As always, creepy af, atmospheric and thoughtful... ( )

This is a beautiful series. ( )

Shiva's aunt takes her back to the Insiders, leaving Teacher all alone. Things go badly very quickly - Shiva's aunt succumbs to the curse, and so the soldiers raze the town. Shiva and Teacher find each other again, but Shiva is feverish, injured, and horrified at the possibility that she might have ultimately been responsible for all those deaths. Shiva's aunt, now an Outsider, arrives and tells Teacher that, yes, she abandoned Shiva, but she also once found Shiva abandoned and took her in. Extras: a couple full-color pages and some four-panel comics.

The suspense, as Shiva's aunt began to display signs of the curse, was great. The entire "razing of the town" scene made me think of Attack on Titan - dark and awful.

Since I had theorized that the curse was actually just a disease and the Outsiders were just beings shunned by humans, the revelation that the curse was a real thing was a bit of a shock. I'm very intrigued by the beginning of Shiva's aunt's story. Where did Shiva come from? Is she some kind of carrier of the curse? I also found it interesting that Shiva's aunt retained both her personality and her memories.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

Another great volume in this series. A good pace of world building and plot development at the same time depicting satisfying character beats. All done in a dark but expressive, and gorgeous, art style. ( )

In a world of those cursed who live outside the wall and those who live inside the wall in fear of being cursed, The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún is a quiet fairy tale about a young girl, Shiva, who was abandoned in the forest by her aunt and raised by one of the Outsiders (those who are cursed) who she calls Teacher. Teacher goes to great lengths to protect Shiva from both other Outsiders and himself (all it takes is one touch from an Outsider to become cursed), and Shiva spends her days waiting for her Auntie to come take her home. Teacher knows that there is very little chance that Shiva's aunt will ever come to bring her home, so he tries his best to fill Shiva's days with lessons and fun.

When a mysterious Outsider invades their home and touches Shiva, Teacher and Shiva embark on a journey to discover the source and possible cure of the curse. Unbeknownst to either, Shiva may be at the center of a prophecy of the church of those on the Inside, and Teacher may have to go extremes he didn't know possible to protect Shiva. But is Shiva a child of the Inside or the Outside, and is her role in the balance of darkness and light beyond Teacher's control?

I absolutely love this series. The art is beautiful and the story is paced perfectly, a nice balance of quiet tranquil storytelling and the urgency that Teacher feels in keeping Shiva safe. The mystery surrounding Shiva and her role in the battle between the darkness and the light is intriguing. I will definitely be picking up subsequent volumes in this series. ( )