First Reading:

So I finally got around to reading this much hyped series and I have to say it wasn’t quite as offensive as I was expecting. On the one hand there is violence, lots of blood and torture, not to mention the crazy religious fanatics – none of which are things I particularly enjoy. On the other hand the relationship between Tulip and Jessi is made all the sweeter by the fact that it is surrounded by so much pain, the book was well written, and the supernatural element seems to be going in an interesting direction.

I think I’ll probably pick up the next couple of volumes to see how things develop.

Second Reading:

My opinion remains just about the same, although I feel like my frustration with Ennis' near miss when it came to angels in the first volume would likely continue if I knew all that much about clandestine religious cults or whatever you would classify these people as being. As it is, my ignorance did help me to enjoy the book more. I wasn't so distracted by how silly his made up version of stuff people have spent a lot of time building a mythos around.

While they are certainly still tertiary, this volume also does a pretty good job of showcasing just how strong the women around Jesse are. No matter how much he and Cass would prefer them to be winsome damsels in distress.

The overall premise of this book does, itself, remain rather simplistic. TLDR: Good guys do good things, bad guys do bad things, and everyone swears! While it was obviously necessary as the one thing that really made the bad guy BAD, the idea that people who are "sexually deviant" are child molesters/exploiters seems really lazy and cliche.