This was fine. Li’s artwork is attractive, there is an assuredness with the panel layout, and line work makes this a pleasing book to look at. Storywise this is very much standard supernatural YA fair. The titular Mary is a likeable protagonist suffer under the weight of expectation from her family to become a great writer but wants something different for herself.

For the most part, Grant’s script balances teenage angst, horror with quippy humour rather well. It very much falls into a Buffy The Vampire Slayer mould of YA stories. It works well enough, and there are some stand out characters such as the Harpy with a toothache. Its when the quirky monsters are on the page that the book soars. However, I did not connect with any other human protagonists as much. The pacing of the story felt rushed toward the end, and there was a moment of Deus ex machina involving one of Mary’s schoolmates that did not work.

This book isn’t aimed 40-something blokes, but for teenagers looking for supernatural YA there’s is a lot to admire about Mary. Not my cup of tea, but it does what it sets out to do and does it rather well.

I'm a Reading Glasses podcast listener and when Brea mentioned that she had written a graphic novel about a descendent of Mary Shelley I knew I had to find it. Brea is hilarious on the podcast and it shines through in this book. I really enjoyed the writing and the art was beautiful. The story was quick and while it starts off a bit dark, it get much lighter and has a good message towards the end.

This book with its style of illustration and its history draws a lot of attention, as you read it, the illustrations surround you and the story becomes more fluid, the story in itself is interesting, and I have made a great graphic novel

When I was finished reading, I immediately went to look up a short biography of Mary Shelley, because I wanted her to have this legacy of descendants. I would love to read more of Shelley's adventures with the monsters in her world, so I hope there's plans for a second volume.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I first started this, I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it. Seemed a bit on the slow and cliche side (Mary is a broody teen who is feeling like she doesn't know her place in the world-a relatable, if cliche character arc). However, fairly quickly I started enjoying it. Mary's introduction to the world of the supernatural is both exciting and humorous. The concept of her "powers" is a creative way to connect the Shelley line. I look forward to seeing where the series goes from here.

Recommended for fans of supernatural adventure and mystery.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Mary is a fantastic graphic novel about Mary Shelleys great-great-great-great granddaughter and tells the tale of the youngest of a long line of Mary's related to the late Mary Shelley. This Mary is a young teenager who doesn't know what she wants to set out doing as a career in her future and who gets hassled off her mother, aunt and gran to be something such as a famous novelist. Mary meets a stranger one evening and the story takes flight from there.
The graphics in this novel were amazing and really added depth to the story.
My only gripe is I wish the story would have ended better as I felt it wasn't ended as well as it could have been.

First. I like the art., it’s beautiful and very catchy to me.

The concept is pretty interesting and I kind of like how the main character is the descendant of Marry Shelly and sadly I haven’t read any of her books .

In terms of the story telling, I liked that it was kind of a fast paced but it was also kind of too much that some details might be left out and would turn out to be incoherent scenes.

The only thing that didn’t settle much to me is that our main character which is Mary is kind of unrealistic and it just didn’t work well to me.

This graphic novel caught my attention as I liked the aspect of the character being related to Mary Shelley - author of Frankenstein and every now again I do enjoy reading graphic novels. In Mary, we are introduced to Mary who is a high school student and of course related to the famous Mary Shelley. Each of her family members has the skill of writing which is passed down from generation to generation. Mary though finds it hard to stay awake at school and is worried she isn't going to find a passion for writing which is hard when the rest of the female generations are so successful and well-known. It looks as though she has inherited the ability of healing and being a doctor of sorts, which makes sense as her father is a doctor. The thing though is that because she is related to Mary Shelley, she is now being made the Doctor of Supernatural and Paranormal creatures and being guided by a hottie named Adam whom it looks like her family is familiar with. Will Mary embrace her destiny or will she try and fight it? Find out in this cutesy supernatural and quick read Graphic Novel.

Fun graphic novel about made up descendants of Mary Shelley. Young Mary doesn't want to follow in her mother's foot steps and become a writer, but she doesn't know what she wants to be either. Then she meets a boy on a dark night...who is missing his foot! She is able to help him and discovers she has powers to help monsters....but does she want to follow that path either?

Fun little take on the descendants of Mary Shelley. The writing was good, the artwork was okay. The color scheme was interesting. Hopefully there will be more installments.

This is a good gateway into the realm of gothic and horror books.
With good artwork, it’s easy to read for anyone no matter how old.

This book crescendoed into being good but then came back down again. It was really interesting and I'm curious to read more, if there is going to be more. Mary is the descendant of Mary Shelley and all of her descendants have become writers in some way. Her family is sure she will be one too but Mary isn't so sure if she wants that path. Somehow she reanimates a frog during biology during dissection and weird stuff starts happening to her. Turns out Mary is a monster doctor??? She has her friend over to gossip about a boy, who turns out to be a monster, but gets wrangled into helping her with some monsters. After the event her friend spills a secret about herself that seems random but now she and her friend can be weird paranormal friends. The end was wrapped up quickly as well. Like I said, the story was interesting enough to have me curious about if there's more but some parts were really random.

