Review by Colin Credle

At the start of any vampire tale, there is anticipation of how the tendrils of history will weave into and push the story along. The vampire’s immortality gifts them the long perspective, the insight of having witnessed long ago events know only as history to the living. These Savage Shores does not disappoint. Author Ram V is adept at building on the familiar folklore of vampires and asking: what if there is something out there more ancient and monstrous?

It’s 1766 in London when vampire Alain Pierrefont is caught feeding and publicly exposed. Hunted, he flees East on the English Merchant Vessel Ivora, destined for tropical Calicut on the Malibar Coast. Upon arrival, Alain is warned the sun is unforgiving and “.. the days are long, but the nights have teeth.” Sumit Kumar’s illustrations are lush, deftly displaying emotion and mystery that accentuate the unfolding events. The East India Company is embroiled in local shifting alliances with an eye to establishing a trade route to the port of Calicut to ensure a prosperous future. We are told the primal and ancient land has little regard for any such optimism.

The gorgeous dancer Kori repeatedly asks her lover Bishan “how were you made?” Each time, Bishan answers differently, giving away his immortality and ancient origins. Bishan is also the guardian to the Prince Vikram of Zamorin. He wears a mask, observing from the shadows and mostly acting under cover of night, and vampire hunter Zachariah Sturn arrives in Calicut searching for the missing Pierrefont, who was last seen living with Prince Vikram. Sturn senses danger, but finds his instinctual foreboding is thrown off by something older and different.

Alliances, hubris, loyalties, love, mercy, forgiveness and shifting armies all push the narrative forward in a surprisingly absorbing and measured pace. Ram V and Sumit Kumar succeed in creating an atmosphere that is at one time alluring, macabre and mysterious as well as captivating.