Author: Stjepan ŠejićSeries: Sunstone #1
Audience: +18
Genre: Graphic Novel, Erotic Romance, BDSM
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: January 6th 2015
My Rating: 4.5 Cups
Source: DeviantArt
Blurb (from Goodreads):
«Sexual nerds. That is what BDSM people are, behind all the pretense...»*Disclaimer: This book contains mature content. As such, my review may contain references to themes intended for a mature audience.
From critically-acclaimed creator Stjepan Šejić (Death Vigil, Ravine, Aphrodite IX, Witchblade) comes Sunstone, a love story like no other.
Lisa's tastes were always...unique. Longing to be restrained, without restrain. Lisa always felt like something was missing from her love life─until she met Ally. Ally was implacably ordinary─successful job, nice house, an average childhood─except for her preference for bedroom domination.
Originally posted on DeviantArt, this books collects the first volume of the often erotic, always amusing, and surprisingly heartfelt Sunstone.
It's funny how things come full circle. The first full comic book volume I ever reviewed was Death Vigil by Stjepan Šejić, and while at the time I adored it and I wanted to read more of his works, specifically Sunstone, I knew I was still a newbie to comic books and I probably wouldn't have done this book justice at the time. I also was somewhat scared to read this book and I knew I had to keep my expectations in check, but let me tell you, I had nothing to worry about.
Story
Sunstone is the story of Lisa and Ally as they navigate the world of BDSM together, as a pair of newbie Domme and newbie sub, while trying to not fall in love with each other. As someone who's read a ton of erotic romance, I was honestly expecting a lot of sexual activities with less focus on the characters. What surprised me is that this story is so much more than just the portrayal of one couple's sexual encounters. It's an exploration of sexuality and femininity in ways I haven't encountered in a long time.
Although this is still an erotic book, the focus isn't so much the sexual act itself, but the mental and emotional state that is involved in the sexual encounter. There are a lot of panels that show the importance of open and honest communication when entering a sexual relationship with someone, but also the huge importance communication has, regardless of the nature of a relationship. Friendships are also based on honest communications, and Šejić did a fantastic job to show that time and again. It's not just a one-time thing, the communication aspect is one of the main themes of this book.
Trust is also a very important aspect of the story. Although certain steps of the story aren't presented in detail, you still get to learn the fact that Lisa and Ally talked about their health, they did their STD testing before they hooked up, Ally's best friend knew that Lisa was spending the night at her place, so he went to check up on them.
I also loved the fact that BDSM is not explored through the eyes of someone with a traumatic childhood. So far I haven't seen any indication that Ally or Lisa were abused growing up, and that makes me very, very happy.
Art
The art is, as I was expecting from Šejić, amazing. The panels aren't overly crowded with text boxes, and the vivid colors match the mood of the book perfectly, with reds, oranges, blacks, yellows and browns being more present overall. I did however experience a little bit of a difficulty reading some of the pages. Since I was reading this book on my tablet, I had just a tiny bit of issue with double spreads, but overall this comic book is easy to follow along. Personally, even though they were harder to read, I loved the double spreads and the bigger panels just a little bit more, because it allowed for more in-depth drawings that matched the story perfectly.
Overall
All in all I truly enjoyed reading this book and I'm so excited to read the other volumes.
