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The Loom Tree
Ninth House
meets
Babel
for fans of myth and folklore in this contemporary fantasy about a Korean-American college student at a magical university where fairy tales intersect with family heritage to unleash powers beyond imagining.
“You always wanted magic to be real.”
Sharon and her daughter V’s points of origin hold common threads—both Korean American teenagers, raised by single mothers and searching for identity in the California suburbs. But during a finals week celebration, high schooler V, compelled by strange impulses, crawls into a hollow tree trunk. That night in a fever haze, she sees gleaming strands of illegible text hovering over her body—flowing between her and her mother, leading to a long-forgotten diary.
With the aid of a luminous quill, a fountainhead of Sharon’s memories spill onto the faded pages. V witnesses her mother map out her past through drawings, diagrams, and reclaimed histories of her brief time at Alvsdahl, an exclusive East Coast college. Here, legacies and heiresses claimed descent from Bluebeard or Cinderella, grappling for control over family stories that could grant them terrifying abilities or burn them to ash. An Asian girl with an unknown inheritance was no one—until her discoveries cracked open Alvsdahl’s secrets.
Sharon’s rewritten narrative—of classroom rivalries, animal professors, debauchery in the woods, threatening Godmothers, and world-shattering powers—unfolds line by line as V desperately tries to help her mother, ultimately learning how to wield Sharon’s story to transform them both.
Lyrical and tender, Angela Mi Young Hur’s The Loom Tree is a magical campus novel centering two young women walking the thorny path toward adulthood, the fractures between parents and their children, and the global mythologies connecting us all.
“You always wanted magic to be real.”
Sharon and her daughter V’s points of origin hold common threads—both Korean American teenagers, raised by single mothers and searching for identity in the California suburbs. But during a finals week celebration, high schooler V, compelled by strange impulses, crawls into a hollow tree trunk. That night in a fever haze, she sees gleaming strands of illegible text hovering over her body—flowing between her and her mother, leading to a long-forgotten diary.
With the aid of a luminous quill, a fountainhead of Sharon’s memories spill onto the faded pages. V witnesses her mother map out her past through drawings, diagrams, and reclaimed histories of her brief time at Alvsdahl, an exclusive East Coast college. Here, legacies and heiresses claimed descent from Bluebeard or Cinderella, grappling for control over family stories that could grant them terrifying abilities or burn them to ash. An Asian girl with an unknown inheritance was no one—until her discoveries cracked open Alvsdahl’s secrets.
Sharon’s rewritten narrative—of classroom rivalries, animal professors, debauchery in the woods, threatening Godmothers, and world-shattering powers—unfolds line by line as V desperately tries to help her mother, ultimately learning how to wield Sharon’s story to transform them both.
Lyrical and tender, Angela Mi Young Hur’s The Loom Tree is a magical campus novel centering two young women walking the thorny path toward adulthood, the fractures between parents and their children, and the global mythologies connecting us all.
Audible Audio
First published June 30, 2026
About the author
Angela Mi Young Hur
3 books124 followersAngela Hur received a BA in English from Harvard and an MFA in Creative Writing from Notre Dame, where she won the Sparks Fellowship and Sparks Prize.
Folklorn was included in The New York Times Book Review’s Top 10 Sci-fi/Fantasy of ‘21 and NPR’s Books We Love. Also featured in Newsweek, The Boston Globe, LitHub & elsewhere. The novel was also optioned by AMC TV Networks for series development. (Now no longer, but what a ride!)
Before publication, Folklorn was chosen by Kelly Link for a Tin House novel mentorship through the Tin House Summer Workshop.
Hur has taught English Lit & Creative Writing at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, in Seoul, Korea. She’s also taught for Writopia, a non-profit providing creative writing workshops for children & teens.
(*note: The Queens of K-Town was published by MacAdam/Cage in ‘07, but she wrote it in 3 months and it definitely shows. She doesn’t get royalties. It was like her demo tape, so Folklorn is her true debut.)
bluesky: @angelahur.bsky.social
insta: @angela.miyoung.hur
Folklorn was included in The New York Times Book Review’s Top 10 Sci-fi/Fantasy of ‘21 and NPR’s Books We Love. Also featured in Newsweek, The Boston Globe, LitHub & elsewhere. The novel was also optioned by AMC TV Networks for series development. (Now no longer, but what a ride!)
Before publication, Folklorn was chosen by Kelly Link for a Tin House novel mentorship through the Tin House Summer Workshop.
Hur has taught English Lit & Creative Writing at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, in Seoul, Korea. She’s also taught for Writopia, a non-profit providing creative writing workshops for children & teens.
(*note: The Queens of K-Town was published by MacAdam/Cage in ‘07, but she wrote it in 3 months and it definitely shows. She doesn’t get royalties. It was like her demo tape, so Folklorn is her true debut.)
bluesky: @angelahur.bsky.social
insta: @angela.miyoung.hur
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
Did Not Finish
May 6, 2026DNF @ 67%
It's giving literary Gossip Girl meets reincarnated fairy tale characters, with a Matrix subplot. I'm not sure where the Babel comp came from, but there was a little bit of Ninth House if you squint.
Usually, it's hard for me to say no to all of the above, but this didn't work out for me. I actually liked the first smaller portion of the novel before Sharon started attending Alvsdahl because it felt like a coming of age novel with snarky and witty writing.
But when Sharon got a ride to the college with a couple of other students, it pretty much lost me because it turned into a lit fic-esque Gossip Girl with such pedantic characters that I just couldn't find it in me to care for anyone. Other than V and Sharon, none of the characters felt developed to me. They felt more like figments of Sharon's imagination than fully realized characters.
Ngl, the scene where Sharon's professor turned into a giant frog was my favorite. Sadly, there wasn't enough magical fairy tale-like moments to sustain my interest. They seemed to happen off-screen.
