A Second Look: The Duke of Death and His Black Maid

Synopsis

A young Duke has been cursed with Death’s touch as a child and because of this, he has been pushed away by all.  However, he did not grow up alone as he had Alice, the daughter of his former head maid with him. As young adults now, however, Alice has become quite bold in her advances towards the Duke. Now the young Duke not only has to deal with the struggles of his curse but he seeks to break it for a certain someone as well.

First Read

The story of the series holds a good sense of balance between its drama and its comedy. While the comedy can be somewhat repetitive given that its mainly around the maid flustering the Duke and the mystery of the mystery could have been given a better foundation, the overall portrayal of the characters was rather well done. The way that the chapters worked the easily flustered Duke and the provocative Alice bounce off one another is also a nice piece for the series and builds some rather solid development for them. Other than this, the whole Victorian/gothic theme of the series is rather nice and the designs are rather good but not all that exciting outside of certain small scenes.

Second Read

It was pretty clear from the start that there would be some solid development between the Duke and Alice but the way that the series doesn’t exaggerate anything between them or have them dance around their feelings makes for a nice look at the story’s romance. The genre balance continues to work rather well but still, the comedy could have used some work. The problem, however, is that the chapters of the series seem more like separate stories and there isn’t really much of a storyline outside of character explorations and hints of mystery along dashes of drama. Still, the series has a  generally good structure to it and the art/design is rather fun given the Victorian/Gothic theme.

Conclusion

While the comedy is not all that great for this writer, the series gives a rather solid romance and overall has a steady flow to it. The art and design are pretty solid along with the character development and the drama and mystery that manages to sneak its way in adds for a nice touch. Basically, if you’re looking for a romance story with a change of pace in it and an interesting theme to it, this is it

Rating: 8/10