Blog Tour Review: The Secret of the Fang by Michelle Lam

Hi friends, as part of the blog tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours I’m excited to share my thoughts on The Secret of the Fang (Meesh the Bad Demon #2) by Michelle Lam. You can check out my review for the first book in this graphic novel series here.

Click the banner above or here to check out the other incredible bloggers on the blog tour!

The Secret of the Fang (Meesh the Bad Demon #2)
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 23 July 2024
Genre: Middle-Grade Graphic Novel

Rating:

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📖 SYNOPSIS

Meesh the Bad Demon is no stranger to saving the world—but she never thought she’d have to do it twice! Can she defeat the darkness once and for all in this sequel of epic proportions?

When Meesh banded together with Fairy Princess Nouna to save the underworld, she never expected she’d have to… do it again someday. Though, as Meesh grows into her newly discovered destiny as the Guardian of the world, she figured there would be a few minor rescues, maybe some crime-fighting here or there.

But before long, her new friend Chai’s family is forced out of their home by an evil force who threatens to destroy all of fox-kind if they dare stay. Meesh suspects the same masked villain she faced before is behind all of this, but will she be able to stop them before it’s too late?

⚠️ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Xenophobia, forced displacement, violence, kidnapping/captivity

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TL;DR: The Secret of the Fang is book two in the middle-grade fantasy graphic novel series about a young demon who wants to succeed at doing good. I enjoyed this continuation of the story from book one and what the secret was about. While the story reaches a well-rounded ending, I do hope that we get to return to this world for more adventures with Meesh and her wonderful group of friends!

The running theme throughout this series is about believing in yourself and I loved how that’s further explored in this book, not just through Meesh’s character but through Nouna, Xavier and Chai. I adored this friendship group and how they support each other despite their marked differences. We see them all struggle with some form of insecurity and it is lovely to see them find their confidence as the story progresses. This group have come a long way, especially Xavier the ex-bully who’s now their bestie, and I found the friendships so wholesome. I loved seeing them all band together to save the day! 😍

Other issues Lam explores through this fantasy world in a very accessible way for young readers to understand are racism, bigotry and xenophobia. I love a complex villain and that’s what we get in this story. Lam delivers a character whose actions are unconscionable but their backstory is heartbreaking and will likely be relatable to many who have encountered prejudices and unjust actions simply for being born who they are. We all react and process trauma and fear in different ways but I liked how Lam presents the consequences of society’s past actions in the present day.

The artwork also needs to be praised because I loved it so much! I loved the contrasting colours of each city and how well they captured the vibe of each location and the citizens that live there. However, my favourite part about the artwork is the way the character’s emotions are so perfectly captured by Lam. You can read the range of emotions they experience on each character’s face—from excitement, anxiety, frustration, pride and joy—it was beautifully captured and made the story come alive for me.

Michelle Lam is a Los Angeles based story artist in the animation industry, a graphic novel author and illustrator, and cartoonist on social media. She assistant directed the CG animated series ONI: Thunder God’s Tale (Netflix / Tonko House), storyboarded and wrote for I Heart Arlo (Netflix), and storyboarded for Arlo the Alligator Boy (Netflix / Titmouse Animation) and Trash Truck (Netflix / Glen Keane Productions). Animation work aside, Michelle moonlights as an author and illustrator with her graphic novel series Meesh the Bad Demon (Penguin Random House Knopf), and creates autobiographical comics on her Instagram @mewTripled.

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