The first book is very good; the second suffers a bit, especially toward the end. ( )

When Blanche's sister is killed follows clues to a Paris brothel to find the killer. The art style in this graphic novel is interesting. It's a great story because it has many of the elements of a well-written and suspenseful story. ( )

In the interests of full disclosure, I actually read Volume 1 and volume 2 as separate books. But I disliked them so much that I just added the combination volume to my library, to minimize the number of times I would have to look at it.

I wanted to like the series. When I first heard about it online, the premise sounded so wonderful... girl becomes the top dominatrix in 1920's Paris so that she can find her sister's killer and take revenge. But in actually reading the series, the main character turned out to be a self-centered, impulsive, and vindictive creature who swings between moments of hopeless despair and wild, bloody rages so fast it makes me wonder if she doesn't have some undiagnosed mental problems. And all of those things would be okay, I've enjoyed characters that had personality defects before, but she doesn't grow out of it or even seem to think about her actions at all. The entire series has her acting in exactly the same selfish, unbalanced manner. No matter what situation she finds herself in, she immediately jumps to conclusions about what is going on, and then engages in a series of generally violent and horrible actions based on that initial assumption, even when it is proven to be completely inaccurate.

That said, there were some good points. The art was quite well done, and the supporting cast was much more likable and engaging to pay attention to, especially Jo, who was my favorite character. However, because so much of the book centers around the main girl (who I disliked so intensely I can't even recall her name, although I just finished the series less than half an hour ago), I have to say that I would not recommend this. ( )