Also, there were a lot of one-sided conversations/monologues where a reborn fairy tale character would infodump the worldbuilding or their backstory/history to Sharon. This didn't really make for an exciting read.
Thank you to Erewhon Books and NetGalley for this arc.
It's giving literary Gossip Girl meets reincarnated fairy tale characters, with a Matrix subplot. I'm not sure where the Babel comp came from, but there was a little bit of Ninth House if you squint.
Usually, it's hard for me to say no to all of the above, but this didn't work out for me. I actually liked the first smaller portion of the novel before Sharon started attending Alvsdahl because it felt like a coming of age novel with snarky and witty writing.
But when Sharon got a ride to the college with a couple of other students, it pretty much lost me because it turned into a lit fic-esque Gossip Girl with such pedantic characters that I just couldn't find it in me to care for anyone. Other than V and Sharon, none of the characters felt developed to me. They felt more like figments of Sharon's imagination than fully realized characters.
Ngl, the scene where Sharon's professor turned into a giant frog was my favorite. Sadly, there wasn't enough magical fairy tale-like moments to sustain my interest. They seemed to happen off-screen.
Also, there were a lot of one-sided conversations/monologues where a reborn fairy tale character would infodump the worldbuilding or their backstory/history to Sharon. This didn't really make for an exciting read.
Thank you to Erewhon Books and NetGalley for this arc.
Read
February 5, 2026An adult literary fantasy written for all of us children of fairy tales, about preserving our stories and histories and passing them on, defying those who seek to deny, diminish or erase us.
My take on “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” and Ungnyeo the Bear Woman of Korean origin myth, set on a college campus and stretching across a dual timeline between a mother and a daughter. Also featuring a moody musician son of Bluebeard, a fragile daughter of a lesser Cinderella, and many other borderless, cross-cultural figures of fairy tale, folklore, and proto-myth spanning continents.
A love letter to the study of interdisciplinary liberal arts and to coming-of-age narratives of adolescence and motherhood, full of mythic and pop-cultural archetypes and identity-cultivation through music, literature, film, fashion, infatuation and desire.
My take on “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” and Ungnyeo the Bear Woman of Korean origin myth, set on a college campus and stretching across a dual timeline between a mother and a daughter. Also featuring a moody musician son of Bluebeard, a fragile daughter of a lesser Cinderella, and many other borderless, cross-cultural figures of fairy tale, folklore, and proto-myth spanning continents.
A love letter to the study of interdisciplinary liberal arts and to coming-of-age narratives of adolescence and motherhood, full of mythic and pop-cultural archetypes and identity-cultivation through music, literature, film, fashion, infatuation and desire.
April 25, 2026
"Local history matters too."
Legends always have some root in history, no matter how mystical or fantastical.
Living in Oklahoma, I've been aware of many different Native stories, some of which factor into this book.
Blending tribal mythology, childhood fairy tales, and Korean folklore, the author has created a truly original story. The magic finds V in a redwood tree and among the pages of her mom's fading magic journal, pushing her out of her comfort zone into a wealth of magic she never knew existed, leading to the core of all things, embroidered in a giant wooden hoop.
This book was honestly a perfect storm for me. And Zella, the Librarian Archivist, is my favorite character. (You'll see.)
"There's only so much continual fraying until we all come undone."
Legends always have some root in history, no matter how mystical or fantastical.
Living in Oklahoma, I've been aware of many different Native stories, some of which factor into this book.
Blending tribal mythology, childhood fairy tales, and Korean folklore, the author has created a truly original story. The magic finds V in a redwood tree and among the pages of her mom's fading magic journal, pushing her out of her comfort zone into a wealth of magic she never knew existed, leading to the core of all things, embroidered in a giant wooden hoop.
This book was honestly a perfect storm for me. And Zella, the Librarian Archivist, is my favorite character. (You'll see.)
"There's only so much continual fraying until we all come undone."
Did Not Finish
March 29, 2026Not the right book for me, unfortunately. As a British-descended New Zealander, I'm pretty far from being Korean American, which doesn't mean I don't very much enjoy books by Korean Americans sometimes. It's hit or miss, though, and this one was a miss.
Not so much because of the Koreanness, though. There were two reasons I didn't love it. One was that many of the characters are manifestations of folk tales, and it's not always clear (to someone who doesn't know all of the folktales really well) which ones, and so I felt like I was always missing essential context and whole scenes of dialog would make very little sense. I could figure out the untranslated Korean, at least in general, most of the time, but the folklore part only occasionally.
The other reason, which is more personal to me, is that at least as far as I read, the characters are all more or less damaged and alienated and also not great people, not kind or generous or warm or forgiving or supportive, which are the kind of people (real and fictional) I like to spend time with. So I took a break to see if I wanted to go back, and discovered that I didn't.
Well written, well edited, just not to my taste.
Not so much because of the Koreanness, though. There were two reasons I didn't love it. One was that many of the characters are manifestations of folk tales, and it's not always clear (to someone who doesn't know all of the folktales really well) which ones, and so I felt like I was always missing essential context and whole scenes of dialog would make very little sense. I could figure out the untranslated Korean, at least in general, most of the time, but the folklore part only occasionally.
The other reason, which is more personal to me, is that at least as far as I read, the characters are all more or less damaged and alienated and also not great people, not kind or generous or warm or forgiving or supportive, which are the kind of people (real and fictional) I like to spend time with. So I took a break to see if I wanted to go back, and discovered that I didn't.
Well written, well edited, just not to my taste.
April 25, 2026
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I picked this up for the fairytales and the mythologies, and I wasn't disappointed in that area. I loved how multicultural the lore was, how familiar characters and concepts were presented in new ways, and how even science was thrown into the mix. It was a fantastic concept, although the worldbuilding sometimes got a bit too much at once, which could be a stumbling block for readers who aren't used to that.
