Winter Demon

Winter Demon #1

by Yamila Abraham

When three ruthless fire demons come to terrorize the monk Hakuin's village he's forced to seek help from Fuyu, the snow demon who tormented him a year ago. Fuyu is thrilled to see his beautiful monk again. He'll defeat the demons only if Hakuin becomes his willing slave. Fuyu realizes too late that the fire demons are out of his league. Even worse, the lead demon thinks the fey Fuyu would make a nice slave in his own right. When Fuyu is put in the same position he put Hakuin a year ago he starts to realize the error of his ways. Maybe, in time, he can even be redeemed to his beloved monk. Also, a pacifist is forced to bring an assassin to a rival lord. It doesn't help that the assassin is part of the group who wiped out the pacifist's race. So why are they sleeping together?

Genres: Manga, Yaoi, Fantasy, M M Romance, Graphic Novels, Comics, Erotica

163 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2006

About the author

Yamila Abraham founded the publishing company Yaoi Press in 2004 and published over 50 graphic novels, many she wrote herself.

Abraham is a prolific writer of male/male romance, yaoi, yaoi graphic novels, science fiction romance, and erotica. She's known for explicitly detailed love scenes and dynamic premises. She wrote two of Yaoi Press' best selling series: Winter Demon and Dark Prince. Her best known ebooks include Maelstrom, UnPrison, Alien's Bride, and the Vanquished series.

Abraham has been a speaker or guest of honor at 150 anime fan conventions.

Reviews

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is weirdly lovely and really only for those who enjoy m/m slightly strange relationships. It’s a graphic novel about a monk with the face of angel named Hakuin whose town is threatened by three fire demons. In order to save his people he must enlist the help of Fuyu the winter demon who held him captive in a previous short story and raped him. Still emotionally damaged by the trauma Fuyu inflicted upon him he sets out to do what he must to save his people. Fuyu, still enamored by the beautiful young monk, agrees but of course he demands a price be paid. As they spend more time together the demon begins to feel oddly attached to Hakuin and in tune with his emotions.

Things go awry when Fuyu is captured by the fire demon and receives the same treatment he apparently gave Hakuin in the past. Paybacks a bitch for this evil demon. The fire demon is bigger and stronger and Fuyu finds himself on the receiving end of things and becomes a bit more empathic towards Hakuin’s feelings.

Drugs are used heavily to make Hakuin submit to the sexual attention of the winter demon (though the demon begins to wish they weren’t necessary) and when the book ends he is deeply distraught and even more emotionally battered than when the book began. There is no quickie resolution here which I appreciated. The story is interesting, and the Luke & Laura type relationship between Hakuin & Fuyu is oddly transfixing but the artwork leaves something to be desired. Don’t get me wrong, the guys are gorgeous but in the close-ups they are easily mistaken for beautiful anime women. All they need are big boobs. The artist also doesn’t express emotion very well on their faces and it is a real shame because the storyline is pretty heavy. The characters are drawn with a blank beauty that leaves the reader a bit empty in the end.

The secondary story features a young man shunned by the town because he is “ugly” who finds true love with a male demon who finds him attractive and irresistible. The artwork on this one is leagues better. The men are handsome and much less feminine and their faces really express their emotions. I thought their relationship was sweet, sexy and believable.

There is a third story at the end but it was too short to have any effect on me. It didn’t seem to fit in with the other two, unless I’m missing something, and was pretty forgettable and downbeat.

All of the stories were sexually explicit but not overly graphic. The best bits are fuzzy or legs are placed in strategic places to hide the goods but still this is sexy stuff and you don’t want to leave it hanging around for the kiddies to pick up!

This is a promising start to the series and I can’t wait to check out the next installment.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

My goal is to reread every single Manga/Manwha I own this year and I am starting with Winter Demon.

I forgot how bad it is. The drawing style is horrible (I know that it does get a lot better as the series progresses - the bonus story at the end is a huge improvent to the rest of the manga) and to have a victim of rape fall in love with their abuser is always a bad idea especially when it is treated this irresponsibly.

Also: I just finished it but cannot for the live of me remember any plot. Something about a Snow Demon that has to help a Monk (that he raped a year prior) defeat another demon. The price is that the Monk does whatever the Snow Demon wants... The last story is about an incubbus - that one was alright.

