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Raging Clouds

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In this period drama set in the 16th-century Netherlands, the unlikely pair of a proper Dutchwoman and her husband’s slave mistress collaborate on a scientific discovery that could free them from the bounds of patriarchal society. The print debut of Korean manga artist Yudori is a richly imagined, erotic, feminist graphic novel.

Amélie is a brilliant woman trapped in the restricting social mores of high Dutch society in the mid-16th century. Her marriage to Hans, a swashbuckling merchant, is a terrible match. While he charms the townsfolk, at home he is her intellectual inferior and treats her with cruelty and sexual violence. Expected to be a devoted housewife, Amélie can only be her true, free-spirited self when Hans travels away on business ― when she can explore the town alone, lose herself in literature, and study winged animals to learn about the mechanics of flight. She looks to the skies and dreams of flying far away. Her life changes when Hans returns from his journey with Sahara, a slave mistress from a distant land. The two women are drawn to each other ― each recognizing their confinement in a world dominated by men ― and work together to seek their freedom.

Told as a fiercely feminist story and spectacularly illustrated, Raging Cloud is the dazzling graphic novel debut of Korean comic book artist Yudori. In her lush manga style, Yudori imagines the period in rich detail with careful attention to settings and costumes, while evoking the cultural and societal standards of the time. She creates complex women characters who grapple with indignity over their social position, engage in lustful fantasies, and ultimately relish in seizing agency in their lives. Raging Clouds is a powerful story about the role of women in society, the reality of existing within a non-consensual relationship, and the struggle to push back against the boundaries these women have been boxed into.

364 pages, Hardcover

First published October 5, 2022

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703 people want to read

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Yudori

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews
Profile Image for khaz..
602 reviews37 followers
December 16, 2022
not gonna lie, I thought the two main characters would be lesbians. kinda disapointed it did not happened. I had a difficult time to connect with Amelie as well but I acknowledge that the characters are all pretty complex and nobody is flawless. It's also an interesting historical period - so really, it's just me who did not had the connection with the story.
Profile Image for Maia.
Author 32 books3,633 followers
October 2, 2025
A beautiful, bittersweet story about women trapped by their places in society, by capitalism and colonialism, and male violence. Amélie is the reluctant wife of a Dutch merchant who longs for the space and time to pursue her own intellectual interests. Her happiest moments are when her husband is away on long journeys. But then he comes home with a Korean slave, a mistress purchased in a foreign port. Amélie struggles with a mixture of jealousy, anger, and attraction towards the new woman in her household who barely speaks Dutch but seems happier with her lot than Amélie. Slowly, Amélie and the unnamed woman bond over a shared yearning towards an invention of freedom. The art of this comic is stunning, lush with details, historically accurate costumes and fabrics, and lingering looks at the naked body. I fell head over heels for the style and hope more of this author's work will be published in English soon!
Profile Image for Alba.
738 reviews11 followers
October 5, 2022
“Ciel pour conquête” est le premier roman graphique de Yudori, scénariste coréenne. Franchement, je suis éblouie, je viens de le lire d’un trait après avoir été attirée par son graphisme, à la fois extrêmement expressif et sensuel. Je vois rarement des dessins décrire avec autant de précision les expressions humaines, même sans besoin d’un seul mot.

L’histoire se déroule dans l’Hollande du XVIème siècle. Amélie, jeune fille chrétienne issue d’une famille noble mais sans un sous, a dû épouser Hans, jeune marchand. Yudori nous décrit dans les détails la routine d’Amélie, dans un pays où la maîtresse de la maison doit aider les servantes avec les tâches ménagères. Dans son temps libre, elle observe le monde, et en particulier les oiseaux ; elle lit beaucoup aussi, et considère son mari ignorant et pas du tout intéressant. Le paradis, pour elle, c’est son absence. On comprend vite à quel point l’autrice a dû se renseigner sur la vie à cette époque, car la quantité de détails ici est vraiment remarquable.

Un jour, Hans rentre d’un long voyage avec une esclave orientale qu’il aurait achetée à Lisbonne, et qui devient sa maîtresse. Cette jeune femme, beaucoup plus ronde et sensuelle qu’Amélie, est décrite comme une sirène, un mirage plus qu’un être charnel (jusqu’à la fin, on ne sait pas quel est son prénom). Au début, évidemment, Amélie la méprise, mais peu à peu elles commencent à parler, et une amitié se crée entre les deux femmes, toutes les deux arrachées à leur famille et leurs destins, dans une société où elles sont obligées à faire ce que les hommes leur disent.

