Hinagi is a child, lost in a land unknown to her, awoken by an ill-intentioned stranger who found her unconscious on the roadside. With much trepidation she sets off to Shambala, a prosperous and bustling city just outside of Nirvana. With the assistance of a mysterious exiled monk bent on taking down the entire foundation on which Shambala stands, Hinagi will have to choose between allowing faith to blind her or opening her eyes to the possibility that not all is how it seems.

Have you ever wanted to fall onto soft grass while a beautiful blue sky shimmers endlessly above you, peaceful birds chirping jovially nearby? It would be, in one word, paradise. Many authors have made attempts at balancing the good-versus-evil dynamic of the afterlife, trying to define what makes a place a nirvana or a hell, regardless of the referenced belief system. Often those attempts are muddled by both the lack of understanding about a particular belief system, or rushed world-building that leaves the reader feeling like their mind is so consumed with the rules and principles of this new place that they can’t focus on the story itself. Neither of these issues plague Depraved Monk in Paradise.

A safe haven for the lost. A town of enlightened people trying to reach that promised Garden of Eden. A paradise for followers of Buddha. That is the world of Shambala, or at least that’s how most of the townspeople see it. The story brings us a mysterious stranger who bucks tradition and the rules, only to be cast out of society for his “depravity”. His true motives are not immediately revealed, but we do see him standing statuesque over the city of Shambala, right as a kind-looking man finds a young girl unconscious on the outskirts of town.

The young girl wakes up with no memory of her family or where she came from, but does remember her name- Hinagi. With gentle coaxing and the promise of a warm meal, the man convinces Hinagi to go with him, something that she would have been wise not to do. At the last moment a beautiful, elegantly adorned woman- Miss Okatsu- happens upon the scene and rescues Hinagi. While it is made very obvious to the reader that this Miss Okatsu is the matron of a bordello, Hinagi, in her young naivety doesn’t understand. The mysterious monk tries to stop Hinagi from following Miss Okatsu, speaking in what seems like gibberish to one unacquainted with the ways of Shambala, and through slight-of-hand puts a magic bell in Hinagi’s possession. His trick goes unnoticed, and Hinagi finds herself at Miss Okatsu’s establishment where she makes fast friends with another young orphan.

Soon, however, a strange spell seems to befall the townspeople around her, not affecting her in the slightest. While Hinagi finds this world of elephant statues, shouted prayers and odd zealots frightening, the reader is armed with clever clues throughout the story. These small insights take the weight off the reader, making the religious and spiritual references in the story flow seamlessly. Thanks to clever artistic choices, the transition between good and evil, right and wrong, is never made clear. You won’t find a caricature of a villain here: no madmen twirling mustaches grace these pages. Indeed, even the most vile creatures, the most ill-intentioned men and women, are drawn as if they could be the Buddha himself. The smiles seem genuine, the innocence seems certain, and if anything, you will learn that seeing is not necessarily believing in Shambala.

Depraved Monk in Paradise manages to avoid the genre-defining tropes and limiting subject matter that so often mire these kinds of stories in a veritable swamp of too much exposition and puts the reader on the edge of their seat, waiting to find out what happens next.

Review by H.E. Kniat.