Monsters Beware! by Jorge Aguirre
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Received: Raincoast Books
Published: March 13th, 2018
Publisher: First Second
Recommended Age: 8+
Pacing: Normal
Genres & Themes: Middle Grade, Graphic Novel, Fantasy, Humor, Adventure, Dragons
BLURB:
In Monsters Beware!, the third and final book of the Claudette graphic novel series, Claudette is put to the ultimate test. With her honor on the line will she learn that there’s more to a fight than just winning?
I only just ‘‘met’’ Claudette a couple of weeks ago, and already I have to say goodbye. Those who have started this series when it first came out, six-ish years ago, have had more time to pay their farewells, but alas that is not my fate.
Claudette is certainly a character I will never forget. In fact, she’s the type of character that I would love to see be brought back years from now, maybe now as a mother with her own daughter who seeks adventure or is the next master of swords, if such thing exists. Medieval vocabulary is not my forte, I admit.
This story was different from the other two, because this time Claudette, Marie and Gaston do not set off on an adventure per se. But they do get themselves selected to compete in the Warrior Games, and so face a couple of challenges this way regardless, challenges that are sometimes innocuous, but usually pretty darn dangerous, and even involve a few monsters!
In this sequel as well we meet new characters—mostly villains—and are once again privy to Claudette’s wit and fierceness. I say ‘‘privy’’ because Claudette has the kind of personality that seems so rare in middle grade fiction, as in I can’t possibly think of anyone like her, and so I treasure her remarks and action scenes.
I do not, however, treasure most of the dialog in this book. The more graphic novels I read, the more I start to notice what WORKS for me and what DOESN’T. I think dialog is important to develop a story, quite logically, but I’m not the type of reader who is entertained by random jokes or thoughts that add nothing to a scene or the story itself, which is why I am rating this one a tiny bit lower than the other books in the series.
But I still enjoyed it and I am especially pleased with the ending. So beautiful. A good conclusion.
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