Bien que j’aie aimé le côté féministe très marqué de cette œuvre, j’ai beaucoup apprécié le fait que les hommes ne sont pas tous que des méchants sans nuances, il y a de la profondeur psychologique et on voit bien comme, par exemple, Hans aime davantage les animaux que les gens, et se sent intellectuellement inférieur à sa femme … il a un côté très humain, très réel, comme tous les autres personnages, même les moins importants. Je dois aussi mentionner qu’il y a un petit chaton noir et blanc, ce qui aide toujours !

Je remercie de tout cœur Netgalley et le Editions Delcourt pour cette lecture que j’ai simplement adoré. J’ai hâte de découvrir la prochaine création de Yudori !
Profile Image for CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian.
1,362 reviews1,883 followers
October 16, 2025
Gorgeous artwork, super interesting story set in 16th century Netherlands featuring a Dutch and Korean woman who connect, in some ways, over shared experiences of sexism and misogyny. The cartoonist says she's a "lover of all things ambiguous and ambivalent" and that certainly shows in the characterization and investigation of themes like sex work, colonization, slavery, science, and marriage. Queer, but as in sapphic longing and binary blurring, not two ladies falling in love with an HEA.
Profile Image for Sara the Librarian.
844 reviews806 followers
July 17, 2025
This was a beautifully drawn enigma with a deeply unlikeable heroine who never really stopped being unlikeable for me though I'm torn because I certainly recognize her situation, a very smart, entirely subjugated woman in 16th century Netherlands, is largely what makes her so angry and thus unlikeable.

Amelie is a brilliant woman of noble birth who's been forced by her family's pennilessness to marry a prosperous, handsome merchant who she utterly abhors. He seems to be a bit of an idiot but its not until he returns from a trading voyage with a literal slave mistress that she becomes truly hateful to him. But a glimmer of hope appears as she begins to realize that she has more in common with Sahara, as her husband has named his slave, then she ever imagined.

Together they begin to construct a flying machine that, should it succeed, could mean their freedom.

Yudori's art work is simply impeccable, every character is infused with emotion. Amelie's rage at her situation in life practically radiates from her body and Sahara, drawn with soft, supple lines has a beautiful calm about her. The details of everyone's clothing were particularly delightful.

Alas I was left a little mystified, if not outright confused about what I was meant to take away from this one. The resolution of the story, the aftermath of a tragic and terrible accident, doesn't feel fully formed and while I don't mind a little ambiguity in my reading in this case it doesn't really work.

Absolutely worth it for the artwork alone but lighter on story than I would have liked.
Profile Image for Rod Brown.
7,347 reviews281 followers
September 9, 2025
UPDATE - September 9, 2025

A strong start and beautiful art carry the day even as the last half gets a little mired in changeable relationships and jealousies.

I really look forward to seeing what this talent does next.

Side note: Numerous references are made to the character Sahara having a scar. For the life of me, I cannot see what in the art might be considered a scar, just some occasional dirt or bruises. What am I missing?


PRELIMINARY REVIEW - July 5, 2025

Four-stars is my preliminary rating after reading a preview of the first third of this graphic novel. I am very anxious to read the whole book in the near future.

Set nearly 500 years ago in the Netherlands, the story follows Amelie Adelbert, née van Hoenbroek, an unhappy housewife who would prefer to be dissecting birds and bats to analyze their ability to fly rather than cooking and cleaning or sharing her husband's bed.

Already bitter and resentful, she really explodes when her husband brings back a most unwelcome surprise from his latest expedition abroad.


Disclosure: I received access to a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.com.
Profile Image for Po.
45 reviews1 follower
October 6, 2022
Waiting years to get Yudori’s work and this is astonishing, absolutely divine ! The quality of the story telling and drawing is marvelous, the characters are deep and complex, the work done on each page is precise, focused on details and dynamic ! I love that the characters are not caricatures of archetype but people with complex feelings, precise ideas and unique personalities.
Profile Image for Charlotte.
563 reviews32 followers
July 12, 2024
Très male gaze, cette histoire, malgré le message féministe sous-jacent
Profile Image for Elizabeth A.
2,151 reviews119 followers
November 9, 2025
The art in this graphic novel is really good and was the main draw (ha!) for me. Historical fiction set in 16th century Netherlands, the story is an interesting look at the life of a woman who feels stifled by her marriage. She's delighted when her husband leaves for a long trip, but not thrilled when he returns with a Korean slave mistress. I liked the themes explored but felt like I was on the outside looking in the entire time.
Profile Image for Peacegal.
11.7k reviews102 followers
September 8, 2025
RAGING CLOUDS is a stunningly-illustrated historical fiction graphic novel about Amélie, a young woman of the Dutch upper-class whose abusive marriage to the narcissistic Hans envelopes so much wrong with the repressive society in which she lives. Amélie dreams of flight and imagines building a great machine that will allow her to escape. One day, Hans brings home Sahara, an enslaved woman he has purchased at the market, an Amélie learns she may have more in common with the inscrutable woman than she had previously accepted.

