Neat idea-vampirism considered "the cure" that British soldiers and elite took to be able to fight a zombie uprising during the reign of Queen Victoria. Our main character, Suttle, is an inspector with Scotland Yard's murder squad, investigating the death (sort of) of one of his own vampiric kind. Good, if a bit graphic. I'd read more if there ever are more. ( )

Though it deals with zombies and vampires, I tagged it for my "mystery and detective" shelf because it is more of a mystery tale than an actual horror tale, plus the gore factor is pretty minimal. Considering the crappy way zombies and vampires have been handled lately, this is actually a pretty good tale that offers a pretty refreshing take on both. The premise is this: during the reign of Queen Victoria, a zombie outbreak occurs. England is now segregated with zombie areas, human areas, and then higher class vampire areas separated. Yes, you see, in order to avoid becoming zombies, the higher classes have voluntarily taken "the cure," a.k.a. becoming vampires. So, we have the vampires (known as "the Young"), the zombies (known as the "restless"), and everyone else (called "Brights"). In the midst of this we have our protagonist, a young chief inspector from Scotland Yard who is the last detective assigned to the Murders Desk. After all, with most of the population undead somehow, there are not too many murders happening.

But a murder does happen when a Young is found dead in a river shore. How is that possible? The corpse does not show the usual causes of vampire death: decapitation, impalement of the heart, or burning, and he is missing a hand. What is going on? As our vampire detective strives to find the answers, he finds that the case touches on the highest echelons of British society and government. Some do not really wish for him to learn the truth. Abnett puts together a pretty good Edwardian era murder mystery. At the same time, he also does some very good world building, and we get a very good picture of what this new chaotic world is like. Vampires here are handled pretty well and in a pretty humane way. Our protagonist pretty much shows the price of being immortal.

Overall, this is definitely a must read graphic novel. It is labeled for mature readers, probably due to some brief nudity scenes.
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Its a travesty that this gem is not on more people's radars. I thought it was an outstanding graphic novel and Dan Abnett's writing really stands out. I would heartily recommend to anyone looking for an intelligent, well written comic that blends murder mystery and horror with some cultural and socio-political commentary in a historical setting. If that makes it sound a little too heavy then think Sherlock Holmes meets the Walking Dead meets Downton Abbey. If you like any one of these three then you should check this out. ( )

I picked this up because of the title and the cover art. And in the end it didn't disappoint. The story is a murder mystery with both the victim and the police office investigating are vampires. In this book vampires are referred to as youngs, normal humans as brights and zombies as restless. The upper classes are vampires and they do walk in the daylight with the help of zinc skin creams and shade. There is class unrest and mention of the women's rights movement so society is moving along and not stagnated completely with those in power being vampires. And not everyone you meet wants to become a vampire. By the end of the story you find out the killer, how zombies came to be and enjoyed the story along the way.


Review copy provided by NetGalley ( )

I suppose I should be more disappointed in this than I was. I mean there are zombies but they pretty much just stand in the background. And there are vampires, but they don't suck anyone's blood or even woo dull high school virgins. Other than the fact the dead guy is a vampire it's a pretty straightforward mystery. And I'm really not sure how exactly he was killed.

Still, despite all that, while I was actually reading the book I wasn't bored. The author creates an interesting world where zombies rose from their graves and in response the English establishment made themselves vampires "the Young" so the zombies wouldn't want to hurt them. I guess as long as you aren't expecting a smackdown between zombies and vampires then it's fun.

That is all. ( )