Red and her Grandmother are the only two humans left in their woods after the Rot encroached driving out all humans and animals, leaving just the Nawa, twisted undead creatures that mindlessly attack anything. As a witch Grandmother is charged with protecting the woods from the Rot and the Nawa it creates. To that end Red has been raised as a hunter bringing back the Nawa she finds in order for Grandmother to exorcise them and hopefully restore the land. One day while hunting Red stumbles across Sil in a bear trap, while she appears to be a Nawa she is a sentient creature and while Red knows she should tell Grandmother about her existence she does not, afraid that her new friend will be taken away. Weeks pass and as Sil grows stronger she tells him know tales about the deities who once ruled the Woods and the magic they bestowed upon all sentient creatures. Try as she might though Red is unable to use magic and when she dares to ask Grandmother about this she flies into a rage. As the only human who has ever loved her Red knows she shouldn't question Grandmother but as her behavior becomes more erratic and the stories Sil tells her departs further and further from Grandmother's, Red begins to question whether or not she is the savior or the doom of her land.
This was a wonderful retelling of Red Riding Hood, turning Grandmother into the bad guy was an absolute stroke of genius! Plus for a relatively short retelling Zong has created a fully realized world with myths and legends that help us to understand how Grandmother has fallen so far. And fall indeed she did, she is a twisted old woman who fearing becoming irrelevant slowly ensures that the only person Red has to rely on is her so no matter how contradictory her actions appear Red isn't able to see how wrong what she is doing as she simply has nothing else to compare it to. Sil is a wonderful character as well, finding herself in a similar situation she doubts every decision she makes as a Guardian Beast and to an extent uses Red as a crutch in order to not face her responsibilities. I think what I loved about this the most though is after Red discovers just how twisted Grandmother is she wastes no time in trying to make amends and we don't have a long drawn out reunion between her and Sil. Obviously as a graphic novel this couldn't stretch very far anyway but Zong could have made this portion of the story far more convoluted than it needed to be and I appreciate that they didn't.
Highly recommend this one! As a retelling it's unique and original. The art is gorgeous as well and it's a quick read to boot so it's perfect to slip between longer books!
As always thanks to NetGalley and Andrew McMeel Publishing for the eArc!
Expected pub date of 01/13/2016
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