It´s just very iffy and leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.

[K T · Rating 1 out of 5]

The art was terrible and the story was worse. Should have known this wouldn't be my thing.

[madeline · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't actually give this a good rating under good conscience, but it is absolutely the funniest thing I have ever read and I loved every terrible moment.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hakuin, a handsome young monk prostrates himself before an image of the Buddha, keeping himself away from all the hurt and destruction around him. While comforted in his prayers, Hakuin is visited by a fellow monk who needs his help more now than ever before.

A village is under the threat of its entire people being slaughtered at the whim of a group of fire demon lords who descend on the village of Buddhist monks and rural people, wanting to take it over and use some of their people as slaves.
The demon lord and his companions realise though that they have been observed and waited for. It is also one of the demons grisly intentions to kill and eat the flesh of the villagers.

Rampaging through the houses and scaring the people, they unleash their fury in the form of fire bombs, while a female demoness notices a young monk with long, flowing hair and instantly she becomes interested in him, as to the fact he is not as pure as a monk should be in that region. She senses he has been used, and taken advantage of a number of times.

The demon lord Ratsu casts his eyes over the villagers, his companion demons wanting to destroy the people who live there purely for fun, as they are bloodthirsty in their ways.
The village leader bows before the fire demons and asks that they take whatever they wish, but spare the lives of their people, and he does just that when his eyes land on Hakuin, who is enough to encourage his inner desires.

Later, while all the monks are in a meeting, Hakuin is denied to commit suicide, and instead given orders to go forth, though there must be another monk by his side. When asked what it is they want him for, a male from another area pleads with them to hear him. He says that a winter demon has cursed their people with a terrible winter, and famine has devastated their community. Thinking that they wish to drag an innocent from their ranks to satisfy the demon, the male tells him the ice demon asked for him, and would not be swayed by the visitation of another.
They believe if Hakuin goes to him, their winter will leave and summer will come to their village, and all will prosper again.

Caught between his feelings to kill himself and what he felt at the hands of the ice demon the first time around, he reluctantly agrees, but at what cost? His fellow monk tells him there are three choices for him, he can put an end to his life, be used by the ice demon, or go back to him and face the nightmare waiting for him.

On his journey to the place he knows so well where the ice demon resides, the male from the village goes with the young monk, and Hakuin refuses to accept the hospitality of his village, leaving the male and going alone into the cave where he remembers too clearly what went on with him and the ice demon there. His mind hurt with the memories, he comes across the ice demon reclining, watching him with eagle eyes, saying that he missed the monk's presence, while Hakuin asks him if he regretted not drinking his soul. All he has thought of is Hakuin while he has been alone in his ice cave, and wishes to relive the times they had together even if the monk thought them cruel and heartless. Hakuin asks him to end the curse on the village, but the ice demon names his price, for him to be bound to him, though the ice demon finds out his own fate takes a cruel and unlikely twist.

Yamila's story is a passionate tale of destructive love one can have for another, the artwork is well presented, and the characters are memorably drawn and have a depth of emotion that is easy to feel when reading the manga.


Sensual and erotically stunning. This is a work of beauty which keeps the reader guessing how the plot will evolve. Recommended for those who enjoy an element of mystery to their manwha.

[J'aime · Rating 4 out of 5]

This westernized yaoi manga is not as good as most Japanese yaoi that have been licensed in the U.S. However, it is much better than many other western offerings, and some Japanese ones, with an unusual story. Fuyu is a winter demon who raped a monk from a local village not long ago. Now the village is under attack by fire demons and only that monk can convince Fuyu to help. But, what will it cost him? And Fuyu will get more than he bargained for when the fire demons turn out stronger than he anticipated. These two have an uneasy relationship to say the least!

The art is not as clean looking as that of Japanese mangakas Nitta or Kodaka, but it doesn't look cartoonish either. The panels are laid out in a clear manner, with sufficient background to give some depth, and the text bubbles are clearly directed to their speaker. There is sex in the book, but while graphic it is not explicit (as with Nitta or Yamane). The book is laid out left to right, rather than in the Japanese style, but Yaoi press makes no bones about the fact that they do OEL/western yaoi. The cover art is lovely and the book well made. There is a secondary story after the primary one about another demon called Figaru. One nice thing Yaoi press has done is to take a "bonus" story and make it more than just an add on as with most Japanese yaoi. Figaru's is a sexy little story that will have surprising developments in the next two volumes of this series when they stories cross-over.

