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Sea Serpent's Heir #3
Sea Serpent's Heir Book Three: Queen of Mercy
THE HUNTER BECOMES THE HUNTED IN THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THE FANTASY YA TRILOGY!
When Aella’s aunt steals Xir away, Aella loses the source of her power...and her best friend.
Now, Aella must decide who she is and what she stands for. Will Aella be able to rally unlikely allies against an all-powerful enemy as family turns to foe, or will her world cease to exist as she knows it?
Acclaimed creators MAIRGHREAD SCOTT (Netflix’s Dragon Absolution , Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy ) and PABLO TUNICA ( Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ) conclude their high fantasy on the high seas YA epic in SEA SERPENT’S HEIR BOOK QUEEN OF MERCY.
When Aella’s aunt steals Xir away, Aella loses the source of her power...and her best friend.
Now, Aella must decide who she is and what she stands for. Will Aella be able to rally unlikely allies against an all-powerful enemy as family turns to foe, or will her world cease to exist as she knows it?
Acclaimed creators MAIRGHREAD SCOTT (Netflix’s Dragon Absolution , Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy ) and PABLO TUNICA ( Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ) conclude their high fantasy on the high seas YA epic in SEA SERPENT’S HEIR BOOK QUEEN OF MERCY.
160 pages, Paperback
First published September 17, 2024
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37 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 2, 2024
3.5 stars rounded up.
I can't even remember the last time I read a graphic novel series that wrapped up neatly in three books. Good show, creative team!
The Sea Serpent's Heir trilogy concludes with this final volume, as our heroine Aella must try to rescue the demon Xir who was once bonded to her, in the aftermath of her beloved aunt Kiana's betrayal. Having stolen Xir's power, Kiana is using her formidable magic to disguise herself as the murdered Black Sun Mother and take command of the Church of the First Light. She plans to become an irresistible force who will never feel powerless ever again.
While Aella managed to escape the church's stronghold with her mother Ryanna, her other aunt Zuri and the former demon hunter Bashir, she refuses to flee the city. Xir needs to be freed, and Aella will not stop until she's made sure of their liberty, even if it means facing down an entire church and Kiana's machinations once more.
Complicating matters is the fact that Aella is strongly against killing, a concept her pirate mother finds unfathomable. Will Aella be able to find allies willing to believe her and work with her to take down the imposter? Or will Kiana successfully carry on her deception until its too late to save innocent souls from her reign of terror?
While I did feel that this series ended a little more quickly than I expected -- especially after the astonishing brilliance of the second installment -- I was glad that everything was resolved in such a way that Aella could stay true to her values. She's come so far since she was a frankly intolerable ninny in the first book, and it was great to see her grow into leadership and truly assume the mantle of Queen Of Mercy. I also liked how she made her decisions in the end, with both realism and compassion. She's grown so much as a character and it really shows.
I've loved Pablo Tunica's work throughout this series as his art revels in the nautical grotesque. There were bits in this book where I had to stop and examine panels to make sure I knew who was doing what, but overall, it's a fitting culmination of his work in the series overall. I particularly enjoyed how Aella keeps evolving physically as the series progressing, growing more and different parts as her connection to Xir changes.
I'm genuinely glad I took a chance on Book Two of the series after hating Book One. This has been a solid fantasy tale of seafaring pirates, too-powerful churches and desperate, demonic bargains, with a solid message of choosing real kindness and mercy whenever possible.
Sea Serpent's Heir Book Three: Queen of Mercy by Mairghread Scott & Pablo Túnica was published September 17 2024 by Image Comics and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
This review originally appeared at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.
I can't even remember the last time I read a graphic novel series that wrapped up neatly in three books. Good show, creative team!
The Sea Serpent's Heir trilogy concludes with this final volume, as our heroine Aella must try to rescue the demon Xir who was once bonded to her, in the aftermath of her beloved aunt Kiana's betrayal. Having stolen Xir's power, Kiana is using her formidable magic to disguise herself as the murdered Black Sun Mother and take command of the Church of the First Light. She plans to become an irresistible force who will never feel powerless ever again.
While Aella managed to escape the church's stronghold with her mother Ryanna, her other aunt Zuri and the former demon hunter Bashir, she refuses to flee the city. Xir needs to be freed, and Aella will not stop until she's made sure of their liberty, even if it means facing down an entire church and Kiana's machinations once more.
Complicating matters is the fact that Aella is strongly against killing, a concept her pirate mother finds unfathomable. Will Aella be able to find allies willing to believe her and work with her to take down the imposter? Or will Kiana successfully carry on her deception until its too late to save innocent souls from her reign of terror?
While I did feel that this series ended a little more quickly than I expected -- especially after the astonishing brilliance of the second installment -- I was glad that everything was resolved in such a way that Aella could stay true to her values. She's come so far since she was a frankly intolerable ninny in the first book, and it was great to see her grow into leadership and truly assume the mantle of Queen Of Mercy. I also liked how she made her decisions in the end, with both realism and compassion. She's grown so much as a character and it really shows.
