"Once upon a time. . .
A princess was cursed to live as a snail,
Two sisters were trapped by their father’s wrath,
And a mother and daughter faced a hungry giant.

No one is coming to save them.
Will they get their happily ever after?"

Clar Angkasa uses her own words and imagery to reimagine three folk tales from her childhood in Indonesia where the central female characters and provided with autonomy and vitality.

I adored all three equally, as well as the females who centred in them. Each was lightly infused with the fantastic but full of fierce hearts and brave spirits. I flew through the pages and, despite the limited wording, felt I got a good understanding for who each of the female characters were and rooted for them as if I had spent a full-length novel getting to know them and their various personalities.

A retelling on Indonesian fairy tales. All these stories are female centric and have beautiful drawings. It was really interesting reading folktales from areas of the world I'm not as familiar with!

Three feminist folktale retellings from Indonesia. Each story is beautifully illustrated and retold with such heart. I also loved that at the end it included the story that each retelling had come from. I just loved this so so much!!

Stories of the Islands is an illustrated collection of short stories based on island folk tales. It was a super enjoyable read, and I think it would be best suited for children. Each story had its own moral, and the stories were very unique(I had not heard of any of them before.

What I really liked about this graphic novel was the art style. It was colorful (would catch the eye of children for sure) but yet not too bright. The color palette was beautiful and the illustrations made me want to keep reading more. My favorite of the 3 folk talks was the middle one, "Bawang Merah and Bawang Putih". I felt this one was the most fleshed out, whereas the other 2 could have had a few more panels to explain things or make the ending more complete. However, I still enjoyed all 3 stories thoroughly! I highly recommend this graphic novel to anyone interested in folk tales, and I think the ideal age range is children, but even as an adult I sincerely enjoyed each story. They were all charming!

Thank you so much to netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.

5/5 stars

This story was lovely!!! Three stories about feminism and how girls can save themselves. The art for this graphic novel was so beautiful. It was really nice to learn more about Indonesia and their stories. Definitely would recommend.