Content notes:
As the description hints, this is not a light read. There are frank references to slavery, human trafficking, violence toward the disenfranchised and more. Readers should also be aware going in that pet abuse is also depicted in this book--upsetting content that other reviewers may not have brought up because they were focused on other graphic imagery.
Profile Image for Audrey Light And Smell.
941 reviews27 followers
November 6, 2022
Grand roman graphique dans tous les sens du terme, La conquête du ciel nous ouvre les portes sur une société hollandaise du milieu du seizième siècle rigoriste et austère, dans laquelle une jeune femme ne se sent guère à sa place. Quand on attend d’elle soumission et obéissance, elle pense observation, réflexion, liberté et conquête d’un ciel que les hommes n’ont pas encore réussi à s’approprier. Des hommes qui, en revanche, s’imposent et prennent ce dont ils ont envie, que ce soit des denrées dans un autre pays ou une esclave qui, contre toute attente, va mettre l’épouse de son maître sur la voie de la liberté. Parfois difficile par la réalité historique qu’il dépeint, ce livre apporte également son lot de lumière et offre aux lecteurs une belle histoire de sororité de laquelle on ressort touché et grandi. Belle, sombre et poignante à la fois, une quête de liberté sous fond d’une étonnante et pourtant émancipatrice amitié.

AVis complet sur le blog : https://lightandsmell.wordpress.com/2...
Profile Image for Tabitha.
381 reviews39 followers
July 13, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley and Fantagraphics Books for an arc of the first third of the comic... which I didn't realize would be the case when I requested and was left highly confused and then disappointed.

I was hoping for lesbians. I was hoping for more interpersonal conversations, I was hoping for just, well, more. It felt very surface-level so far.
Profile Image for Nicole.
3,611 reviews19 followers
September 24, 2025
2.5 stars...I didn't really care for this one. I found pretty much every character in this unlikeable...so it was hard to connect with anything or feel invested in this story. The storytelling also felt very disjointed to me and I wasn't able to lose myself in the story. Not one I would recommend.
Profile Image for Sharon.
1,774 reviews17 followers
October 13, 2025
Beautiful art, but not very engaging. The story of a brilliant but self-righteous woman trapped in a marriage she feels is beneath her, whose invention is stolen and social place is laughable, has great feminist overtones but gets lost. She's so unlikeable that it's hard to feel much sympathy. The Asian slave gets only surface -level development, the other house servants are also glossed over, and the cad of a husband has the most depth? The cover and blurb have little to do with the book, unfortunately a common problem, and the ending doesn't quite fit. Beautiful, detailed art doesn't quite save a fair -to-midling story.
Profile Image for Danni.
326 reviews16 followers
July 6, 2025
I really wanted to love this book. The feminist themes, the historical setting, and the emotional weight behind the story all had so much potential. And the art? Absolutely stunning. There’s no denying how much care went into the visuals and the atmosphere.

A little blurb about the book: Set in the 16th-century Netherlands, Raging Clouds tells the story of Amélie, a brilliant woman trapped in a suffocating marriage, and Sahara, a slave brought into her household from her husband’s trading voyage. As the two women connect through shared pain and unexpected understanding, they begin to imagine a different kind of future; one that defies the roles forced on them by patriarchy, colonization, and violence. It’s a lush, emotional graphic novel that explores womanhood, science, desire, and resistance.

But something about the execution just didn’t land for me. It felt a little too heavy-handed at times, like the message was more important than the characters. I wanted more nuance, more emotional buildup, and I think I expected a payoff that never really came. The ending especially left me feeling conflicted, like the story had built up all this tension and power but didn’t quite follow through. That said, I can still appreciate what the book was trying to do. I think some readers will connect with it more deeply than I did. For me, it was a beautiful but ultimately frustrating read. I’m glad I read it, but I didn’t love it.