Overall, "Winter Demon" is worth the purchase if you're a yaoi fan looking for something new while waiting for the next volume of your favorite series. It's hot, with good art and an interesting storline. Recommended.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of yaoi manga centers around the concept of rape, nonconsensual sex, sex with minors or sex under coercion. It takes a masterful storyteller indeed to get readers over their initial distaste for such subjects.

But what to think when one of the molesters is a soulless demon? Since it is inherent in their nature that sex for them wouldn’t involve consent from or even pleasure for their human consorts, the boundaries blur and notions of right and wrong aren’t so easily defined.

The continuing story of the monk Hakuin and the winter demon Fuyu delves into such issues when Fuyu himself undergoes rape from another demon. The story is a powerful one, just hinting of the romance that is to come, as Fuyu finds himself experiencing tender feelings for the very first time. The figures are exquisitely drawn, a vast improvement over the origin story found in “Enslaved by the Dragon”. In that tale, the characters are drawn with thin, scrawny-looking limbs that I found very unattractive.

The additional stories in “Winter Demon”, vol. 1, involving a shy woodcutter and two would-be enemies, are very different in tone and show the range of characters and storylines provided by the writers of Yaoi Press.

[78sunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kurz-Meinung:
Dieser Manga hat mir wirklich gut gefallen. Das Fantasythema um Dämonen und Mönche hat mir gut gefallen. Es war nicht sonderbar komplex, aber für einen Manga wirklich gut. Ein junger Mönch wird als Opfergabe einem Schneedämon gegeben, der ihn dann vergewaltigt. (wird aber im Manga nur erwähnt) Aus bestimmten Gründen, die ich hier jetzt nicht verrate, hat diese Begegnung aber sowohl den jungen Mönch als auch den Dämon verändert. Als dann 3 Feuerdämonen das Dorf des Mönches angreifen, muss er sich mit Fuyu, dem Schneedämon, zusammentun, um dieser zu bekämpfen.
Empfohlen wird der Manga auf Amazon ab 16 Jahre. Sex ist hier ein großes Thema und es gibt auch einige Gewaltszenen und sogar eine Vergewaltigungsszene. Bestimmte Körperteile werden nicht explizit gezeichnet, aber gerade durch die Thematik würde ich persönlich den Manga erst ab 18 Jahre empfehlen.
Eigentlich enthält der Manga 2 Geschichten, die grob zusammenhängen. Mir haben beide gleich gut gefallen. Der Zeichenstil ist nicht ganz mein Fall, da ich stark feminine männliche Charaktere nicht so mag. Trotzdem konnte es mich aufgrund seines Fantasyanteils auch von den Zeichnungen her begeistern. Die Charaktere lassen sich gut unterscheiden.

Meine Wertung:
4 von 5 Sternen

[Nicole Bunge · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skip this.
The main story relies mainly on demons raping humans and other demons for the 'BL' which is in no way hot. The art of 'Studio Kosaru' was apparently done by a high schooler who took a line drawing class because there is barely any background (a LOT of white space) and very little attempt to do more than 2-D figures like a coloring book.

While I liked the art a little better in the second story, it really hurts credibility when the woodcutter who is banished from the village because he is 'homely' and 'none of the women will have him because he's too ugly' is drawn like a cover model version of Vin Diesel plus Goku.

The third story we were back to 'Studio Kosaru' art and a 3rd grader's attempt to tell a pacifist and an assassin love story.

[Brianna Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

yeah yeah - someone's been telling me all about the "ones with the pink stripe". i suppose i'll see what the fuss is about.
...
okay - nothing like a little gay japanese demon sex at hte end of a long day. hmmm. thanks, i think?

[Ashley Bellingar · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a decent manga I'm considering reading more in the series.

[Sara]

Own and have read the main story previously on kindle.
Re-read the print version, which includes an extra short story.