I enjoyed the variety of stories and the artstyle of the different artists that contributed to this book. The modern twist was fun but I can't help but feel like a few of them had an "American humor" vibe. Nevertheless the comics were really cute.

A fun graphic anthology of folktales (most are little known) from Asia. I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to fan of myths and legends.

This was so fun to read! I really loved these short stories and how diverse it was. I loved the cute themes and the drawings were fun to look at. It was simple yet still very entertaining and fast to read. I loved that each story was set in a different part of the world and had different aspects of the culture in them. This is definitely a fun read I would recommend to anyone!

I really enjoyed this book of folk stories and fairy tales. The book captures cultural stories that aren't shared often in a way that teens can not just understand but relate to.

A fantastic collection of reimagined folktales and myths complete with a variety of different art styles and techniques that perfectly compliment the mood and genres of the individual tales.

A great graphic anthology of stories from Asia. It is a good addition to works on mythology and a great introduction for middle grade readers to stories they may not have heard. It will serve well as an entertain book or as the start of further interest in the area. There is a lot of variety in both the stories and the art styles so if one does not like what they are reading they may love what comes next. The only downside to the book is being published in black and white. I know it saves a lot for the printing but I feel that, as with the variation of art, various color styles could have contributed well to the stories.

We get explorations of European folk tales far more often than we do of eastern cultures. Probably because the religions and culture differ so much from what is familiar to an American audience. Demons, gods, and yokai, as presented in these stories are far different from the beings as we know them. There's less good and evil , more complexity and negative traits. Bad behavior rather than bad characters. These stories represent a wide variety of characters and styles, so there's something for everyone.

This book is a cool way to retell some lesser known Asian myths and fables through a graphic novel.
I really liked that I didn't know any of these stories, so it was a whole new experience! Since each story is a written by a different author and has their own illustrator the art and narration varies a lot. Most of the stories are beautfil with only a few being subpar.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I would definitely recommend it if you're fan of folk tales and legends.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review.

Thank you to Letter Better Publishing Services/Iron Circus Comics for a digital edition of ‘Tamamo the Fox Maiden and Other Asian Stories’ edited by Kel McDonald and Kate Ashwin in exchange for an honest review.

This graphic novel is the second in Iron Circus Comics’ Cautionary Fables & Fairy Tales anthology series featuring the work of a number of creators and their interpretations of myths and stories from the Asian continent including some lesser known ones.

Aimed at children (likely older ones given that some of the tales are a bit frightening) it’s the kind of collection that I feel will appeal to anyone interested in exploring mythologies, fairy tales and folklore linked to this region of the world.

The 21 stories feature a variety of artistic styles and are a delight. Some very amusing, others cautionary, a few horror stories and tales of love and loss. I adored the comic tale of Makara, who has acquired a mobile phone and Twitter account and goes on a trip up the Ganges. There was of course the poignant story of Tamamo the fox Maiden, and the tale of Gold Sister, Silver Sister and Wood Sister from Tibet. Animals, ghosts, and demons feature in many.

The interior art is in black and white. As with any anthology there were stories that I loved and a few that I had a more lukewarm response to - though overall I enjoyed it very much. It’s quite interesting how certain themes are universal no matter the country of origin.

Certainly highly recommended.

A collection of adapted folktales and fairytales from all over Asia. The stories range from humorous to light horror, and fantastical to realistic. All are just a few pages long and illustrated in black and white.

Most story collections are quite the mixed bag, but I felt like this collection was aimed at a consistent audience and were all well-written and superbly illustrated. I definitely liked certain stories more than others. My favorites were “The Lucky Teapot” from Japan, and the unexpected “Ghost Pepper” story from Laos. Both of those were some of the more humorous stories in the collection (as a whole, the stories start out lighter and more humorous and get more serious towards the end…it gradually transitions the tone as you go). I liked the range of locations that the stories came from (the origin is listed in the table of contents next to the title). Most of the stories are from China, Japan, and India, but there are also stories from places like Laos, Georgia, Myanmar, and Tibet. Normally I am a little bit more hesitant to buy black and white graphic novels because they aren’t as popular with our students, but I totally forgot this book was lacking anything in the illustrations. It was lively enough without the color, and I think this will be a pretty popular book with our teens (especially as most of them are of Asian heritage). Some middle graders will be fine with this collection and some may find a few of the later stories too creepy, so know the middle grader you hand this to (see content notes). Recommended for Asian folklore/fairytale fans, and graphic novel short story collection fans.

Notes on content [based on the ARC]: No language issues. No sexual content beyond a kiss. A few of the stories involve battles and some wounds/deaths on page. (Some of the most memorable were a tongue cut out of a bird, a throat slit, an arrow wound, and an ear torn off.) One story involves a boat full of skeletons. A few of the stories involve ghosts/spirits, but only three of those stories are creepy/evil and they were presented more as tales of injustice or meanness that will likely anger readers than creep them out but some may find them creepy.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is beautiful, with wonderful and humorous stories, but I have one issue. In a book of Asian folktales, I would have liked to see a great proportion of the stories written and drawn by Asian authors and artists. It seems like a pretty big drawback and an opportunity missed for the publisher.

"Tamamo the Fox Maiden" is a fun Young Adult graphic novel. I'll definitely be recommending this one to some of our younger patrons.

Beautifully diverse and dynamic, this collection is packed full of lesser-known myths and legends from Tibet, India, Indonesia, and beyond, each told by a different author and illustrator. Some richly traditional, others with a contemporary twist, these 21 stories have been creatively revitalised through a new, fresh lens perfect for middle grade children.

