Language: G (3 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG (a few tense situations, e.g. a guard hurt in div attack, brief div possession, self-inflicted knife wound, and siblings fighting the div)
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: SOME
17 yo Katah wants to make life easier for his dying mother, but he is useless in the kitchen, and feels like an outsider in his family of chefs. However, he does have magical visions that lead him to Az, a mysterious div (demons from Persian folklore). To save their dying mother, Katah and his siblings make a risky deal with Az, who is somehow linked to their family’s past. As you can imagine, a deal with a demon never goes smoothly.
I struggled getting into this graphic novel initially. The Persian and Armenian influences in the language, the food, clothing, and architecture depicted was just so different from anything I had a reference for, and the fantasy elements were also very unfamiliar, which makes me think it will have a somewhat limited appeal to the average reader. Eventually I did get wrapped up in the story, Katah's coming-of-age arc, and of course, I was in tears by the end of the book. It's a sumptuously illustrated, fantastical story about loss, food culture, and family dynamics. It could be an excellent text for visual analysis or in comparison to other folklore-adjacent stories.
Diversity note: The story takes place in a fantasy realm of Pars, but the author noted the Armenian and Persian influences on the story, so the characters look and dress Middle Eastern.
Reviewer: Kiera Beddes, ELA teacher, #bookswithbeddes
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