A funny and surprisingly touching graphic novel about a vampire kid named Dragoslava (“Drago”) who was cursed by a witch centuries ago and is now bound to do her bidding or get turned into a pile of worms. She now wants Drago (who happens to be nonbinary) to rescue a spellbook stolen from her by another witch.
Dragoslava, who has a chalk-white face, bald head, and black cape, sets off with their two vampire friends, Quintus, a Black boy and son of a vampire queen, and Eztli, an overall-clad girl with brown skin and bird feet. (“Eztli” means “blood” in Aztec-Nahuatl.) But the midwestern town where the book resides has secrets of its own, including a two-woman witch-vampire couple (one White and one Black) who end up taking in the three children (who are all centuries old and in many ways not children at all). The witch just happens to have a large collection of spell books….
A series of flashbacks throughout the book give background on how the three friends came to know each other and how Drogo in particular came to be the person they are today, eager to drink people’s blood and somewhat cool towards friendships. Their parents turned the family into vampires in order to protect them, but think Drogo is ungrateful and “wretched”; the witch who cursed Drogo uses them for her own benefit. Drogo’s bloodthirsty and reckless persona is tempered by their adorable depiction; the book isn’t so much scary as having fun with the theme of scariness. As the story evolves, too, Drogo must reassess why they act the way they do towards those who have become their chosen family and decide where their loyalties lie, both for the sake of the others and for themselves.
Author Madeline McGrane paints an offbeat world of magic, vampires, and modern conveniences (the adult vampire they meet gives them pouches of “ethically sourced human blood”), and has clearly thought through many small, amusing details of vampiric lives. (When the nocturnal vampires go to sleep just as the sun begins to come up, they say to each other, “Good morning. Sleep tight.”) The book is an absolute delight and highly recommended.