3 ⭐️
Thank you Fantagraphics Books for my early copy.
Profile Image for Mallika Mahidhar.
156 reviews20 followers
July 15, 2025
Received this as an Advanced Reader's copy from NetGalley and Fantagraphics Books for an honest review. Technically, I have not completed the book as the ARC was only 120 pages.

The book revolves around a woman, Amelie, who has gotten married but does not enjoy the domesticity and complexity of a marriage. She would rather learn and explore things that women of her time were not allowed to. So when her husband leaves for a merchant trip, she explores subjects that she wants to, has a great time ignoring her inflicted duties, and worrying her house staff. Until her husband returns with another lover and she is lost with what her position is. However, Amelie talks to her one day and starts forming a relationship with her. This is the point where the ARC ended and I am really eager to read what comes next.

Profile Image for Mireya.
123 reviews1 follower
July 25, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley and Fantagraphics Books for the ARC copy of Raging Clouds. This has not affected my review at all, which are my own thoughts.
I should also say that I was lend a preview blad that only carried the first 130 pages of the graphic novel, so my review will only cover the part I was able to read and whether I would recommend it or not base in this (around) a third of the novel.

Amélie is a brilliant woman trapped in the restricting social expectations of high Dutch society (mid-16th century). Her marriage to Hans, a gallant merchant, was a terrible idea. Charming to townsfolk, he treats Amélie with cruelty at home. Expected to be a devoted housewife, Amélie finds true freedom, her time to be her free-spirited self, when Hans announces he's going away on business. Amélie looks to the skies, dreams of flying away from her miserable life, so she takes this found time to explore around on her own and study birds and any winged animal that might shown light to her questions.
But Hans returns, and not alone. His companion: a slave mistress woman called Sahara. At first, Amélie sees her as a rival, the enemy, but soon, they're drawn to each other, reflected in each other's misery, and they decide to work together to get to freedom.

What called me to this book from the start was the art style; Yudori is amazing, with a distinct style, some touches of realism but enough originality to be recognizable even if you don't know them at all. Second, it was the premise of Amélie's life; I'm no the biggest fan of historical fiction, I'll be honest, it is just a genre I don't normally partake in, but the cover, the art style and, ultimately, the promise of a story about two women making the best of their situation, finding each other at the precise moment they needed and how they would get read of impossible impositions, really called to me. And so here we are.

Now, when it comes to the story, this 130 pages cover that plot-description I gave you, of course, to introduce us to the characters and the world they inhabit, to immerse us in the story and leave us wanting more. And wanting more it left more, so much so that I'll most definitely will get me a copy to read it completely!

But, yeah, Amélie's character was compelling, even in her worst moments, being a complex woman and three rounded character. She longs for freedom and, hopefully, she'll get it. With her intelligence and willingness. Raging clouds is the story of a bold and clever woman with a vision that she'll accomplish no matter what, but it is also a social critique, a study of constriction, a commentary on restriction both social and impose. Amélie has still a lot to learn to be completely free.
In Sahara's part, she appears almost at the end of the preview blad, so I still don't have a full formed opinion of her, but for what little I saw, she looks as rich a character in personality and dreams as Amélie, and so I want to get to know her completely. Also, I loved how she clocked Amélie and her flying dream right from the start, these two are right for each other! (in my most humble opinion)

I may have only read a third, but I think I can say I recommend this one, like a lot of other people. Yudori definitely has a subtle but strong way of telling stories while bringing to the table important social commentary that we ought to keep alive for its relevance. I also had lots of fun reading it at times; what else can I ask from a book, really?
Profile Image for Irene ➰.
972 reviews89 followers
July 25, 2023
4/5

Got the chance to have this book signed thanks to my friends :')

This story is more to look at than read. In fact there's very little text but the drawings really speak for the entire story. It was a very fast yet immersive read.
An unfortunately common story for the past, but with a big heart and ambition.