It really resonated with me though as an Asian, as an Asian who'd relocated to a predominantly white country out of necessity, a daughter, and now a mother, too. I'm not Korean nor a fan of K-pop or K-dramas, so I wasn't familiar with the specifics of their culture, but there are Asian Family Things and Asian Diaspora Experiences and Issues that are universal and were captured really well in the book.
I read a review saying that most of the characters were awful and hard to root for, but I have to respectfully disagree. Yes, some were truly awful, but I could still relate to them -- probably because of my 'Asian immigrant and mother of a little girl' background. I even loved that the resolution wasn't a big fight and it was about relationships instead, some of which ended up really heartbreaking.
There were times when the writing would take me out of the immersion, particularly with dialogue that left me bemused because it didn't sound in character, or how omniscient Sharon seemed. But when I started reminding myself that this was the voice of a particular person's recollection, and there was even a magical aspect to it, I was no longer bothered.
At its core, this book is about daughters and mothers, about identity, and about how, as a people, we're more connected than we realize.
I picked this up for the fairytales and the mythologies, and I wasn't disappointed in that area. I loved how multicultural the lore was, how familiar characters and concepts were presented in new ways, and how even science was thrown into the mix. It was a fantastic concept, although the worldbuilding sometimes got a bit too much at once, which could be a stumbling block for readers who aren't used to that.
It really resonated with me though as an Asian, as an Asian who'd relocated to a predominantly white country out of necessity, a daughter, and now a mother, too. I'm not Korean nor a fan of K-pop or K-dramas, so I wasn't familiar with the specifics of their culture, but there are Asian Family Things and Asian Diaspora Experiences and Issues that are universal and were captured really well in the book.
I read a review saying that most of the characters were awful and hard to root for, but I have to respectfully disagree. Yes, some were truly awful, but I could still relate to them -- probably because of my 'Asian immigrant and mother of a little girl' background. I even loved that the resolution wasn't a big fight and it was about relationships instead, some of which ended up really heartbreaking.
There were times when the writing would take me out of the immersion, particularly with dialogue that left me bemused because it didn't sound in character, or how omniscient Sharon seemed. But when I started reminding myself that this was the voice of a particular person's recollection, and there was even a magical aspect to it, I was no longer bothered.
At its core, this book is about daughters and mothers, about identity, and about how, as a people, we're more connected than we realize.
May 16, 2026
I had read and loved Mi Young Hur's prior novel (Folklorn), and hadn't connected that this was. also her, but man, I should've. This is a hell of a follow up novel that blends generational trauma, deep academic dives into folklore and storytelling, a hell of a college and magical school coming of age, a young woman trying to know her withdrawn mother, stories enacting their power on the world, and cultural reflections of stories all come together in a hell of an amazing novel. Mi Young Hur is now on my list of "automatically get this author's next book when it comes out" authors. She describes this as a love letter to interdisciplinary liberal arts, and man, as someone who went to undergrad, it absolutely shows. If nothing else, you'll probably learn a new fairy tale or two from this. Comes out at the end of June, and highly recommended when it does.
July 19, 2026
The Loom Tree by Angela Mi Young Hur
Note: My review is based on the audiobook ARC/ALC, so please excuse any character names that may be spelled incorrectly.
Sadly, this story did not work for me. Not nearly as well as it should have, given the tagline of “You always wanted magic to be real”. Instead of being about magic, it felt more like an assortment of fairy tales and folklore that never fully came together into a coherent narrative.
We have a pair of POV characters: Sharon in an older timeline and her daughter “V” (I did audio; apologies if it's spelled differently) in a recent timeline. The story is mostly Sharon’s, as we follow her in college through her diary, and then V’s as she follows in her footsteps.
This story is a very loose definition of dark academia. It would be more accurately marketed as a fairy tale amalgamation. While it takes place around a school, it lacks the academic intrigue, mysteries, or hidden secrets that I associate with dark academia. Instead, the setting feels more like a backdrop than the heart of the story.
The novel is undeniably ambitious, introducing a wide range of folklore, philosophy, mythology, and thematic ideas. Unfortunately, many of those concepts never felt fully developed or integrated into the narrative.
Things that worked for me:
The juxtaposition between Asian-American subcultures: the rich versus the middle class, city kids versus the rural. That was a real-world difference that was interesting and invited us readers into a world that we may not have experienced. It is always wonderful to experience and learn through fiction.
The found family aspect. I do enjoy our characters having someone who cares for them and who will risk helping.
The reconnection with her mother was initially sweet, but sadly, it lost the momentum it could have had.
Overall, this did not work for me. I completed the work, hoping for more, and left wishing that the ending stuck better.
2.75 stars. It wasn’t bad. There were parts I appreciated, but I don’t know if I could recommend it for earning a place in people’s time.
Narrator: Since this was an Audio ARC for me, it is difficult when a major character’s voice that the narrator creates is grinding on your nerves. The roommate's voice is like a comedic version of Jewish New York, but comes across as authentic as a British accent when trying a Cockney accent.
Many thanks to RBmedia, Recorded Books, and NetGalley for providing an audio ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Note: My review is based on the audiobook ARC/ALC, so please excuse any character names that may be spelled incorrectly.
Sadly, this story did not work for me. Not nearly as well as it should have, given the tagline of “You always wanted magic to be real”. Instead of being about magic, it felt more like an assortment of fairy tales and folklore that never fully came together into a coherent narrative.
We have a pair of POV characters: Sharon in an older timeline and her daughter “V” (I did audio; apologies if it's spelled differently) in a recent timeline. The story is mostly Sharon’s, as we follow her in college through her diary, and then V’s as she follows in her footsteps.
This story is a very loose definition of dark academia. It would be more accurately marketed as a fairy tale amalgamation. While it takes place around a school, it lacks the academic intrigue, mysteries, or hidden secrets that I associate with dark academia. Instead, the setting feels more like a backdrop than the heart of the story.
The novel is undeniably ambitious, introducing a wide range of folklore, philosophy, mythology, and thematic ideas. Unfortunately, many of those concepts never felt fully developed or integrated into the narrative.
