Panels to Prose: Books for fans of MONSTRESS

February 18, 2021 by Allison Senecal in Panels to Prose

By Allison Senecal — The popularity of MONSTRESS speaks for itself. It’s certainly my bookstore’s hottest-selling trade, and that includes stuff like Saga and WicDic. Writer Marjorie Liu, artist Sana Takeda, and letterer Rus Wooton seem to have captured lightning in a bottle, because there isn’t another epic fantasy world quite like it on shelves for comics readers. This isn’t a column for making critiques of other epic fantasy comics out there, but many tend to fall flat in scope, depth, or both.

I love MONTRESS because it is more in step with prose publishing’s offerings. The world of MONSTRESS is populated effortlessly and deeply by women. Women politicking, fighting, fucking, adopting fox-children, doing blood rituals, doling out their own brands of brutality - the usual. And the world they inhabit is interesting. It’s not a shallow “grimdark” pastiche aimed as a “gotcha” at Tolkien. Liu and Takeda go in their own epic directions for world-building - steampunk aesthetics, spirit possession, anthropomorphic animal characters.

Anyways, if you love MONSTRESS — you’ll love the books recommended below. I tried to take a narrower approach with this one, but when it comes down to it, Monstress-adjacent science fiction and fantasy is most of what I read so at risk of stealing works from future columns, here goes!

Panels to Prose: Monstress

The Winged Histories by Sofia Samatar - One of my favorite books of all time. Period. I re-read it just about every year. It’s a brutal comfort read, if that makes sense. Really this is four intertwined short novellas, each covering a woman from a different side of the same conflict (a rebellion against an empire). There aren’t any big magical outpourings here for Monstress fans, but the peeks into the complexities of war will appeal as will the largely female cast.
More Info: The Winged Histories

The Tensorate series by Neon Yang - A series of four novellas where the rebel Machinists face off against the Tensorate. This series does feature a lot of big magic and also a really kickin’ megafauna through-line. The third entry The Descent of Monsters has some blood-spattered Monstress-infused scenes that y’all will love.
More Info: The Tensorate Series

Winterglass by Benjanun Sriduangkaew - This and its sequel novella, Mirrorstrike, are a perfect blend of sci-fi and fantasy, set in a world where the Winter Queen has transformed conquered worlds into landscapes of snow and ice. Our heroine is Nuawa, whose goal is to kill the Queen and free her frozen homeland. General Lussadh is loyal to the Queen but a betrayer of her own homeland. Sparks fly and hearts thaw.
More Info: Winterglass

The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood - One of my favorite epic fantasies of recent years. Just a treat. Will definitely appeal to readers who enjoy the tone of Gideon the Ninth, but there’s a host of larger-than-life world-building at play here that Monstress readers will love. An entire nation of giant snakes. Portals to distant planets. Ancient corrupted magic. Oh, and the heroine is an orc.
More Info: The Unspoken Name

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard - A slim lesbian novella that just came out earlier this month. Thanh is a princess torn between her old manipulative lover (the princess from the nation where Thanh was kept as a political hostage for years) and a fire spirit. Those looking for a shorter read with the tense inter-lady relationships of Monstress will appreciate it.
More Info: Fireheart Tiger

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Blackdog by K.V. Johansen - What a severely underrated series. Besides the last book, I believe this is largely out of print, but e-copies are available and you can easily track down used ones! The Seven Devils! Reincarnated gods, gods who possess rivers and forests, huge sword and sorcery battles, a travelling warrior-bard and her demon-bear lover. This sweeping, large-cast fantasy is a must-read. Just take a look at those Raymond Swanland covers.
More Info: Blackdog

The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera - The first of an epic lesbian fantasy trilogy between an empress and a warrior. Demonic possession, sword fights, and more than a dollop of political intrigue. You think the moms from Monstress are wild, get a load of our heroines’ mothers.
More Info: The Tiger’s Daughter

Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone - This one is definitely more sci-fi than fantasy, but the scale is just ideal for Monstress-lovers. Planet-eating mech-goddesses. Warrior space monks. Many things that would never work in live action (much in the way Monstress should only ever be adapted as an anime). The protagonist is pulled from our world and hurtled into a cosmic war against the titular Empress.
More Info: Empress of Forever

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth J. Dickinson - Mileage may vary (content warnings for pretty much everything that is a product of imperialism, including eugenics and conversion therapies), but you don’t really get more big political shitty-lesbian than this. Book one is low on the fantasy elements, but Monster gets more into some wild visuals (even if we know it’s more science-as-magic).
More Info: The Traitor Baru Cormorant

The Unbroken by C.L. Clark - Not out quite yet (coming in March), so this one goes last. Military fantasy with so many sword and musket ladies, and so much tortured pining, that you’ll pass out by the end if that’s your deal (as it is mine). Again, not so much magic in this one, and the setting is a bit more grounded, but I’m expecting a lot more fantasy elements come book two.
More Info: The Unbroken