Review Elsa Bloodstone – Cath Lauria

Elsa Bloodstone just can’t catch a break. She’s barely finished shutting down a hive of ratmen when a special ops squad turns up guns blazing – and they’re shooting at her! It’s nothing a good grenade can’t sort out though. When Elsa returns home, she discovers an unexpected guest claiming to be her long-lost sister, seeking her own stolen Bloodstone shard. The Bloodstone is the secret to Elsa’s superhuman powers, and a shard in villainous hands is seriously bad news. Cue globetrotting adventures full of monster-smashing. But danger stays one step ahead of them as Elsa realizes her sister isn’t quite what she seems, and an old enemy with a secret about her family’s past could overturn everything Elsa’s ever believed.

The Husband pointed this book out to me on Netgalley, but I was kinda hesitant to request it. Mainly because that cover is Horrible. But I do have a weak for some Marvel ladies, and I was unfamiliar with Elsa so I went for it anyway. And I am really happy I did!

Elsa is described in the book as:

You move like a cat and fight like a wolverine, and you do it all in heels and toting more guns than most people can even name. You’re a stone cold badass, Elsa Bloodstone.

And that is pretty accurate. We are introduced to her by a massive shootout in a graveyard, in which she kills a ratman by kicking him in the throat with her stilettos. Yes, Elsa is a monster hunter who lives in a manor house with a Frankenstein creature for a butler (who is brilliant by the way). And yes the manor has massive underground shooting range in which she tests out her vast array of custom made weapons. She also has a bloodstone shard which gives her super strenght, ‘spider sense’, and regenerative powers. She is also incredibly snarky, has a pretty decent ego and likes to kick balls. Did I mention that she is great?

We follow Elsa and her halfsister as they travel around the world looking for their father’s hidded bases and possible other bloodstone shards. Along the way they come across a bunch of monsters to slay. And these aren’t just your typical vampires etc. Lauria has used creatures from Slavic, Zulu and Swahili mythology and lore, among others, and I loved this so much!

This book had quite a different tone to the ‘usual’ Marvel stuff and for the most part read like its own thing – apart from the few mentions of for example Wakanda or Stark Industries. Because of that I feel you can very easily read this without much more than some basic knowledge from the movies.

I was disappointed with the main villain though, but this may just be a personal thing. I was familiar with them from a different comic in which I already didn’t like them, so being confronted with them at the end of this book I hugely enjoyed wasn’t a nice surprise.

I had a blast with this book and have found a new heroine to look out for. I am definitely going to pick up some comics Elsa features in soon! She is So Much Fun!!!