Things that worked for me:
The juxtaposition between Asian-American subcultures: the rich versus the middle class, city kids versus the rural. That was a real-world difference that was interesting and invited us readers into a world that we may not have experienced. It is always wonderful to experience and learn through fiction.
The found family aspect. I do enjoy our characters having someone who cares for them and who will risk helping.
The reconnection with her mother was initially sweet, but sadly, it lost the momentum it could have had.
Overall, this did not work for me. I completed the work, hoping for more, and left wishing that the ending stuck better.
2.75 stars. It wasn’t bad. There were parts I appreciated, but I don’t know if I could recommend it for earning a place in people’s time.
Narrator: Since this was an Audio ARC for me, it is difficult when a major character’s voice that the narrator creates is grinding on your nerves. The roommate's voice is like a comedic version of Jewish New York, but comes across as authentic as a British accent when trying a Cockney accent.
Many thanks to RBmedia, Recorded Books, and NetGalley for providing an audio ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
July 7, 2026
I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway!
I had high hopes for this book, especially as a Korean-American reader myself. I immediately loved reading words like "Halmoni" (grandmother), "miyyeok-guk" (미역국, seaweed soup), and the play on words with "Ghom" or 곰 as Sharon's last name ("bear" in Korean).
My hopes were soon crushed when I found myself 1/3 through the book going... How are we still worldbuilding? The writing itself is fine and intriguing, but the pacing and plot of the book feels so all over the place that it's hard to get invested. The characters, besides Sharon & Halmoni, feel like caricatures and one-dimensional fillers (Petra is the dejected, craving love, desperate student; Ruth is the uptight but compassionate prefect; Nick is the jock who doesn't know what's going on; Faye is manic pixie dream girl). I don't even think V was that interesting.
This is a large downfall of the book. It's supposedly about intergenerational trauma and folktales being passed down across cultures, and how not talking about trauma can reinforce hurt, but it's really about kind of this bumbling world of myths and intercultural.... something.... that goes somewhere sometimes.
There are often times where we just get a giant passage of myth or some folk tale to provide exposition, or when a character just info-dumps exposition onto another. It feels like nothing much happens then everything happens, but none of it really matters that much. The Loom Tree, the Spindle Whorl, warps, etc., none of those devices really felt like they were executed well to serve much purpose. If these concepts were introduced more slowly and earlier, perhaps the characters could've grappled with the world a bit more versus just fighting the Big Bad of Grand-M.
Don't even get me started on the professor frog kissing Sharon and playing it off as non-romantic. What the hell are we doing there?
I probably would've DNFed it much earlier if I hadn't gotten this through a giveaway and I didn't feel curiosity towards whether things would pan out or incorporate more of the Korean folktales. I don't think we learned anything about V enough to tell this book through her, there really wasn't much intergenerational healing going on besides "oh mom we understand each other more now and I can go study abroad and you can write again."
Overall, so much potential, such a great pitch, I did not enjoy the execution :/
I had high hopes for this book, especially as a Korean-American reader myself. I immediately loved reading words like "Halmoni" (grandmother), "miyyeok-guk" (미역국, seaweed soup), and the play on words with "Ghom" or 곰 as Sharon's last name ("bear" in Korean).
My hopes were soon crushed when I found myself 1/3 through the book going... How are we still worldbuilding? The writing itself is fine and intriguing, but the pacing and plot of the book feels so all over the place that it's hard to get invested. The characters, besides Sharon & Halmoni, feel like caricatures and one-dimensional fillers (Petra is the dejected, craving love, desperate student; Ruth is the uptight but compassionate prefect; Nick is the jock who doesn't know what's going on; Faye is manic pixie dream girl). I don't even think V was that interesting.
This is a large downfall of the book. It's supposedly about intergenerational trauma and folktales being passed down across cultures, and how not talking about trauma can reinforce hurt, but it's really about kind of this bumbling world of myths and intercultural.... something.... that goes somewhere sometimes.
There are often times where we just get a giant passage of myth or some folk tale to provide exposition, or when a character just info-dumps exposition onto another. It feels like nothing much happens then everything happens, but none of it really matters that much. The Loom Tree, the Spindle Whorl, warps, etc., none of those devices really felt like they were executed well to serve much purpose. If these concepts were introduced more slowly and earlier, perhaps the characters could've grappled with the world a bit more versus just fighting the Big Bad of Grand-M.
Don't even get me started on the professor frog kissing Sharon and playing it off as non-romantic. What the hell are we doing there?
I probably would've DNFed it much earlier if I hadn't gotten this through a giveaway and I didn't feel curiosity towards whether things would pan out or incorporate more of the Korean folktales. I don't think we learned anything about V enough to tell this book through her, there really wasn't much intergenerational healing going on besides "oh mom we understand each other more now and I can go study abroad and you can write again."
Overall, so much potential, such a great pitch, I did not enjoy the execution :/
2026
March 9, 2026ANHPI TBR
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon Books
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon Books
July 8, 2026
I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. I loved the plot. It was very different than anything I've read before. I really liked it. There are several characters in the book. Each one with their own unique personality. The two main Characters are mother and daughter. The mom Sharon has been hiding a secret from her daughter for a very long time. The story is full of magic and many fairytale backgrounds. This is the other side of the stories you grew up with. A deeper view of those stories and a darker menacing side of them. The book is slightly long. For as long as it is, I was just expecting a more exciting ending than it gave. But very well written, a goid tale of its own.
July 1, 2026
I really enjoyed this book, the complexity and layers were literally unending! Half this book I was trying to figure out what was going on, and there was so much intertwined folklore that I was constantly trying to fit the pieces together. No matter how hard I tried and the wheels turned I was absolutely perplexed for at least half the book. But once tho bc a started to fall into place I really enjoyed the ride. This was a very deep story that had so many layers inside of it, beyond complex and really shed light onto stereotypes and the power of love and friendship. Full of dark twists on fairytales and their descendants, and the things they had to go through and overcome. Such an original story, and the characters were all super unique in their own way. I would highly recommend if you like intense world building and complex in depth theorizing and imaging.
