Saturday, September 12, 2020

Graphic Novel Review of Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley's Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Granddaughter by Brea Grant & Illustrated by Yishan Li

 

Read for: Requested Review/ Netgalley/ Anticipated Release/ Graphic Novel

Synopsis: "Angsty teenager Mary Shelley is not interested in carrying on her family’s celebrated legacy of being a great writer, but she soon discovers that she has the not-so-celebrated (and super-secret) Shelley power to heal monsters, just like her famous ancestor, and those monsters are not going to let her ignore her true calling anytime soon.

The Shelley family history is filled with great writers: the original Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, the acclaimed mystery writer Tawny Shelley, cookbook maven Phyllis Shelley…the list goes on and on. But this Mary Shelley, named after her great-great-great-great-great grandmother, doesn’t want anything to do with that legacy. Th2020en a strangely pale (and really cute) boy named Adam shows up and asks her to heal a wound he got under mysterious circumstances, and Mary learns something new about her family: the first Mary Shelley had the power to heal monsters, and Mary has it, too. Now the monsters won’t stop showing up, Mary can’t get her mother Tawny to leave her alone about writing something (anything!), she can’t tell her best friend Rhonda any of this, and all Mary wants is to pass biology."

My Review: As a big fan of Frankenstein, I of course had to read this one. I have to admit that this was not at all what I was expecting but that made it all the better. I loved the modern day setting but with the unique paranormal twist. This is also a great YA book as it speaks to the coming of age and family expectation tropes. I loved the paranormal and fantastical characters that we meet along the way. The color tones and illustration style also lent to the darker style of the story, it worked so well. I really hope that this becomes a series and we get more graphic novels in the future.

My Rating: I really enjoyed this graphic novel, it was a unique use of Mary Shelley's life and story (she doesn't actually have a great-great-great-great-great granddaugther, at least according to all my research).  I loved the paranormal twist and the quirky side characters that are added to the story. I look forward to more and give this one a rating of Four Paws and a Stump Wag!


 I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley. The above is my honest review and opinion.

You can find out more about Brea Grant and her books on her Goodreads Page.

Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley's Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Granddaughter is schedule to be released on October 6th, 2020 but you can pre-order your own copy in print format from Amazon or Barnes & Noble or request it at  your local library or comic book store.

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