'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. Then 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.'
For ease of convenience I'm going to refer to this book as simply Mary. Mary follows Mary Shelley, the sixteen year old descendent of the famous author, and her family. Ever since their ancestor became famous for writing the first science fiction story, the women in the Shelley family have all been famous in their own rights, usually for writing too. Mary's grandmother wrote a best selling cookery book, her aunt is one of the world's most respected biographers, and her mother has a series of best selling mystery books that's been adapted into a hit television series. Faced with the success of her family, and the Shelley's who came before, Mary doesn't know what she's supposed to do with her life.
It's during this period of self reflection that something strange begins to happen to Mary. At first a frog she's dissecting in class seems to move on its own, then she begins seeing a strange pale young man, a man holding a foot. This young man finally corners her, and reveals that he needs her help to reattach his missing foot. Mary's reluctant, but agrees to help, and discovers that she somehow has the ability to reattach the foot, without any sign that it had ever been missing.
Whilst Mary just wants to forget the whole experience more and more strange creatures begin to appear in her life, asking for her medical assistance. This includes a harpy with tooth ache, and a ghost stuck in the body of a plushy bunny rabbit. It turns out that Mary has inherited a very strange ability from her ancestor, the power to magically heal monsters.
The plot itself is pretty interesting, and I love the idea of there being this secret history to Mary Shelley, that the monster she wrote about was actually a living person. It's something that takes the Shelley legacy in a new direction, and gives a lot of scope to have a bit of fun. And it's clear that Brea Grant is having a great deal of fun with the concept, introducing so very silly yet charming characters and monsters. The possessed bunny teddy quickly became a favourite of mine.
The art, by Yishan Li is really good, and all of the characters and monsters all look distinct and bold. Mary in particular looks great, and whilst she goes through a number of costume and hair changes she always stands out and looks distinct. Li's art seems to be a great fit for this book, and she draws people who look really good, but also bold and dynamic creatures.
However, there is something about the book that I'm not sure about, and that's whether this is just a first entry in a series or if it's intended to stand alone. Much of the book feels like it's just setting up a world and introducing characters, and we only ever really get a broad sense of who these people are, and the rules of the world they're living in. Come the end of the book it hardly feels like we've scratched the surface of things, and I found myself wanting more. I wanted to spend more time with these characters, to discover more of this world. Sadly, I can't seem to find any indication of if there's going to be more coming. If this is a first of many volumes it's a great start to a series, but if it's a stand alone it leaves the reader a bit disappointing.
I don't know if Mary's going to stick on this path, if Adam is the creature from Mary Shelley's original story, and how the demons who hate the Shelley family will be defeated. I really hope that there'll be more to come from this world as I'd love to see these questions answered.
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