July 5, 2026
Thank you to Angela Mi Young Hur, Kensington Publishers and Goodreads for a copy of The Loom Tree. I don't give away spoilers in my reviews.
The first thing I saw when I read the inside cover was "You Always Wanted Magic to be Real"which intrigued me to read further. I am a new to fantasy reader (past year or so) and love discovering new to me authors.
V is the daughter of Sharon and this book is told in two POVs. Sharon's story takes up most of the book. Sharon's story begins when she was a Korean American teenager entering Alvsdahl - an exclusive East Coast college. Sharon isn't sure where she fits in - like most teenagers, including V many years later.
I did like the college setting and the other characters - especially Fitch. I liked seeing each girl develop into an adult and loved the family connections.
I just felt lost so many times in reading this book. I struggled to keep all of the details straight and many times I could not figure out if the page I was reading was about Sharon or V's POV. I think if the chapters were titled Sharon or V, it would have helped me. I grew pretty frustrated.
That said, it is a magical story and the story of how the Loom Tree constantly evolves was interesting.
The first thing I saw when I read the inside cover was "You Always Wanted Magic to be Real"which intrigued me to read further. I am a new to fantasy reader (past year or so) and love discovering new to me authors.
V is the daughter of Sharon and this book is told in two POVs. Sharon's story takes up most of the book. Sharon's story begins when she was a Korean American teenager entering Alvsdahl - an exclusive East Coast college. Sharon isn't sure where she fits in - like most teenagers, including V many years later.
I did like the college setting and the other characters - especially Fitch. I liked seeing each girl develop into an adult and loved the family connections.
I just felt lost so many times in reading this book. I struggled to keep all of the details straight and many times I could not figure out if the page I was reading was about Sharon or V's POV. I think if the chapters were titled Sharon or V, it would have helped me. I grew pretty frustrated.
That said, it is a magical story and the story of how the Loom Tree constantly evolves was interesting.
July 18, 2026
Thanks to NetGalley and RBMedia for this audiobook.
Sharon and her daughter V share a very similar upbringing. Both are Korean Americans. Both raised by a single mother. Both searching for an identity in the California subs. During a celebration of finals week, V has strange impulses. These impulses lead her to crawling into a hollow tree trunk, having a sort of hallucination that connects her and her mother. Through this, V watches her mother map out her past through drawings, diagrams, and her history at Alvsdahl. At Alvsdahl, students vie for control of their family stories in order to get terrifying abilities or die. Sharon was no one... until she wasn't. V wants to help her mother, learning how to use her story to help them both transform.
3/5 stars.. I can't lie... I didn't really enjoy this? It wasn't a bad story and it was well written, I just don't think this was for me. To be honest, I think I missed a detail somewhere and I ended up confused for a good chunk of this book.
Sharon and her daughter V share a very similar upbringing. Both are Korean Americans. Both raised by a single mother. Both searching for an identity in the California subs. During a celebration of finals week, V has strange impulses. These impulses lead her to crawling into a hollow tree trunk, having a sort of hallucination that connects her and her mother. Through this, V watches her mother map out her past through drawings, diagrams, and her history at Alvsdahl. At Alvsdahl, students vie for control of their family stories in order to get terrifying abilities or die. Sharon was no one... until she wasn't. V wants to help her mother, learning how to use her story to help them both transform.
3/5 stars.. I can't lie... I didn't really enjoy this? It wasn't a bad story and it was well written, I just don't think this was for me. To be honest, I think I missed a detail somewhere and I ended up confused for a good chunk of this book.
July 2, 2026
Angela Mi Young Hur has such a beautiful way with words, and The Loom Tree is another novel that showcases her lyrical, thoughtful writing. This isn't a book to rush through—it's one to savour, letting the layers of family history, memory, identity, and belonging gradually unfold.
I loved how the story explored the ways the past shapes the present, and how the lives of different generations can be connected in unexpected ways. The characters felt authentic and complicated, and even when I wasn't entirely sure where the story was heading, I trusted the journey because the writing was so compelling.
This is definitely literary fiction, with a slower pace and a narrative that doesn't hand you all the answers. If you're looking for a plot-driven read, this may not be the right fit.
It's the kind of book that stays with you after you've finished.
I loved how the story explored the ways the past shapes the present, and how the lives of different generations can be connected in unexpected ways. The characters felt authentic and complicated, and even when I wasn't entirely sure where the story was heading, I trusted the journey because the writing was so compelling.
This is definitely literary fiction, with a slower pace and a narrative that doesn't hand you all the answers. If you're looking for a plot-driven read, this may not be the right fit.
It's the kind of book that stays with you after you've finished.
Did Not Finish
June 28, 2026Thanks to Erewhon Books, Angela Mi Young Hur (author), and Edelweiss for the digital review copy of The Loom Tree.
I’d rather stop at this halfway point than finish it and give it low reviews. This isn’t for me. The world didn’t feel believable, I started struggling, and I found myself not wanting to pick it back up after a break. But I think my niece will love it. It is right up her alley. DNF @ 50%.
I’d rather stop at this halfway point than finish it and give it low reviews. This isn’t for me. The world didn’t feel believable, I started struggling, and I found myself not wanting to pick it back up after a break. But I think my niece will love it. It is right up her alley. DNF @ 50%.
July 2, 2026
Review of advanced audio copy received from NETgalley and RBmedia.
I’m sorry but I DNF’d this book! I’ve listened to 30% of it and cannot really tell you anything about it. I just wasn’t pulled in at all, I have no idea what’s happened so far and carrying on at this point seems pointless. I don’t know if it’s just going over my head or if it’s just not interesting or memorable enough. Just not for me.
