Written by Robin Ha (2024)
(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)
This past fall, I started looking for more standalone graphic novels at the library, both to read and to find examples of artwork that I could show in my Graphic Novel class.
Looking at covers and looking for anything different, I saw the cover of The Fox Maidens. Looked interesting so I borrowed it.
The book opens with a brief lesson about The Joseon Dynasty, which ruled Korea for about 500 years, ending in the early 20th century. It also introduces the main characters and their class or station.
The story follows a young woman named Kai who dreams of being a warrior and who has been trained by her father. Her father remembers when his sisters were killed as children and were unable to defend themselves, so he allows her to train. Some question this but he runs the school. Kai's father also rose in his station by killing Gumiho, the nine-tailed fox demon, but others remember his more humble beginnings (think "new money" vs "old money").
Kai's mother was taken away as a child and brought far away work in the woods by men who are afraid of the fox demon, but know that she doesn't harm children. Kai's mother get sick and is discarded, but Gumiho rescues her. Years later, she betrays Gumiho after the fox demon raids towns now that the wards have been removed. Kai's father rescues her and kills Gumiho -- or at least believes that he did.
Kai's mother is barren, but Gumiho (who still lives) tells her that she can make it so that she can have one child, a girl. That girl, Kai, would become a fox maiden when she has her first moonblood.
Kai and her mother have to deal with this, neither wanting to worry the other. The secret gets out, and her father believes that Kai must've been killed years earlier and Gumiho took her place. He sets off to kill her again.
The story gets resolved but the ending is a bit rushed with a side character returning who was also in Kai's debt since she was a child. This one had a hard life and made bad choices, but they were the only choices she had.
Here is where the "queer" portion of the description of the book comes into play. Honestly, it just feels tacked on. I didn't find Kai any more "queer" than any other female heroine that didn't want to continue with the assigned gender roles of the time. Not until the two women get together at the end, at any rate. Nothing wrong with it, but I guess I just think that it could've been worked into the story better.
At any rate, I can't think of any other Korean stories I've read other than the following two: The Fox's Fire, by Danielle Ackley-McPhail (an American writer and my sometimes editor/publisher) contains a story with Gumiho in it, and I read a story about one man's escape from North Korea, which is an entirely different kind of story (and also nonfiction).
Next graphic novel, which I picked up at the same time, will be set in Australia. And I have more Book Club and Library Thing books to start.
If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. A fantastical foursome of flash fiction and short stories.
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