3.8/5 stars.

This was a cute read! I enjoyed the story and the artwork, it was both cute and creepy at the same time. As someone who was once a teen not knowing what to do with my life, I really related to Mary (other than the whole able to heal monsters thing) and it was nice to see her come into her own and embrace what she wanted to do, regardless of her family legacy. I wish there had been more background about her abilities, and the romance felt quite rushed, but still a good read!

I really enjoyed this graphic novel although I did think it was a bit short. I loved the concept and the artwork. Having recently read about Mary Shelley, reading about her (fictions) descendants was a great way to continue with the story. The story and narration was brilliant but it could’ve been a bit longer. I want to know what happens between Mary and Adam so will definitely be picking up the next volume!

Oh, I loved this so much! As a fan of Mary Shelley, I was so curious as to what a graphic novel about a direct descendant would entail, and I wasn't let down whatsoever! I really enjoyed the art style and the writing, and it really drew me in almost straight away and left me wanting SO much more.

This was quite the gem to read; I think what makes it fantastic is its ability to channel both adolescents and young adults. I didn't mind that this was tailored toward more adolescents because the narrative was quite good. I wish I had a book like this when I was in high school or even middle school. I thought the art was fantastic, it worked with the story and narrative, and this works all around. What a great read!

The Beginning is always today...

This is the book that I needed in High School and even early college. The pressure to know exactly where you are heading and what you are going to do for the rest of your life is tremendous at this stage and it Is also the time where we have the most pressure around what those around us expect us to be.

While I think this book definitely addresses the pressure from outside forces to pick the path that is right based on their expectations. Instead of showing someone choosing their own path and succeeding they show (world-altering) repercussions for choosing a path different than what is expected.

But overall this book is a cute read, with a happy ending, with heartwarming characters.

Imagine not only being named after the gothic inventor of modern science fiction, Mary Shelley, but also being the youngest in a family of award-winning authors directly descended from her - only without any idea what to do with your life. The protagonist of this comic thought that the pressure of her family name was more than enough already, when increasingly creepy monsters and spirits enter her teenage life, demanding her to become their personal, supernatural doctor.

I mean, this was fun! Mary's face and gothic attire in particular are a delight! I only wished that both the plot (like that of a 90s Saturday-morning cartoon) and the rest of the artwork lived up to the flashy gothic nature of the main character. The backgrounds were drab, earth-toned squares, all supporting characters outshone by Mary. More extravaganza please!

Prose (Story): Mary Shelley is a typical modern-day teen, if maybe a bit on the dark side. If she is dark, though, she had a reason: the overbearing legacy of being the great-times-5 granddaughter of none other than the Mary Shelley, the woman who became a legend by shocking society when she penned the iconic horror novel Frankenstein. Teen Mary is feeling the pressure of her lineage - for generations the female descendants of Mary Shelley have all proven themselves ambitious, successful novelists or writers - but somehow that bloodline seems to have run out in Mary, who doesn't want to be anything as much as she just wants to be. But when out late one night on the streets of her hometown in the rain, Mary come across a handsome young man limping her way. And when she finds out he's limping because he's holding his own severed foot in his hand - and has come to Mary asking her to re-attach it - the former goth-girl who spent so much time rejecting her heritage discovers that maybe she does have her own special talent, after all. Not to mention an affinity for attracting monsters.

Don's (Review): An interesting premise that, after a slightly slow start in building its world, blooms nicely into an original graphic novel about a young girl who believes she's pretty much coasting through life - not to mention trying to keep her pushy mother, aunt, and grandmother from driving her crazy by telling her she must be wonderful, somehow - who learns, with the help of a cute and possibly-dead boy, a Harpy, and a stuff bunny possessed by the spirit of Shirley Jackson, that her special gifts, indeed, might be the most important of all - not to mention save the monser community from extinction. The premise is great and mostly works, artwork suitably dark with shades of black and blue and purple, the writing especially strong in letting readers feel Mary's angst as a teen. If anything, I just wished for things to go on after the generally fulfilling Big Finale ... so much so that, if anything, I'm hoping at some point for a sequel. Oh yeah, and I seriously want my own Shirley Jackson-possessed bunny! Some toy manufacturer should seriously jump on this! 4/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun graphic novel! I loved the friendship featured and the budding potential romance is adorable! The side characters both human and monster alike had so much personality and charm! I think Ghost Bun Bun was my favorite of all but I enjoyed the harpy too!

And I LOVED the art style! Always an important part of a graphic novel and this artist nailed the vibe of the story so well!