I’m sorry but I DNF’d this book! I’ve listened to 30% of it and cannot really tell you anything about it. I just wasn’t pulled in at all, I have no idea what’s happened so far and carrying on at this point seems pointless. I don’t know if it’s just going over my head or if it’s just not interesting or memorable enough. Just not for me.
July 2, 2026
I had high hopes for this one. The comps were great, the premise sounded interesting. But it just didn’t deliver for me.
I love the idea of magic tied to fairytales and legends from our cultures. I loved the mother/daughter aspect to the story. Even the back and forth timeline.
Sadly the story and characters never quite developed enough for me to really enjoy this book. It felt like work to get through.
I love the idea of magic tied to fairytales and legends from our cultures. I loved the mother/daughter aspect to the story. Even the back and forth timeline.
Sadly the story and characters never quite developed enough for me to really enjoy this book. It felt like work to get through.
July 11, 2026
I won a copy from Goodreads!
It is a solid 4/5 book. I though the relationship between mother/daughter was very interesting. I also enjoyed the life progression and the academic setting. I really enjoyed how the magic and folklore intertwined. There are parts that were a little confusing or hard to follow. I could also see how this is not everyone's type of book but I enjoyed reading it.
It is a solid 4/5 book. I though the relationship between mother/daughter was very interesting. I also enjoyed the life progression and the academic setting. I really enjoyed how the magic and folklore intertwined. There are parts that were a little confusing or hard to follow. I could also see how this is not everyone's type of book but I enjoyed reading it.
July 8, 2026
Real Rating: 4.25* of five
The Publisher Says: Ninth House meets Babel for fans of myth and folklore in this contemporary fantasy about a Korean-American college student at a magical university where fairy tales intersect with family heritage to unleash powers beyond imagining.“
You always wanted magic to be real.”
Sharon and her daughter V’s points of origin hold common threads—both Korean American teenagers, raised by single mothers and searching for identity in the California suburbs. But during a Finals week celebration, high schooler V, compelled by strange impulses, crawls into a hollow tree trunk. That night in a fever haze, she sees gleaming strands of illegible text hovering over her body—flowing between her and her mother, leading to a long-forgotten diary.
With the aid of a luminous quill, a fountainhead of Sharon’s memories spill onto the faded pages. V witnesses her mother map out her past through drawings, diagrams, and reclaimed histories of her brief time at Alvsdahl, an exclusive East Coast college. Here, legacies and heiresses claimed descent from Bluebeard or Cinderella, grappling for control over family stories that could grant them terrifying abilities or burn them to ash. An Asian girl with an unknown inheritance was no one—until her discoveries cracked open Alvsdahl’s secrets.
Sharon’s rewritten narrative—of classroom rivalries, animal professors, debauchery in the woods, threatening Godmothers, and world-shattering powers—unfolds line by line as V desperately tries to help her mother, ultimately learning how to wield Sharon’s story to transform them both.
Lyrical and tender, Angela Mi Young Hur’s The Loom Tree is a magical campus novel centering two young women walking the thorny path toward adulthood, the fractures between parents and their children, and the global mythologies connecting us all.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: Folklore, fairy tales, and fiction all contributed DNA to the central storytelling spine of Author Hur's tale told here. It was fascinating because the matter-of-fact presentation, and response within the story, to fantastical elements like erudite animal professors of magic thoroughly entertained me.
I was less sure of myself than I'm accustomed to being when it came to untranslated passages...I can get most European languages wrapped in my head but Korean's completely outside my familiarity zone. I had to work harder, and was not always in the mood to do so. Cultural blind spot detected! I realize how much of this story was context. I wouldn't give it to an average high-school kid because I wouldn't expect them to have enough familiarity with the fairy tales and folklore referenced just yet.
Plenty of adults who don't batten on story mechanics and cultural transmission of ideas are going to need Professor Wikipedia and Doctor Google as consultants, too. Which brings to mind a point I might be reading too much into: I enjoyed the inclusion of science in Author Hur's storytelling milieus. It's a very true observation, science is all about making data tell a story only it gets called a proof not a tale, theory not lore, and so on.
A fascinating way to make a novel. It resonated with me on most every level. I did not ever feel an emotional closeness to or connection with the characters; I believe that is Author Hur's design, as they're enmeshed in storytelling systems not simply responding to events messily and randomly as most people do. It's effective and, as soon as I clocked this explanation for why I felt...apart from...the characters I appreciated the subtlety of the effect. (Now, of course, someone will bring up a quote from Author Hur saying the opposite is true because that's how V and Angela both operate in this story!)
I enjoy dark academia stories. I thoroughly love school-set magical tales; I never left Roke Island after 1969. I think the truth of human intelligence being a function of pattern detection and creation is never more clear than in this area of storytelling. Even though I identified (or invented) why I felt distanced from the characters, I still can't offer that fifth star because that coldness, that remove from their inner workings, left me unmoored at key moments. It's not a fatal flaw, and it doesn't feel like an authorial oversight or a judgment error. It is always the case that the author writes the book they want to write not specifically the one I-the-reader want to read; but potential other readers should know where this specific reader found wants unmet in case they have similar storytelling needs.
Immersion into the systems of Story is as much fun as immersive storytelling, when one knows that's what's offered and is what one is in the mood for. A tale to enjoy, an experience of pleasure and satisfaction is within, so come and get it.
The Publisher Says: Ninth House meets Babel for fans of myth and folklore in this contemporary fantasy about a Korean-American college student at a magical university where fairy tales intersect with family heritage to unleash powers beyond imagining.“
You always wanted magic to be real.”
Sharon and her daughter V’s points of origin hold common threads—both Korean American teenagers, raised by single mothers and searching for identity in the California suburbs. But during a Finals week celebration, high schooler V, compelled by strange impulses, crawls into a hollow tree trunk. That night in a fever haze, she sees gleaming strands of illegible text hovering over her body—flowing between her and her mother, leading to a long-forgotten diary.