I loved how the story was wrapped up and how the characters were developed throughout the narration. I felt a little goosebump when I close it.
Profile Image for Brumeraude.
60 reviews1 follower
November 26, 2024
Le gars a eu ce qu'il méritait.
À part la p'tite madame, tous les personnages m'ont énervés mdrrr
Profile Image for Rick Ray.
3,545 reviews36 followers
August 18, 2025
Raging Clouds is set in 16th Century Netherlands, where a bold and innovative inventor named Amélie is married off to Hans, a dim and simple man. Amélie's outspoken and liberated nature causes strife in her new home, where she shows open contempt towards her husband and is the subject of numerous scathing remarks from the household staff. Taking aim at the weight of patriarchal societal standards and limited spousal rights, Amélie tries to break the suffocating control of marriage by conducting her discoveries towards aeronautics in secret. Amélie soon gains more freedom from her husband's attentions when he brings home an exotic new slave, who Amélie herself soon begins to spark a fruitful relationship that fosters enlightened growth in both women.

Broadly feminist and progressive in nature, South Korean cartoonist Yudori instills upon the narrative a dense yet somehow airy sensibility to it. The artwork utilizes sharp, defined lines amidst sparse compositions, crafting a very character centered narrative. The emphasis on characters is very clear throughout, which does make it a bit of a slower read, though undeniably fulfilling by its conclusion.
Profile Image for Marianna Rainolter.
1,643 reviews23 followers
July 2, 2023
Recensione scritta per il sito NerdPool e che trovate qui sotto e al seguente link: https://www.nerdpool.it/2023/04/05/la...

Amelie è una donna olandese come tante. La sua nobile famiglia è decaduta e si è sposata con Hans, un ricco mercante che colleziona oggetti esotici dai suoi viaggi di lavoro. A lei però non è concesso avere qualcosa al di fuori dei suoi doveri coniugali, di badare alla casa e al marito. Eppure ha una passione per il cielo e il volo, a suo modo studia come gli uccelli si librano in aria, liberi. La sua vita tranquilla viene scombussolata da una schiava dai tratti orientali, comprata dal marito durante il suo ultimo viaggio all’estero. Dopo i mesi sereni passati in solitudine a fare quello che voleva il marito torna con una sorpresa per nulla gradita. La nuova schiava le crea problemi e preoccupazioni almeno fino a quando non si renderà conto che loro due sono più simili di quanto crede…

La conquista del cielo è un nuovo fumetto di Yudori che al pari di La scelta di Pandora racconta la condizione delle donne in un’epoca dove era difficile per loro esprimersi e vivere in libertà. Amelie si sente stretta della sua condizione, per quanto privilegiata essendo sposata con un mercante e avendo una bella casa, servitù, gioielli. Libera a differenza della schiava che arriva a casa sua e catalizza le attenzioni e l’affetto del marito.

Per questo Amelie è gelosa di lei e vorrebbe anche eliminarla. Inaspettatamente capisce che invece sono uguali e possono essere alleate nei progetti di Amelie sul volo. Un modo anche metaforico di volare via dalla loro situazione che le vede entrambe assoggettate ad Hans. Amelie vuole conoscere la schiava e questo la porta a vedere lati inaspettati del marito, la sua ingordigia, voglia di potere e soldi a scapito della sua intelligenza.

Al pari de La scelta di Pandora, anche La conquista del cielo è un’opera con molta attenzione alla Storia, all’ambiente in cui si muovono i personaggi sopratutto quelli femminili. La mentalità dell’epoca è ben esplorata anche dalle credenze religiose e scientifiche. La potenza però della storia di questo fumetto è anche la sua atemporalità e contemporaneità. La situazione di molte donne non è poi tanto lontana da quella di Amelie o delle altre protagoniste vittime dei desideri degli uomini. Lei deve sopportare il marito, non può avere il giusto riconoscimento per le sue idee, le sperimentazioni e studi fatti. E a indirizzarla verso questo un percorso di presa di coscienza è proprio una schiava, venuta da lontano, strappata alla sua terra e ai suoi affetti, alla sua felicità eppure libera e spontanea molto più di lei.

La conquista del cielo è un fumetto potente e molto ancorato alla realtà storica e non, con anche una fenomenale caratterizzazione dei personaggi variegati e diversi nell’aspetto e nel carattere. Forse il finale può non convincere perché poetico e misterioso anche se pieno di significato. In tutto ciò il disegno di Yudori è sempre meraviglioso, anche in questa versione in bianco e nero, con uno stile realistico e attento agli abiti e ai dettagli. Non ha paura di mostrare la realtà, scheletri o la nudità, necessaria alla narrazione e che da forza ai personaggi in particolare quelli femminili.

