Volume 1 served as a good introduction to the protagonist Maika Halfwolf and the dizzyingly fantastical world she inhabits; now, Volume 2 goes into more detail on her origins and the origins of the thing inhabiting her body. Needless to say, there are some twists and surprises, and many of them are delightfully awful. If there's anything bad to say about this second volume, it's that it feels noticeably shorter than the first one. I want more!

One of the things I most enjoy about Monstress so far is Maika herself, and getting to know more about her backstory and see her slowly come to terms with the thing haunting her in Volume 2 is really engaging. This is definitely a more focused volume, all of it structured around an expedition to a single cursed island in search for answers - and boy, are there ever answers. The art continues to be eye-catching and emotive and haunting and occasionally gruesome in the best way, and the interludes between chapters from the cat professor Tam Tam remain to expand on the world and add a tiny bit of lightness to an otherwise richly dark tale.

This is the first comic book I've really committed to, and I'm definitely hooked. Eagerly looking forward to what Liu and Takeda will deliver next!