With the aid of a luminous quill, a fountainhead of Sharon’s memories spill onto the faded pages. V witnesses her mother map out her past through drawings, diagrams, and reclaimed histories of her brief time at Alvsdahl, an exclusive East Coast college. Here, legacies and heiresses claimed descent from Bluebeard or Cinderella, grappling for control over family stories that could grant them terrifying abilities or burn them to ash. An Asian girl with an unknown inheritance was no one—until her discoveries cracked open Alvsdahl’s secrets.
Sharon’s rewritten narrative—of classroom rivalries, animal professors, debauchery in the woods, threatening Godmothers, and world-shattering powers—unfolds line by line as V desperately tries to help her mother, ultimately learning how to wield Sharon’s story to transform them both.
Lyrical and tender, Angela Mi Young Hur’s The Loom Tree is a magical campus novel centering two young women walking the thorny path toward adulthood, the fractures between parents and their children, and the global mythologies connecting us all.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: Folklore, fairy tales, and fiction all contributed DNA to the central storytelling spine of Author Hur's tale told here. It was fascinating because the matter-of-fact presentation, and response within the story, to fantastical elements like erudite animal professors of magic thoroughly entertained me.
I was less sure of myself than I'm accustomed to being when it came to untranslated passages...I can get most European languages wrapped in my head but Korean's completely outside my familiarity zone. I had to work harder, and was not always in the mood to do so. Cultural blind spot detected! I realize how much of this story was context. I wouldn't give it to an average high-school kid because I wouldn't expect them to have enough familiarity with the fairy tales and folklore referenced just yet.
Plenty of adults who don't batten on story mechanics and cultural transmission of ideas are going to need Professor Wikipedia and Doctor Google as consultants, too. Which brings to mind a point I might be reading too much into: I enjoyed the inclusion of science in Author Hur's storytelling milieus. It's a very true observation, science is all about making data tell a story only it gets called a proof not a tale, theory not lore, and so on.
A fascinating way to make a novel. It resonated with me on most every level. I did not ever feel an emotional closeness to or connection with the characters; I believe that is Author Hur's design, as they're enmeshed in storytelling systems not simply responding to events messily and randomly as most people do. It's effective and, as soon as I clocked this explanation for why I felt...apart from...the characters I appreciated the subtlety of the effect. (Now, of course, someone will bring up a quote from Author Hur saying the opposite is true because that's how V and Angela both operate in this story!)
I enjoy dark academia stories. I thoroughly love school-set magical tales; I never left Roke Island after 1969. I think the truth of human intelligence being a function of pattern detection and creation is never more clear than in this area of storytelling. Even though I identified (or invented) why I felt distanced from the characters, I still can't offer that fifth star because that coldness, that remove from their inner workings, left me unmoored at key moments. It's not a fatal flaw, and it doesn't feel like an authorial oversight or a judgment error. It is always the case that the author writes the book they want to write not specifically the one I-the-reader want to read; but potential other readers should know where this specific reader found wants unmet in case they have similar storytelling needs.
Immersion into the systems of Story is as much fun as immersive storytelling, when one knows that's what's offered and is what one is in the mood for. A tale to enjoy, an experience of pleasure and satisfaction is within, so come and get it.
July 9, 2026
I received an audioARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. The Loom Tree was a wonderful story with a beautiful take on the origin and connection of fairy tale in different cultures. I loved exploring the different myths with each character and how they connected to one another in a somewhat complex but intriguing way. I thought this was fantastically done and so interesting as to keep me consistently engaged with all the characters despite there being so many of them. The writing was wonderful with great prose, I felt these tales were truly flowing and weaving through the characters with so many branching strands to well-known and lesser-known stories. Alvsdahl was an enchanting campus and I adored the characterisation of the teachers and their tales. This was truly stunningly done.
My only real caveat to the enjoyment of this novel was that I didn’t quite grasp the modern generational aspect. After the depth and emotion of the students at Alvsdahl trying to grasp their place in not only the current world, their cultures and political climates but also in their origin tales, Sharon and V’s connection just felt shallow. I would even go as far as to say that it was entirely unnecessary to the plot and I actually didn’t enjoy V’s chapters because they took me out of the main story with no payoff. Considering the quality of the body of the story I would have expected a little more depth for this aspect than just a few chapters thrown in about how Sharon is just writing all this down and V’s is resentful of her mum for displaying stereotypical mum like qualities. Not to say that Sharon was in any way perfect and the whole thing with the two of them and the grandmother as well was reminiscent of generational trauma but felt like a very superficial attempt at it in comparison to that displayed in the Alvsdahl plot.
It was also hard to distinguish these chapters (in the audiobook, I’m not sure about the physical) because both are in first person and there is nothing to signify the change in perspective between chapters, not even the character’s name at the beginning. This definitely lessened my enjoyment of the read. Additionally, I didn’t enjoy the audiobook greatly because it was difficult to determine who was speaking at any given point. Sometimes there were accents, sometimes there weren’t. It felt like some people lost their accents mid-sentence and others didn’t have one when they were introduced but developed one over the course of the book.
The fact that I still very much liked the book despite these frustrations just speaks to the quality of the book and the reason I’m giving it 4 stars. I would definitely re-read this at some point in the future in the physical format and seek out other books by the author, but I wouldn’t listen to another audiobook by this narrator again unfortunately.
My only real caveat to the enjoyment of this novel was that I didn’t quite grasp the modern generational aspect. After the depth and emotion of the students at Alvsdahl trying to grasp their place in not only the current world, their cultures and political climates but also in their origin tales, Sharon and V’s connection just felt shallow. I would even go as far as to say that it was entirely unnecessary to the plot and I actually didn’t enjoy V’s chapters because they took me out of the main story with no payoff. Considering the quality of the body of the story I would have expected a little more depth for this aspect than just a few chapters thrown in about how Sharon is just writing all this down and V’s is resentful of her mum for displaying stereotypical mum like qualities. Not to say that Sharon was in any way perfect and the whole thing with the two of them and the grandmother as well was reminiscent of generational trauma but felt like a very superficial attempt at it in comparison to that displayed in the Alvsdahl plot.
