Chen Xing is the last Great Exorcist, charged with protecting the world from a demonic entity. He’s also all of sixteen and expects to die on his twentieth birthday. Setting off to find his counterpart, the “Protector Martial God”, things aren’t exactly going as planned. His “Protector Martial God” turns out to be a mysterious man with a possibly criminal past that wants nothing to do with him. Drought Fiends are popping up all over the place and seems like sinister magic is afoot.
This graphic novel drops you in the middle of the action and doesn’t let up. Chen Xing is our main point of view character, and he is clearly out of his depth. While I’m certain that there are details I’m missing because I’m not familiar with Chinese history, it doesn’t make too much of a difference to the story. I really liked the art style and found that I couldn’t put it down, finishing the first two volumes in about three days. This is my favorite kind of historical fantasy: great plot, pretty costumes, and intriguing characters.
Chen Xing is a little too naïve for me at times, but it does work well for his character and gives a reason for a lot of the exposition. The story has been really unpredictable which is something I enjoy. Far too often I can easily predict where a story is going, and I like to be surprised. I do wish we got a little more about Xiang Shu, but hopefully as the story continues we’ll get more details about him. While the second volume does give us a little more of his background, there are still a lot of questions, and we don’t get as much access to his internal thoughts as we do with Chen Xing.
It’ll be interesting to see where both the story goes and how Chen Xing and Xiang Shu’s relationship continues to develop. I’m really looking forward to the next installment of the comic. I’m also planning on picking up the book that the comic is based on. Four out of five stars.
Bingo – White