Author Michele Monteleone and illustrator Freddie Tanto tell the story of Leah, a young woman tasked with risking her life to dispose of a caged demon. Legend in her local village says that there was once a lake with a glorious castle, until a horror was released, collapsing the castle and turning the land into a swap full of deadly creatures. One such creature kills the village’s greatest hero, before the “demon” is caged in a lantern. As Leah and the demon move further into the swamp and closer to the great pit where she is to destroy him by casting him in, the demon begins peaking Leah’s curiosity. Why would they send a young girl into the darkness alone? She soon encounters dangers, some of them human, and starts to learn that maybe the stories she’s grown up with were designed to keep her quiet when others did wrong around her.
I will specify, Canticle of Lost Souls is not for kids, even if it is illustrated. There are threats of sexual violence, murder, and bloody consequences when things go wrong. The graphic novel took quite a few surprising turns, and most left me feeling unsettled. Leah seems the perfect innocent, but that is quickly proven to be untrue. Heroes are proven to be capable of immorality and those tasked with keeping others safe often fail to do just that. Freddie Tanto’s art captures the dark nature of the story, and the dark colors by Francesco Segala make sure to maintain the unsettling mood of the story.
Canticle of Lost Souls is available November 10, 2026 from Oni Press.