Easy to understand and unexpectedly funny, readers will get lost in worlds of vengeful spirits, flying ogres, helpful teapots, ghost pepper ghosts, and trickster tigers whilst learning some important messages along the way.

I eagerly raced through each story and then immediately re-read the collection again, this time fully admiring the beautifully intricate and unique black and white illustrations. I'll definitely be reading The Girl Who Married a Skull and Other African Stories and all the other books to come from this brilliant series!

The images and text unfortunately did not come through in this download. I am more than happy to review a hard copy of this book.

I do love fables and folktales and whatnot, so of course I wanted to try this! Especially I was interested in the fact that these are Asian stories and those not so familiar one (although some were). The comic consists of different tales by different comic book makers, which was nice. Gladly the stories were in harmony with each other and similar in a good way. Otherwise this would've been a mess perhaps. My only complaint is that I would've wanted to know more about the original tales, their background and whether these stories differ from them and how. Some kind of a list would've been great and info boxes too at the back. The world's big stories or so to say do seem similar and here you can find Noah in a sense and others too. It would be interesting to know where these known stories were born and why do they differ, though I know it's not easy and perhaps not relevant to the comic (who knows).

I wish Tamamo and the Fox Maiden and Other Asian Stories was in color, since black and white eats away some of the reading pleasure. The art work in itself works and looks nice and I'm glad it doesn't look like manga. The same with the lack of info boxes, it was hard to place the stories anywhere, since they tend to look generic in a way and perhaps slightly naive. Still, this is a great comic and a nice (although not too deep) dive into the world of Asian fables and folktales. I just wish this would've looked a little more Asian.

This was absolutely hilarious and entertaining. I can't even say which one of the tales I enjoyed the most. They were all great and the different art styles fantastic. What would make this edition even better would be a full colored edition. I so wished this wouldn't only be in black and white!
I can recommend this to absolutely anybody.

Thank you so much Netgalley. What a treasure!

!!!! I didn't know how much I needed this !!!

Beautiful, original stories and many of which I never heard of but desperately fell in love with.

I love folklore and tales and especially ones from other places. This made me feel full and happy and ughh I loved it. All of it. But again, especially the art. They were all different for each story too.

High recommend.

* reviewed from uncorrected e-galley

diverse children's middlegrade graphic novel (Asian stories from various cultures retold by different graphic artists)
terrific collection of stories from a wide selection of Asian cultures, for grades 4th and up (they would entertain teens and adults, as well, but are PG). The only thing I was disappointed with was the western looks (long, light-colored hair) of the wife in "The Frog Skin" story, that seemed like an odd element of cultural white-washing that didn't need to be there. Other than that, I really enjoyed this high-quality compilation of diverse stories reimagined by different, acclaimed graphic novelists (some of them with Asian backgrounds) with different drawing and storytelling styles.

'Tamamo the Fox Maiden and Other Asian Stories' edited by Kel McDonald is a treasury of stories told in graphic novel form.

In the 21 stories told from all regions of Asia, the stories have a series of magical animals, crafty gods, and enchanted objects. From a lucky teapot that is actually a disguised Tanuki to a story of the great flood. The real story (or one of them) of Mulan makes an appearance. One of my favorites was called 'Frog Skin' and it's a nice variant of 'The Frog Prince.'

I really had a lot of fun reading this collection of fables and stories. The art is pretty consistently good throughout. Sometimes with a collection like this there are stronger stories than others. Here they seem to be consistently good.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Iron Circus Comics, Letter Better Publishing Services, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

I appreciate how this one finally gives some disclosure about the intended target audience! I had thought they were for around middle grade age but then some content would catch me and I'd second guess myself, so it was nice to know that these are indeed intended for that age group. In saying that, it can be enjoyed by all. Reading this volume in particular made me recall how much I enjoy fables with animals (although it has made me realise how much, not just these fables but ones across the world, there is this weird relationships with ghosts and or animals). Hopefully the modern take of these older stories will inspire an appreciation of animals amoung youngsters as well as teach them morals and enterain them.
Another thing I liked about this particular volume is that it just felt more put together and like the creators had a better, mroe direct idea of where they wanted these books to go in terms of entertainment, level of education (morals, understanding, etc) and the layout was really good (e.g.clear title that the story is adapted from.)

Also, interesting that the finished copy is in black and white, I feel like collections like this would really beenfit from at least a little colour, especially being aimed at a younger audience, I would feel it would engage them more, however I totally understand that with the ink the cost of the finish product would more than likely have to rise as it would be more expensive to produce.

The great flood story's art style sort of reminded me of Steven Universe. Urashima Taro was a confusing tale because I found it unfair that he ended up how he did because he was never told of the consequences of being down in the sea and for children, I believe they would pick this out and argue against it, as I did in my mind. However, I guess it teaches that life isn't fair. It is also interesting to see how the same tales are told differently in each culture. for e.g, I'm pretty sure in the african edition there was also a story about whether an animal (aligator) should eat the person who saved him, asking three beings for their judgement. The same tale was told here but with different living things. It's fascinating how the world is connected by fables etc
I didn't really understand Tamamo the fox maiden. I was hoping to get more out of it as Kitsunes really interest me, but I felt it was too condensed and we ended up missing a lot of info.

Overall, despite some of the tales being confusing, I think this was probably my favourite of the collections. I love the idea of presenting different fables from different cultures in a fun, graphic novel way, to hopefully engage that younger audience. This is a book I'd be happy to own myself!