By Maureen Tai, 5 October 2023

You’d be forgiven for spotting the resemblance of the heroine in Suee and the Shadow (ages 10+) to the titular character in the hit Netflix series, Wednesday, except that the deliciously creepy graphic novel was published 5 years earlier. Suee says she’s a normal 12 year-old with (mostly) exemplary grades and sophisticated vocabulary but it quickly becomes clear that she’s different. Taciturn, opinionated, world-weary, a self-made loner who can’t wait for the end of her first semester in her new elementary school. But a strange voice lures Suee into a lonely exhibit room and before she knows it, she’s passed out after an encounter with a mysterious being, lurking in the dark. Is it a dream after all? To say anything more would be to spoil the story, but this well-paced, page-turner of a mystery/thriller/fantasy will captivate readers rooting for the complicated protagonist as she uncovers the truth about herself, her shadow and an ancient curse while making a few good friends along the way (and the good news is that there’s book 2!). One small gripe. You’d lose sight of the fact that the story is set in South Korea. Apart from the names of the characters, there are no other overtly Korean features in the illustrations: no Korean text on signs or food wrappers, no designs on the flags. Perhaps a deliberate artistic choice, or a publisher requirement, but it feels like a lost opportunity to visually showcase aspects of Korean culture, in particular the beloved Hangul. I’d love to see this revisited in future reprints (and there will be reprints, of that, I am fairly certain).

Ages 10 and up.