Genre: Young Adult/ Graphic Novel/ Historical Fiction
Year Published: 2013
Status: Companion novel to Boxers
Page Count: 170
Rating: 3.5/5
Also by Gene Luen Yang: Boxers
The first week of the semester is really kicking my butt. I have to get up extremely early Monday through Thursday, and I am not a morning person. A new semester also brings a new host of things to stress and worry about, so my reading has been non-existent this week. I read Saints last weekend, the day after I finished Boxers so I thought I would share a few quick thoughts on it.
Saints is the companion novel to Boxers and tells the story of Four-Girl, who ends up converting to Christianity. This books wraps up the story presented in Boxers and illustrates how these two stories overlap.
I liked how these novels worked together. Saints is much shorter than Boxers, but it brings Bao and Four-Girl's stories together, and exposes the reader to the opposing side of the Boxer Rebellion. I liked how Four-Girl's story was paralleled with Joan of Arc's story, and how Four-Girl felt connected to Joan of Arc. I thought Joan of Arc was a great choice to use for this novel, as her story raises lots of questions about war, religion, and justice, just as these two graphic novels do. The two stories came together in a beautiful, yet tragic way, which was really well done.
The art style in this book is the same as Boxers and I still really enjoyed the art. See the Boxers review for more on the art style.
This novel covers most of Four-Girl's life. You are presented with her childhood and her reasons for converting to Christianity, and then you follow her on her journey as a Chinese Christian.
Personally, I felt more empathy for Four-Girl than I did for Bao, but that might have been because we saw more of Four-Girl's childhood, and it wasn't a very great childhood.
I would love to read more historical fiction graphic novels, so if you have any recommendations, let me know!
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