Red and the Wolves - Cherry Zong - ★★★

AUTHOR: Cherry Zong

GENRE: Graphic Novel

PUBLICATION DATE: January 13, 2026

RATING: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: An upper-YA graphic novel loosely derived from the fairytale of "Little Red Riding Hood." Not a retelling. Decent story but too meandering. Interesting characters, but not everyone is explored well. A good read, but could have been shorter and better.

Plot Preview:

Nineteen-year-old Red, a skilled hunter, has devoted her entire life to helping her grandmother, a witch trying to save the forest they live in from a strange rot that keeps spreading despite their efforts. Red's task is to locate the creatures known as ‘nawa’, kill them, and take their bodies to her grandmother for exorcism and deliverance. With no other humans still living in the forest, Red is quite lonely. But one day, she bumps into an injured wolf-girl named Sil. As the two of them move towards a hesitant friendship, Red uncovers some dark secrets about everything she's known.

I'm not that fond of apocalyptic stories (Who wants to read dystopia/apocalypse narratives when we are living in one!? 🥴), but I'm partial towards fairytale retellings. As such, when I saw the title of this graphic novel and the cover art, I jumped at it. I don't regret the read, but I can't help feeling that it could have been tightened into something memorable.

The blurb uses two interesting phrases in its description: "apocalyptic fantasy" and "dark sapphic retelling". But the actual book doesn't do justice to these five terms.

Apocalyptic: This is the only word that is accurate for the book. The forest where Red lives is the perfect setting for this story, with its trees more brown than green.

Fantasy: The book has several fantastical characters and scenes, but somehow, these fall flat. Certain processes are left vague, certain entities are highly underutilised, certain magic remains unclarified. There was tremendous potential to make the fantasy impactful, but it's not realised. I would have loved to know more about the magic.

Dark: Fairly indicative of the content, thanks both to the 'rot' in the forest and the darkness of certain actions taken by the characters. At the same time, it's not scary dark even though it tries to be. The overall feel is more cozy, with the dark scenes being minimal in development. There's a lot of darkness left unsaid, which doesn't help matters. I might have assumed that this is aimed at middle-graders, but some profanity (totally unnecessary) and bloodshed puts the book in upper-YA and adult category.

Sapphic: Not justified as a label. While there's a scene showing the blooming relationship between Red and Sil, this is almost at the end of the book. The rest of the story shows them interacting, but none of the scenes are romantic. Their friendship feels platonic almost throughout, until the sudden jump in direction. Worse, I couldn't really see any chemistry between them. They were good as friends, nothing more. Finally, the ending doesn’t really suit a ‘love story’.

Retelling: The only thing this story has in common in the original fairytale is the key characters (Young girl, wolf, grandmother) and the location (forest.) The plot is independent of any fairytale influence. So if you are looking for a traditional retelling, this doesn't work.

As it feels almost like a fresh work, it takes some time to understand where the story is going. Though linear, it is pretty slow with the first half focused on the same thoughts. All the major reveals come only later. There is also a lot of secret-keeping and a fair amount of miscommunication, both of which were slightly annoying. The overall pacing is too slow.

The artwork matches the dark mood well, with the colour scheme being primarily in warm earth colours such as brown and rust.

Overall, while the story was decent enough, it didn't create that high an impact on me. The proceedings were too slow and the characters, too underdeveloped. I did like the wolves and wish the story had done better justice to them.

Recommended to older YAs and adults. At 368 pages, this graphic novel is quite chonky. It might be worth a borrow from libraries, but not more.

My thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing the DRC of “Red and the Wolves”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.