I've loved Pablo Tunica's work throughout this series as his art revels in the nautical grotesque. There were bits in this book where I had to stop and examine panels to make sure I knew who was doing what, but overall, it's a fitting culmination of his work in the series overall. I particularly enjoyed how Aella keeps evolving physically as the series progressing, growing more and different parts as her connection to Xir changes.
I'm genuinely glad I took a chance on Book Two of the series after hating Book One. This has been a solid fantasy tale of seafaring pirates, too-powerful churches and desperate, demonic bargains, with a solid message of choosing real kindness and mercy whenever possible.
Sea Serpent's Heir Book Three: Queen of Mercy by Mairghread Scott & Pablo Túnica was published September 17 2024 by Image Comics and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
This review originally appeared at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.
September 5, 2024
Read this as soon as I got it and thoroughly enjoyed it.
At three books, The Sea Serpent’s Heir moves along at an energetic pace, giving you morsels of content from a jam-packed setting without bogging you down or overstaying its welcome. What’s left is a charming and heartfelt feast that leaves you in a kind of satisfied sorrow. You can't help imagining what the future might hold for these characters and the strange, rich world they inhabit, but if this is the end, it was worth the ride.
At three books, The Sea Serpent’s Heir moves along at an energetic pace, giving you morsels of content from a jam-packed setting without bogging you down or overstaying its welcome. What’s left is a charming and heartfelt feast that leaves you in a kind of satisfied sorrow. You can't help imagining what the future might hold for these characters and the strange, rich world they inhabit, but if this is the end, it was worth the ride.
January 20, 2026
The series concludes in this final battle story. All the twists and turns of the first two volumes have drawn the lines in the sand, and this final part becomes one pretty straightforward action sequence. As with the previous two books, I found the artwork to be stunning but the story to be lacking a bit, which is okay. It was a fun read regardless, and I enjoyed the fitting end of Aella's adventure.
November 30, 2024
A nice ending to the series. Unrealistic expectations but still good. Great art work and calligraphy.
Blood holds the strongest magic because it holds the greatest sacrifice.
Blood holds the strongest magic because it holds the greatest sacrifice.
November 2, 2025
5☆, no notes. Except how much I LOVED this. Holy crap. I would love a follow up story, but this also tied things up so nicely.
January 5, 2026
That was very short. I was expecting a long series, but it's just three volumes. I would really love to get to know more of this world. It's so fascinating, but we only get to spend a very short time in it.
Sea Serpent’s Heir Review
4/5 stars
This will be a spoiler free review. Onto the review!
This is a short, three volume series about a girl who has a sea serpent living inside of her, similar to the premise of the graphic novel series Monstress. The girl’s mother is a pirate, and so she often leaves her daughter behind at this inn run by two of her best friends. I’m telling you, this was like a mini, YA version of Monstress.
There’s an evil government run by these religious people, which forms most of the conflict of these three volumes. They want to kill the girl because they don’t want the sea serpent going around being evil. But in reality, they’re the ones oppressing people and starting wars. The pirates and the sea serpent want freedom for regular citizens that won’t come with a high level of government/religious monitoring.
Overall, this was a neat little story with a good amount of depth to it. I was really hoping for a longer series, that way there would be time to really develop these ideas and expand the world, but it’s just three volumes. Short and sweet. It’s always hard to get connected to shorter things like graphic novels and manga, because you spend so little time with the characters.
Have a nice day/night everyone!
Sea Serpent’s Heir Review
4/5 stars
This will be a spoiler free review. Onto the review!
This is a short, three volume series about a girl who has a sea serpent living inside of her, similar to the premise of the graphic novel series Monstress. The girl’s mother is a pirate, and so she often leaves her daughter behind at this inn run by two of her best friends. I’m telling you, this was like a mini, YA version of Monstress.
There’s an evil government run by these religious people, which forms most of the conflict of these three volumes. They want to kill the girl because they don’t want the sea serpent going around being evil. But in reality, they’re the ones oppressing people and starting wars. The pirates and the sea serpent want freedom for regular citizens that won’t come with a high level of government/religious monitoring.
Overall, this was a neat little story with a good amount of depth to it. I was really hoping for a longer series, that way there would be time to really develop these ideas and expand the world, but it’s just three volumes. Short and sweet. It’s always hard to get connected to shorter things like graphic novels and manga, because you spend so little time with the characters.
Have a nice day/night everyone!
October 4, 2025
“Sea Serpent’s Heir Book Two: Black Wave” and “Sea Serpent’s Heir Book Three: Queen of Mercy”, Mairghread Scott, finish off the story I’d started the week before. The art comes together a little better in these issues. I liked how the story, twists, and turns played out, even if some of it was a little unsurprising.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews