KRAMPUS
The Yule Lord
Authors: Brom
Design: Paula Russell Szafranski
Publisher: HARPER Voyager
Type: Hardcover
Pages: 357
Genre: fiction
Published: 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-209565-7
Source: Independently purchased
What happens when The Krampus decides he wants his holy day back?
The Krampus for those who don't know, is a Yule nature spirit or possibly even an ancient Pagan deity. Krampus travels door to door at Yule, rewarding good children and giving naughty children a swat with his birch stick. He is hairy, with a long tongue, goats horns and hooves.
The book itself is beautiful, the pages have a kind of corrugated old manuscript feel, almost like the edges are ripped . The dust cover was bright and colourful.
The book is lavishly sprinkled with black and white pictures, there is even a section in the middle where the main characters of the story have full colour glossy pictures.
Though it doesn't specifically say anywhere i could see, i believe all the art is done by Brom the author. Whom you may remember from the art in the Dark Sun setting of D&D.
The book is a good read, it has mystery, action, adventure a bit of horror and sort of romance thrown in for good measure.
Your probably wondering if i enjoyed the book on an artistic level and thought it a worthy read, that 3 1/2 eucalyptus leaves seems a little low. You would be right, as two things bothered me about the book.
The first thing that bothered me was the main character, he just was not very likable, he also made homophobic jabs at a coworker whom he disliked so that didn't endear me to him or make me root for him at all. I understand that a character can be flawed but the character didn't seem to grow, the homophobia just kind of happened and was not really addressed again.
The second thing was the biggest for me, Krampus is pre-christian, he is thought by some to be a remnant of the ancient god of the witches, that would make him my god.
In one part the Krampus has a conversation with a priest, christian or catholic, Krampus taunts the priest about the state of the world and its evils, he mentions homosexuality along with some actual evils, in the same sentence, as if they were like things. Now Krampus may have just been listing things the priest thought of as sins, but it didn't really read that way.
Krampus as a pre-christian entity wouldn't (doesn't) have anything against homosexuality, most deity's through history have accepted homosexuality as a normal form of human sexuality, some even considering homosexuals sacred because of their unique perspective.
I may have read far to much into that conversation, and after the comments of the main character, i may have been on the defence, and alert for any signs of homophobia by the characters. Like i said the conversation is ambiguous, it isn't clear if the Krampus puts homosexuality with those evils or if he just knows the priest does.
So to be fair without taking those two issues into account, i would give the book a lot higher rating. If you can overlook those things, and knowing they are there might dampen the shock. If the main characters homophobia was further addressed and the Krampus acceptance of homosexuality stated clearly, the book would get a better score, as it was otherwise a very enjoyable read and is physically beautiful.
To be clear i am in no way implying that the author is homophobic, in fact i believe he is not. It is simply the character that makes offensive comments (and doesn't seem to learn the error of his ways) and a (non homophobic) god whose meaning isn't exactly clear.
Brom is an experienced artist, who has art books published and has also written The Child Thief, The Plucker and The Devils Rose novels.
Have you read it? What did you think of the issues i had, did you even notice? Which way did you interpret The Krampus comments? Was the paperback just as beautifully designed?
