What a beautiful and hauntingly sad story! I don’t think I’ve ever read an Indian comic so when I saw this had an Indian author and illustrator I was intrigued. I wanted to see how the art style and storyline might be different than North American comics. I don’t know much about Indian history or Hindu mythology so a lot of this was completely new to me. It was appalling but interesting how the British East India Company manipulated the local leaders to fight against each other, leaving the way open for the British to develop trade routes and basically take control of the financial bounty of India. It sounds like this is a history lesson and I suppose in a way it is but it’s mostly a love story and a monster story.

I was not expecting to see vampires! The vampire is British and after getting caught feeding on a victim he has to leave London. He’s sent to India and initially loves the brutality and danger of the country thinking that he is the biggest bad, and then he runs into the local “monsters” and finds it’s a whole new world. I now know what a Rakshasa is and it’s terrifying, and in this case kind of sexy! I should mention that there is a gorgeous love story and it is heart rending. Even the secondary characters were so well developed that I became very invested in their plight. The art and colouring are spectacular. The colours are rich and saturated and the art style is scary and beautiful at the same time, much like the story.

This is the most interesting and unique comic I’ve read in a long time. If you like horror, romance, history, or just great art then check this one out.

Thank you to Diamond Book Distributors and Vault Comics for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.