Proprio la forza femminile, il coraggio di volare via e di esprimere se stessi e le proprie passioni e capacità sono temi fondamentali dell’opera e, come detto in precedenza, ancora attuali e trattati con forza da un’autrice che non riesce a smettere di sorprenderci e colpirci con le sue storie diverse ma legate. Siamo già pronti a volare con lei ed esplorare altri cieli.

#gifted #recensionidigitali
Profile Image for Parlons peu parlons livre!.
43 reviews2 followers
April 14, 2023
☆☆☆☆,5/5!
Vraiment cette lecture était rapide et si poétique. C'était triste, frustrant, beau, satisfaisant et le tout avec que des belles morale et de la rage féminine bien montrée!

•Féminisme♀️
•Historique⚜️
•Études scientifiques🧬
•Feminine rage 💅

- Les dessins sont magnifiques ! Les émotions étaient je trouve très bien transmises et certains panels étaient même dures à voir a cause de l'exactitude des sentiments exprimés.

- La relation en Amélie et "Sahara" (c'est d'ailleurs très intéressant qu'on ne sache toujours pas son nom) était complexe et en même temps si logique. Deux génies féminine qui se rencontrent au seizième siècle, elles ne peuvent que se comprendre.

- La symbolique était aussi si belle dans les dessins. Tout était insinué, pouvait avoir un sens caché, une interprétation très propre à soi-même. Pour c'est vraiment une pépite niveau dessins!

- ATTENTION SPOILER:
Je trouve ça aussi intéressant que au final Amélie ne soit tout de même pas reconnue par le monde entier pour son génie, non seulement ça colle à son idée que la science est son paradis et qu'elle ne le partage pas mais aussi ça ajoute au texte féministe de l'œuvre, montrant bien la dureté de faire reconnaître l'œuvre d'une femme comme étant bien la sienne!

~
C'est une réussite pour moi! Une histoire magnifique et émouvante, j'ai adoré et je recommande absolument !
Profile Image for Farron.
67 reviews
December 13, 2025
The wife of a 16th century Dutch merchant leads a bleak existence and dreams of inventing a flying machine. When her husband brings home an Oriental slave (sic) from his travels, her life is upended. As she grows closer to this woman and begins to build prototypes, the miserable truths her life was built on begin to completely unravel.

This one was a difficult one, folks. It would be easy to write off Yudori’s vision here and reduce its ideas to problematic tropes. The blatant racism is expressed by the point-of-view character from the get-go, the imagery that takes an unflinching look at the material gains of Dutch colonialist expansion and the art and attitudes it enabled, the misogyny, the religious trauma, are all handled more or less as-is, without further editorializing. Some modern readers tend to struggle with problematic content that is presented this way, and frankly, the apparent lack of internal life of a sex worker woman of color doesn’t do the story many favors. If one views everything only in the language of harmful tropes and views those tropes as taboo that should never once be engaged with, this will be an easy story to dismiss as simply ugly and racist. To be clear, I am not the racism decider or anything, but I do think this work means to engage with troubling subjects with a lighter touch and trust toward its audience.

I actually think the biggest hurdle for a lot of readers will simply be that the main character is a very unlikable woman that readers are meant to sympathize with, especially given that she is just as guilty of objectifying the secondary character as anyone else is. Moreso, even. However, Yudori’s academic background is in the study of colonialism and sex work. Given the setting and the story, I think it is meant as a push against what it even means to be empowered through a historical fiction narrative. Is it more realistic to show a woman who has been trafficked away from everything she knows and loves as a secret girl boss capable of feats beyond an average woman, or will does she find her strength and happiness elsewhere? Would the white woman forced to share space with her always treat her with kindness or sympathy, or would she participate in kicking her, infantilizing her, romanticizing her? And when that white woman, Amelie, finally fights back in the most blatant way, because of threats to her own freedom and pride, does the story end well for her? Will anyone ever ask a slave’s real name, or are we forced to accept her only as “Sahara,” an innacurate name granted by her enslaver. Will anyoe ever ask “Sahara” what she wants, or believe her when she does say what she wants because it isn’t what anyone else might imagine for her?

It’s a lot to swallow. As an Indo (Dutch/Indonesian) who has tried to pry into their own background many times over the years, the history on display here was not particularly surprising, but I do believe its direct portrayal will shock many readers who think this is a more fantastical tale. I found this igniting anxieties and anger in my body that I often put away, and, frankly, this story does not offer much payoff and catharsis regarding those feelings at all. However, white artists (and to an extent, Japanese mangaka – more on that in a moment) are allowed to play on the playground of historical revisionism without offering any particular message beyond the personal story they are telling. Raging Clouds is the opposite of an empowering, transformative fantasy. It is beautiful, heartbreaking, and stifling.

