The East Wind of the Altas
by Tappytoon Studio, Ziseo
published by Tappytoon (chapters 1-50 (season 1); season 2 in progress (ongoing)
2023 – present
I described the setup for this to a friend in a way that made him not want to read it, as the start was a bit grim. I told him a widowed mother of three has to give herself to a violent nobleman to compensate him after he kills his horse to prevent it from crushing her kids… and I lost his interest right there. But there is more to it!
Claire… is not really a widow, the kids aren’t really hers, she is in hiding under a false identity, she is fearless and assertive, she is multilingual (sexy!), and she has pretty eyes and big plans. The violent Marquess Balt (tee hee hee) Morenheitz is handsome, warm, good in bed, looks after her loved ones, and (eventually) is one of the better men in her life. That’s barely a compliment, considering what she’s been through, but she has the usual heroine-making-everyone-love-her qualities of inherent goodness, so when starts enjoying herself with him, we want that for her, even though we don’t know her plans or all of her secrets. Her wanting to enjoy him (for now) is good enough! (Hooray for women enjoying bedtime with fond, handsome men!) We might even root for Balt’s powerful eyebrows when they go to battle for him in season two, though Claire’s many unspilled secrets may defeat them.