First, let’s start with the publisher’s blurb: “Riordan is an immortal Carpathian male, trapped and caged, his honor compromised by his captors. They’re in his mind. They’re in his blood. And not one can withstand his desire for revenge. Juliette is an activist devoted to liberating animals from a secret jungle lab. What she stumbles upon is a prisoner like no other. She will release him from his bonds. He will release her from her inhibitions.“
The blurb definitely got my “schlock” sensors tingling. I had no expectations of this being a “good” work; instead, I was hoping it’d end up being “so bad it’s good.” Also, to further spell out my biases: I have not read the works this graphic novel is based on. For all I know, they could be stone cold classics. I can only review what I’ve got, though. With all that said, does this work succeed on its own merits? Read on to find out.
Pet Peeves
- The work was not properly sized for horizontal viewing on tablets. Bits of the image were regularly cut off and only visible on the next page.
- Renaming a fantasy race but functionally changing very little about that race is annoying (see: “Carpathians” vs vampires). To make matters worse, apparently Carpathians turn into vampires when they die (or when their mate dies?). Why did this require a whole different fantasy race? Couldn’t there just be “evil” vampires who prioritize blood / influence / power over everything else? The added fluff leaves the proceedings feeling contrived.
- UPDATE (from the comments): Carpathians are not a fantasy race. It just means “people from the Carpathian Mountains”, which I believe is where Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula (the historical human), was born. Yes, it’s weird. It’s like calling your fantasy race “the Italians.” All I can say to this is “YIKES.”
- Juliette just sort of knows Riordan’s name without him ever saying it out loud. I guess they “mind melded,” but it still bothered me.
A Bright Spot Or Two?
- This version of the vampire subverts a trope or two (at least compared to other modern depictions of vampires). For one, they have to actually sleep underground / in the dirt. There’s also a whole psychic connection schtick that I’m going to get to as well.
- The work uses were-cheetahs instead of werewolves, which is kind of cool. It also makes some sense, given the setting (even if no more detail than “the jungle” is ever given).
Serious Issues
- I found the “love bond” really creepy. The idea that the two leads (Riordan and Juliette) were constantly in each other’s heads sounds more like co-dependence than a cool super power. Also, the justification for why Riordan foisted this on Juliette was that she was his “soul mate,” and she “caused him to see color.” (Technically, the in-universe explanation is that all Carpathians slowly see less color and become less attached to their emotions as they age unless they find their “soul mate.”) Oof.
- This creepiness is only compounded by the fact that Juliette seems to accept the change really quickly, despite past traumas she’s experienced and promises she’s made to friends and family (e.g. that she wouldn’t get with a man). She even suggests that her siblings might enjoy being “love bonded” like her, despite only knowing Riordan for a few days at most. They reject this, but damn, it just reads like Juliette has stockholm syndrome.
- Putting the creepiness aside, the “love connection,” flattens the leads and leaves little to no room for their relationship to grow organically.
- The work reads like an edgy fanfic, especially during the first part of the story where Riordan is chained up. Maybe this is wish fulfillment for someone, but not for me.
- The antagonists of the story leave a lot to be desired. Apparently, a “master vampire” captured Riordan for … reasons? The in-universe explanation is that he’s being kept as bait for his brothers, but really it feels like an excuse to put him in chains. (The fact that Riordan oscillates between “not wanting his capture to be used as a trap for his brothers” to his brothers being “hundreds of miles away” also doesn’t help).
- The story goes some really dark places (e.g. kidnapping and rape). Given that the rest of the story reads like a trashy power fantasy, it’s hard to feel like these topics were “earned” (or even warranted). Perhaps the goal was to make the world seem more “adult,” but instead it just made the work seem even edgier.
Conclusion
I didn’t enjoy this work. To me, the problems far outweighed the trashy fun; it was more “bad bad,” than “so bad it’s good.” Frankly, the only reason I didn’t give this work a lower score was because it wasn’t overtly shitty (e.g. racist, fascist, etc). In short, unless you’re really intrigued by the premise, I would recommend skipping this one.
Check it out here, though you might be better off looking at the Goodreads listing instead.
You may also enjoy:
- “Mooncakes by Susan Walker and Wendy Xu; you can check out my review here.
- “Witch For Hire” by Ted Naifeh; you can check out my review here.
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A Quick Post-Script:
This version of the work seems difficult to find. It was published in 2007 (according to Goodreads), and cursory internet sleuthing has only yielded paperback copies for purchase. I was curious what the author thought about this work, and I found the following on her website:
Christine Feehan
My best guess is that this version of her work didn’t take off; I have yet to find any follow-up in this format. I can’t say I feel compelled to read the novels after this, so maybe it’s for the best the “manga” was axed after one volume?
Lovely review. One note: Carpathians are not a fantasy race. It just means “people from the Carpathian Mountains”, which I believe is where Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula (the historical human), was born. Yes, it’s weird. It’s like calling your fantasy race “the Italians”.