Looks Can Be Decieving
The Good: Let's see here. I see a cover with sexy vampires wearing little clothing and appearing very shiny. I'm worried. Let's open this up and... HOLY CRAP THIS IS AWESOME. The artwork is DARK. CREEPY. INSANE.
Yes, love is actually a huge part of the story here. But as the title says, it's tainted love. Corrupted and impure. We've got a pretty standard vampire hero wanting to help mankind, but he's emotionally torn between his compassionate nature and his powerful love for someone who's rapidly becoming his polar opposite. And they maintain a weird relationship that really intrigues me. Add the fact that he feels guilt for being the one to sire her, and you've got a series with a strong focus on romance that isn't an angsty teen romance book or a girl romance book. These vampires are monsters in aristocratic human skin. My absolute favorite kind. I'm a HUGE vampire fan, so I was nervous when I saw the Twilight-y cover. I'm a fan of the Bram Stoker, Castlevania, Hellsing, and Underworld vampires. The ruling class of creatures of the night. This is exactly what I got. When Andrew is attacked by a vampire who turns into a wolf, he responds by turning into an absolutely demonic beast. He is a high class vampire with a beastly form to reflect that. Vampires are the gods of monsters. Immensely powerful, yet wearing the guise of pale beauty and purity. This series has the true vampire type in it.
The action is awesome. Romance and action are well balanced
The Bad: That's a TERRIBLE cover. I mean, ok, it's not a 'bad' cover in and of itself, but it does NOT represent this book well AT ALL. People looking on this cover are going to see what appears to be something jumping aboard the Twilight/True Blood train. Upon reading the issue, THIS IS MOST CERTAINLY NOT THAT.
The issue kind of jumps around in time, and makes things a little confusing.
In Conclusion: 5/5
I AM BIASED. I'll say that off the bat. I LOVE VAMPIRES. Not shitty sparkling vampires. I've given leeway, Cirque Du Freak had some radically different vampires, but they still stuck to the proper archetype. This series has just about every aspect of the vampire that I like. The artwork is crazily dark, and rarely do I find a series so heavily defined by romance that doesn't feel like a 'romance' series. I love everything about this but the cover. If you like vampires, BUY THIS WITHOUT HESITATION. If you hate vampires because of Twilight, give this a chance to show you not all vampires are as stupid as that. Look through the artwork in this issue.
