The Fox Maidens
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
From the bestselling, award-winning creator of Almost American Girl comes an epic new graphic novel fantasy—a queer, feminist reimagining of the Fox Maiden legend from Korean mythology. Perfect for fans of Nimona, Squire, and The Prince and the Dressmaker.
Kai Song dreams of being a warrior. She wants to follow in the footsteps of her beloved father, the commander of the Royal Legion. But while her father believes in Kai and trains her in martial arts, their society isn’t ready for a girl warrior.
Still, Kai is determined. But she is plagued by rumors that she is the granddaughter of Gumiho, the infamous nine-tailed fox demon who was killed by her father years before.
Everything comes crashing down the day Kai learns the deadly secret about her mother’s past. Now she must come to terms with the truth about her identity and take her destiny into her own hands. As Kai desperately searches for a way to escape her fate, she comes to find compassion, and even love, in the most unexpected places.
Set in sixteenth-century Korea and richly infused with Korean folklore, The Fox Maidens is a timeless and powerful story about fighting for your place in the world, even when it seems impossible.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ha (Almost American Girl) puts a queer and feminist twist on the origins of the Fox Maiden from Korean folklore in this fantastical graphic novel. The only daughter of famed General Song, 10-year-old Kai desperately wants to be a fighter like her older brothers. But her father will only train her secretly, believing that the patriarchal Joseon society will never accept a female warrior. The rumors that she's a descendant of Gumiho, a nine-tailed fox demon, ostracize her further. But her strong sense of justice emboldens her to stay on the warrior path and prompts her to aid a thief in their escape. On the day she experiences her first moonblood, or period, Kai's life changes drastically, forcing her mother to reveal the truth about her own past—and about Kai's destiny. Across cleanly rendered, digitally illustrated panels with starkly highlighted hues in reds, blues, greens, and yellows, Kai tenaciously attempts to change her fate, encounters a familiar face on a parallel journey, and finds compassion and love along the way. Front matter provides context into historical worldbuilding. An author's note concludes. Characters are Korean. Ages 13–up.