Yudori’s illustrative style lends beauty to the story. It is one of unspoken yearning, clearly in conversation with the legacy of the Year 24 group and 1970s shoujo, its homoerotic inclinations, and its preoccupation with European settings. I quite enjoyed the methodology of using this style and its inherent fairy tale romanticism to push back on colonial and anti-feminist narrations.

Apparently Yudori has encountered some criticism over the subtleness of the queer content in Raging Clouds and its unhappy ending, but, as a genre piece I think it follows its conceits to the letter and actually has a far more uplifting ending than I would’ve expected, even if it is ultimately quite bittersweet. Decisions about the cover art and marketing were not solely up to Yudori, and I also think that we are hardly owed happy and uplifting endings from our art. I also think that Raging Clouds has bigger problems than that.

I wish that “Sahara” has been from part of what would have then been the Dutch East Indies rather than a Korean (or possibly an Okinawan?) suffering from Japanese expansion. I think I understand the motivation for the choice, given that Yudori is Korean, but, it was, frankly, painful to see these locations and colonist words for places and feel absent from this narrative as an Indo. We see casual, pervasive and historical antiblackness and Orientalism, yet in making its biggest victim in the narrative someone who seems to be a victim of circumstance it undercuts the seriousness of these things. While I understand no artist is under the strict obligation to serve as an educator, it brought to mind to me how often I’ve had to serve as my own educator on the matter. Even other Asian Americans rarely know or understand much about my ethnic background or situation. It is not even real in this story about the Netherlands, where the city my mother was born in is name-dropped by the name the Dutch gave it.

I try my very best to take works as-is and engage with the decisions an artist and writer make as presented, and Yudori is not responsible for the West’s complete ignorance on the matter. While “Sahara’s” origins may be somewhat selfsame to the Dutch gaze that observes her, I’m sure we can all agree that where someone comes from does make a difference. The decision rubs me the wrong way. Perhaps I don’t know enough about the relationship between the Netherlands and Korea compared to elsewhere. Perhaps there is some point in making “Sahara” a character so completely outside of more complicated legacies. Or perhaps this is just a somewhat narratively incoherent decision that brings the whole story down.

I like a lot of what I think this story was trying to say, particularly from a feminist perspective, but I’m just not sure it pushed the boat out far enough. It reminds me a bit too much of how indulgently I’ll say that my white friends who grew up in conservative Christian households in ethnically homogeneous places have it worse than me in so many respects. I am, perhaps, sympathizing too much with the suffering of others, too aware of the limitations of the culture that harms everything it touches. There’s a strength in doing that, but, I often catch myself glossing my own pain by comparison, that I am open-minded and flexible and capable of difficult questions because there was never any moment in my life that I could have stopped being those things. It’s a given that I’ll endure that, for I’m simply built differently. But what I built differently or was I made to be different? This is a question I think is trying to be answered in “Sahara,” but I’m not sure the work ever truly contends with this, as she is constantly only seen through Amelie’s eyes.

In the end, I think that this is a visually beautiful work with some interesting cultural critiques that might have done better to dig more even more deeply into the history it presents.
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September 15, 2022
Ce roman graphique nous plonge dans l’histoire d’Amélie, cette jeune femme qui – comme toute femme de l’époque – est vouée à être uniquement une bonne maîtresse de maison. Pourtant, Amélie a un rêve : celui de toucher le ciel en s’envolant. Alors qu’elle profite d’un voyage de son mari pour tenter de réaliser son rêve, elle va vite déchanter en le voyant revenir avec une esclave qui n’est nulle autre que sa maîtresse.

J’avoue avoir eu un peu de mal à percevoir le sens de toute l’histoire. Tout me paraissait un peu fouillis et un peu décousu. Les deux femmes s’opposent puis se rapprochent puis s’opposent à nouveau. On comprend assez bien que l’autrice a voulu montrer la condition des femmes de l’époque et dénoncer le fait que les hommes avaient tendance à voler les inventions des femmes mais à part ça, je n’ai pas trop compris le lien entre les personnages et leurs véritables intentions.

Je ne pourrais pas dire que c’est un flop mais en tout cas, j’ai eu du mal à complètement adhérer à l’histoire
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