I liked Boxers better after I read Saints---they *can* stand alone, but they shouldn't.

I liked the main character so much, and Joan of Arc was just wonderful. The twist at the end was very fitting and strong in its way, but I didn't have an immediate emotional connection to it because "sacrifice your life for others' salvation" is not a deeply-rooted story for me. (Too Jewish. :P) I think my favorite part of both books was the parallel eye-hand mythologies, however.

It's hard for me to avoid reading things through a Jewish lens, of course, and most of the time I don't see why I should take it off. It helps me see the Christian-default holes in stories a lot more clearly. However, I think I owe Boxers and Saints a re-read where I try harder not to let that color my opinions of the Christian characters. ( )

This epic graphic novel pair tells the concurrent stories of a young boy and girl with very different experiences during the Boxer Rebellion in China. Powerful tales with an engaging illustration style that meet up in a climatic finish.

These two books put together are very interesting. I want to start with the artwork on the covers. It matches both in the box and if you lay them down side by side. I find this to be very unique and I loved looking at it when I wasn't reading. The story itself was quite interesting. I am not sure which order the books should have been read, but I read Saints and then Boxers. It made sense this way, but I believe it would also make sense the other way. I think Saints gives a bit of background information for Boxers. I liked how it talked about Chinese culture and ideas. The idea of it all going back to the "opera" was different, but it was easily understood by readers that may not have previous background information. ( )

2015 (review can be found at the link - which is a LibraryThing page)
https://www.librarything.com/topic/185746#5109832 ( )

I wanted to review both books together, so I'm glad this boxed set was listed.
*Note: Definitely read Boxers first. Saints is a companion novel, yes, but it's not as involved as Boxers, and reading the little epilogue in Saints before reading Boxers won't have the same effect.

My familiarity with the Boxer Rebellion was strictly with the name--I'd heard of it, but I couldn't have told you anything about what it was, or when.

I loved how "Boxers" isn't your typical hero tale, where the hero is all about doing good by everyone and unwilling to get his hands dirty. Little Bao is leading a rebellion, and he does whatever he feels is necessary to thwart the "Devils" (foreign Christians) and "secondary Devils" (Chinese Christians). Based on the book's summary, I was expecting elements of war, but I was not expecting it to be as dark as it was. Bao and company do indeed slash some throats and stab some hearts, so don't go into this expecting the violence to happen off-page.

Both books deal with a variety of losses: of loved ones, of culture, of faith. I feel that it's done well, though the characters don't really ever address their emotions in regards to those losses. They serve as motivation in some ways, sure.

"Saints" is much shorter than "Boxers," but it did a fabulous job of showing the other side. I felt like "Boxers" did a good job of showing the struggle of a culture facing foreign influence, and I'm usually the type to root for the defending culture--even in a depiction of historical events where I know the eventual outcome (like anything having to do with the Shinsengumi and their cause.) I was honestly dreading "Saints" a little because of this, and because I'm non-religious. I didn't think there would be any justifying what the Christians were doing with their usual "our ways are better and we're going to push them onto other people" crap. There still wasn't, but Four-Girl's story was much more about finally fitting in somewhere, as opposed to truly believing in the Christian cause and buying into a different way of life.

"Saints" was actually quite funny, considering the subject matter. It was more lighthearted than "Boxers" for the most part, and Four-Girl is pretty hilariously blunt.

Really a terrific set of books. It's good to see a YA-ish title deal with this subject matter in a more mature fashion, rather than pretend that "heroes" don't have to get their hands dirty sometimes. ( )