The Accursed Vampire by Madeline McGrane Published by Quill Tree Books on July 27, 2021
ISBN: 0062954350
Pages: 176
Genres: Fantasy
Format: Graphic Novel
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This graphic novel centers on Dragoslava, a little vampire who refuses to help an old woman (they suck her blood instead) and is then cursed by the old woman, who, as in any good fairy tale trope, turns out to be a witch. Drago is now tied to the witch and is forced to do her bidding, no matter the cost. The concept is solid and there are moments of humor and suspense and real conflict, but on the whole the storytelling is thin and the plotting uneven. The story toggles between a contemporary story line where Drago, who now lives with two other child vampires, Eztli and Quintus, is tasked with finding and returning the witch’s grimoire (spell book), and the past threads of how the three main vampires have made it to this point. When Drago receives a new task from the witch, they are unwilling to tell their friends the full story of the witch and Drago’s servitude to her, yet the friends agree to travel to the town of Baneberry with Drago to find the object. There are moments of confusion for the reader: do Drago’s friends know what’s going on or not, and this happens more than once.
And the town of Baneberry seems accepting of vampires, or at least unfazed by them, but the main adult vampire in the town is unkind to the new, young vampires citing that their presence will give vampires a bad name. And, in a strange twist, there is a vampire hunter in the town who wants to eliminate Drago, their friends, and the other adult vampire, with whom she works at the town diner yet seemed oblivious to her extra-sharp canines. There are so many inconsistencies and threads within a mere 176 pages. Better delineations of flashbacks would have been useful for the reader; a softening of the edges of the panels or the same color palette for all flashbacks, one differing from the contemporary story. And the flashbacks seem to have relevance when they are introduced, but they lack a full connection. At one point, four of the main characters are sucked into the spell book, which has a consciousness, and THEN there is a flashback within this secondary world.
Die-hard readers of graphic novels will find enjoyable moments and may be interested in further adventures of this snarky, baby-faced bloodsucker (think the Caillou of vampires), but the scattered storytelling and convoluted plotting make this a title you can skip.
Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth