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pepperthephoenix 's review for:
The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya, Vol I
by Reimena Yee
I stumbled upon this story when it was a still a webcomic, then donated to their Unbound campaign, and now I’m finally holding his beautiful book in my hands.
This book is gorgeous-both in terms of illustration, story, and characters. It is about Zeynel and Ayse a married couple who worked together to make their dreams of owning a successful carpet business in Istanbul come true. When Zeynel is bitten by a vampire, they must figure out how to keep their dreams and love alive without endangering anyone.
The core of the story is Zeynel and Ayse’s relationship. It is pure and strong and one of my favorite couples I’ve read in a long time. Both characters function as individual characters and also balance each other out as a couple-no one outshining the other. Additionally neither character was designed solely to be the love interest which is refreshing. I think Ayse might be my favorite out of the two, but I adore both.
The artwork is breathtaking and I’ll probably spend the next few weeks just opening it randomly to bask in its beauty. What initially attracted me to this book was that it was set in Istanbul and featured Muslim characters and it was wonderful to see 17th century Istanbul come to life. The composition of every page is unusual and adds a dynamicism and flow I haven’t seen in other books.
I’ll admit I’ve never given much thought to carpets but the book does a lovely job centering carpet making and selling within the story and helping us understand the importance of carpets in the Eastern world. It was also refreshing to see how the characters interacted with their faith and how their faith echoes in every panel.
While the vampire doesn’t have much depth (no do I think he has to have much as he is just the catalyst) his vampiric design is delightfully ghoulish and there are plenty of vampires to many different kind of vampiric lore in his design and in the vampire rules.
Overall this is a fantastic, quiet story about a married couple supporting each other no matter what life throws at them-even vampires.
This book is gorgeous-both in terms of illustration, story, and characters. It is about Zeynel and Ayse a married couple who worked together to make their dreams of owning a successful carpet business in Istanbul come true. When Zeynel is bitten by a vampire, they must figure out how to keep their dreams and love alive without endangering anyone.
The core of the story is Zeynel and Ayse’s relationship. It is pure and strong and one of my favorite couples I’ve read in a long time. Both characters function as individual characters and also balance each other out as a couple-no one outshining the other. Additionally neither character was designed solely to be the love interest which is refreshing. I think Ayse might be my favorite out of the two, but I adore both.
The artwork is breathtaking and I’ll probably spend the next few weeks just opening it randomly to bask in its beauty. What initially attracted me to this book was that it was set in Istanbul and featured Muslim characters and it was wonderful to see 17th century Istanbul come to life. The composition of every page is unusual and adds a dynamicism and flow I haven’t seen in other books.
I’ll admit I’ve never given much thought to carpets but the book does a lovely job centering carpet making and selling within the story and helping us understand the importance of carpets in the Eastern world. It was also refreshing to see how the characters interacted with their faith and how their faith echoes in every panel.
While the vampire doesn’t have much depth (no do I think he has to have much as he is just the catalyst) his vampiric design is delightfully ghoulish and there are plenty of vampires to many different kind of vampiric lore in his design and in the vampire rules.
Overall this is a fantastic, quiet story about a married couple supporting each other no matter what life throws at them-even vampires.