stress of school and living up to her family's legacy to trying to get her head around being a healer for the monster community!
The story felt like it had lots more to give, and I'd certainly buy a sequel.

This feels like the beginning of a story, and I would love to continue on Mary's arc and learn more about the world she inhabits along with her. However, as a standalone graphic novel, I felt it was missing character development (especially from Mary's family members) for me to be fully invested.

This was a really fun and interesting sort of horror-comedy-fantasy graphic novel, following the great-something-granddaughter of Mary Shelley, as she tries to figure what she wants to do with her life. It was funny and action packed, and I really enjoyed it.

I liked the concept of this story, and the artwork was great too, but somehow I felt like I was missing something. I wish it had been longer and stuff was explained more. There might, of course, be a sequel coming (secretly I hope there will be) so stuff might be explained more then. SO yeah I'll be keeping an eye out for that!

actual rating: 2,5 stars

The story had potential, but I felt lost most of the time.

Mary is Mary Shelley's great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter; she has big shoes to fill, since most the women in her family are great authors, like their ancestor. But Mary is just a teenager, still figuring out what she wanted to be, and her mother is pushing into her the dream of being a writer. But Mary learns she can heal monsters, real monsters. I was confused at her reaction when she met a Frankenstein-like monster holding their foot, asking casually for her to sew, which she gladly did. I wish I had this control over my nerves, the way she handled all the stuff thrown at her.

Mary's mother is just the worst, and I feel bad because there are a lot of parents who push their children into some career paths just because it's more acceptable or to carry the family's legacy. I hated her when even faced with her daughter at the end, she was still holding on to the fact being a writer is much better.

Mary Shelley has a lot to live up to. The last-born in a long line of successful women writers, she’s been raised in the shadow of her ancestor and namesake, the famous author of Frankenstein. Everyone expects her to carry on the family legacy and become a writer, but her calling might be something else.
As monsters start to show up on her doorstep asking for her help, Mary realizes that she inherited a gift for healing supernatural creatures of all kinds.


This spooky story starring a goth, moody teenager was a fun and easy read. The artwork is beautiful and I loved the way the different relationships were explored, especially the friendship between Mary and Rhonda. Though the pacing was fast and the romance seemed to evolve a bit too quickly for my tastes, the plot was interesting and the characters engaging.

Overall, I enjoyed this graphic novel, which would make for a perfect Halloween read.

THIS IS SO MUCH FUN TO READ I CANT WAIT TO BUY FIVE OF THEM
let's bullet point:
• the story: is something i would have loved to read in my late teens and i loved reading now because we all go through what-am-i-supposed-to-do phases. and as someone who recently joined the shelley admiration club i really liked the thought of mary shelley's descendants following their calling as writers.
• the writing/dialogue: it's really funny and meta at times which is something that i love
• the characters: i want to be mary's friend please. the family was intriguing, adam was cute, the monsters were unforgettable.
• the art style: it might be the reason why i would just pause and stare at pages, completely in love with their expressions and the colors, this obviously took so much time but it's worth it.
IN CONCLUSION, the second i see this in a store i'm buying it, no second thought. and i hope there will be more volumes 👀.

So much fun! Enjoyed reading this book. Very interesting story. Not scary despite the theme. I think that should be mentioned in the blurb, that it's not horror. For horror shyaways like me.

** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

~

Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley's Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Granddaughter
by Brea Grant, Yishan Li
★★★★☆
144 Pages


Mary is a cute teen story about finding yourself, your strength, and how hard it is to live up to expectation. With a dash of romance of the Twilight-esque variety.
The story was good, playing on cliches in teen romances, with a huge dose of Mary Shelley inspiration, and a lot of female empowerment. There were a mass of paranormal creatures involved, a best friend, a witch, a cute dead guy, and a whole lot of trouble that gets Mary grounded. Add in some good Emo angst, artwork that plays perfectly on the Emo, Goth, and Edgar Allen Poe vibe, and you have Mary, the graphic novel. Mary has a bit of an existential crisis on her hands, a romance with a dead guy, and a family to battle, with a mysterious enemy on the horizon, and self-doubt drowning her, while a host of supernatural creatures need her help. There is A LOT going on in this story, but it does end a bit vague. I imagine that means there will be more to come, but I'm undecided on whether I'll read it.
For me, the story was far more teen-orientated. I found myself wanting more and feeling uncomfortable with the love interest, who could appear a bit stalkerish at times. Then there was the familiarity between Mary's mother and Adam, the love interest, that wigged me out a little. And, is it a trend of YA or the author's experience that Mary calls her mother by her first name? I see this so often in YA fiction, but I don't get it. I'd never call my mother by her name.

