Mooncakes

Author: Suzanne Walker

Illustrator: Wendy Xu

Rating: 2/5

Nova Huang is a witch who works at her grandmothers’ bookshop. One night, she finds her childhood crush Tam Lang, a werewolf, fighting a demon horse and things take off from there.

Spoilers ahead.

Detailed Summary

Nova works in her grandmothers’ shop (they’re all witches). She runs into Tam Lang one night (after hearing word of a wolf) and they’re reunited. Nova had a childhood crush on Tam (they/them) when they were younger. They start kissing and stuff. Tam tells Nova about this demon that’s being summoned. Tam has run away from her stepfather who was part of a cult. Nova also has a tough relationship with her parents who both died and are ghosts. They wanted her to go somewhere far because witches usually travel elsewhere. The grandmothers trap the demon in a cage. Another witch in the neighbourhood sets the demon free and kidnaps Tam. Tam uses their werewolf magic to calm the demon spirit down (after they’ve merged) and sets it free. The book ends with Nova and Tam planning to leave the town.

Review

Mooncakes was a cute graphic novel with magic and a lot of fluff. Plus the artwork is STUNNING. However, the romance happened SO fast and I kept feeling like there was a volume one somewhere that I hadn’t yet read. There’s a lot of implied backstory, especially about the relationship between Nova and Tam, and what happened to Nova’s parents. It kind of ruined the experience for me because I kept having to flip back and double-check whether I had missed something. The plot was fairly straightforward and I knew who the antagonist was from the moment she entered the panel. The representation in the book was nice to see and have I mentioned the artwork??? All in all, however, I can’t help feeling disappointed. Oh well.