With a few pet peeves, a heavy dose of angst, and a vague plot, I generally enjoyed Mary, but I'm not itching to read it again, or read more. It needed some expansion, a bit more time to develop, and that romance was entirely unnecessary, as was the way Mary prettied herself up – by masking her Goth/Emo vibe – for a boy she barely knew.

~

Favourite Panel

This panel is the moment Mary's life changes, and the story begins to take shape. I love how simple it is, that it tells you a lot in not a lot of visual material.

<img src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/46/42/4c/46424c856faf5b83c008cc7dcff33353.jpg" width="60" height="150" alt="description"/>

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mary Shelley is an author that I completely love and I'm totally obsessed with. So, every time I find something about or related to her I can't help but read it.
I really liked the concept behind this graphic novel. It's about Shelley's descendanta, in particular a sixteen-year-old called Mary, and here they are all portayed as strong and independent women and that's something I enjoyed a lot.
The artwork is very beautiful and the story is very intriguing and interesting. I really recommend it.

This first volume sets up a promising start to this new series that follows Mary, a descendant of Mary Shelley. The women in her family are all famous writers and Mary struggles fitting into what's expected of her, so we see her coming to terms with what she wants to do - and that's healing monster.

Overall, it's a fun and easy read and the artwork is stunning. The characters were designed well, I especially loved the way the monsters were drawn. The fact that Mary is goth was an interesting touch that brought her character life.

Something that made me lower my rating was the world-building or lack of, mostly. Some of the MC's choices weren't explained that well, which felt like we jumped from one idea to another, without tying them together.

Thank you Netgalley for the copy in exchange for a review!

I enjoyed this graphic novel it is about a modern teenager who has to live up she's a legacy of her family one of which is Mary Shelley. Without giving you too much spoilers it really shows a young woman finding her own way and being unique in her own way.

This was a great and unique read but it was fast-paced, a bit too fast-paced and rushed honestly. The romance between Mary and Adam was very rushed, but still cute... even if he is a zombie.

I loved the relationship between Rhonda and Mary, it is amazing and they flowed very well together.

I really didn’t like Mary's mother because she wanted Mary to be like her in her writing career, she was very pushy and immature in most of the parts where she interacted with Mary.

I liked how all the members of the Shelly family were writers and every other generation had a sort of magic.

Also, I'd like to point out that there is a hole in the story.. Mary is told something by her aunt, about her mother, and told to ask about it, which she does, but nothing else comes of it and it's really pointless to me to have it in.. pretty much just filler.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

The premise sounded awesome and I was in the mood for a good graphic novel so I picked it up. It was loads of fun and overall, I didn't have any problem with it but I still have some minor (or not so minor) nitpicking to do.

The artwork was great (especially when it came to the monsters, my favourite part). In the beginning we get really cool frames of the Shelley family as an amazing way of setting the tone for the rest of the story and introducing the reader quickly. However, I wish more of that could've been used later on. I looked forward to the illustrator to have fun with the composition but it wasn't quite there. Nevertheless, it still was stunning work.

I also liked the story and how the characters came together, the scene at the lake was my favourite. A highlight would be the family dynamics explored. In addition, Mary as a moody teenager was really balanced, it wasn't too on the nose, which is great. More character development could've been done, but it was good anyways. Even though I was entertained and from the get-go one can tell the story will be sort of campy and one shouldn't overthink everything, the reveals at the start of the story were rushed.

The thing I definitely didn't like was the romance. I'm just tired of centuries-old beings falling for teenagers (I'm looking at you, T*ilight).

I flew trough it and had a good time. 3.5 stars