It was also hard to distinguish these chapters (in the audiobook, I’m not sure about the physical) because both are in first person and there is nothing to signify the change in perspective between chapters, not even the character’s name at the beginning. This definitely lessened my enjoyment of the read. Additionally, I didn’t enjoy the audiobook greatly because it was difficult to determine who was speaking at any given point. Sometimes there were accents, sometimes there weren’t. It felt like some people lost their accents mid-sentence and others didn’t have one when they were introduced but developed one over the course of the book.
The fact that I still very much liked the book despite these frustrations just speaks to the quality of the book and the reason I’m giving it 4 stars. I would definitely re-read this at some point in the future in the physical format and seek out other books by the author, but I wouldn’t listen to another audiobook by this narrator again unfortunately.
July 4, 2026
The Loom Tree is a book that resists being pinned down into words. It's a complicated, twisted tale of family relationships, identity, friendships, magical abilities, and the fundamental power of stories.
Dark academia or grotesque takes on ancient fairy tales — The Loom Tree asks: why not both?
The story is woven like a tapestry. A young woman goes through a surprising transformation that sends her and her mother into a tailspin of the past neither of them could have anticipated. We move quickly to a story-within-a-story structure as we re-experience V's mother's story of her strange time at a mysterious, exclusive college, which ends up being a good 75%+ of the book.
To be honest, a majority of the time I wasn't sure if I liked it.
The first thing that bothered me was that the mother is supposed to be writing this story out by hand in a notebook, and that's how the royal We get to experience it. On that fundamental level, it lost me quite a bit. There's magic involved, okay, but the level of detail, the kinds of observations, the speed at which she's apparently writing it...it felt like a stretch.
The voice is slightly abrasive (brace yourself for profuse use of the words 'tits' and 'ass'), the tone is gloomy, baroque...maybe gothic? I'm reaching for a word that captures the level of unsettled I felt while listening. It was almost horror-adjacent with the twisted fairy tales and obscure magic and mystery.
However, I think a certain kind of reader would absolutely eat this story up.
It was written with generous detail and patience for exploring feelings and observations throughout. It's a slow, mysterious, melancholy sort of book that will suit many readers well, especially as they curl into their darker sides for the colder, darker months.
I also learned a few things from the obviously well-researched inclusions in some of the tangential passages. Some unfavorable history about the Dewey decimal system, for example (though I feel like the narrative takes the least charitable view possible of the facts there).
Overall, if Firenze in his divination teacher era was your favorite part of the Potter series, this book will be right up your alley. I feel like the book it most reminded me of personally was The Magicians, by Lev Grossman, if that helps anyone decide whether or not it's for them.
Beautiful cover. Decent narration. Kind of tortured story.
Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
For more reviews, reading lists, craft dissection, essays, and more, visit thelitertarian.com.
Dark academia or grotesque takes on ancient fairy tales — The Loom Tree asks: why not both?
The story is woven like a tapestry. A young woman goes through a surprising transformation that sends her and her mother into a tailspin of the past neither of them could have anticipated. We move quickly to a story-within-a-story structure as we re-experience V's mother's story of her strange time at a mysterious, exclusive college, which ends up being a good 75%+ of the book.
To be honest, a majority of the time I wasn't sure if I liked it.
The first thing that bothered me was that the mother is supposed to be writing this story out by hand in a notebook, and that's how the royal We get to experience it. On that fundamental level, it lost me quite a bit. There's magic involved, okay, but the level of detail, the kinds of observations, the speed at which she's apparently writing it...it felt like a stretch.
The voice is slightly abrasive (brace yourself for profuse use of the words 'tits' and 'ass'), the tone is gloomy, baroque...maybe gothic? I'm reaching for a word that captures the level of unsettled I felt while listening. It was almost horror-adjacent with the twisted fairy tales and obscure magic and mystery.
However, I think a certain kind of reader would absolutely eat this story up.
It was written with generous detail and patience for exploring feelings and observations throughout. It's a slow, mysterious, melancholy sort of book that will suit many readers well, especially as they curl into their darker sides for the colder, darker months.
I also learned a few things from the obviously well-researched inclusions in some of the tangential passages. Some unfavorable history about the Dewey decimal system, for example (though I feel like the narrative takes the least charitable view possible of the facts there).
Overall, if Firenze in his divination teacher era was your favorite part of the Potter series, this book will be right up your alley. I feel like the book it most reminded me of personally was The Magicians, by Lev Grossman, if that helps anyone decide whether or not it's for them.
Beautiful cover. Decent narration. Kind of tortured story.
Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
For more reviews, reading lists, craft dissection, essays, and more, visit thelitertarian.com.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
thank you netgalley for the arc
The Loom Tree • Angela Mi Young Hur
One phrase: folklore woven into family magic 🌳✨
This book feels like crawling into the hollow of a redwood tree and finding an entire universe of magic, memory, and inheritance waiting inside.
The Loom Tree is lyrical, strange, tender, and beautifully original. It blends Korean folklore, fairy tale legacies, campus magic, family history, and the complicated ache between mothers and daughters into something that feels completely its own.
V is a Korean American teenager trying to understand herself, her mother, and the strange magic that suddenly finds her. When she discovers her mother Sharon’s memories spilling into a fading magical journal, the story opens into Alvsdahl, an elite magical college where family stories are not just history. They are power.
And I LOVED that idea.
Fairy tale descendants fighting over inherited narratives? Magic tied to stories, lineage, and reclaimed identity? A daughter learning how to understand her mother through the life she never knew she lived? Yes. Absolutely yes.
What I loved most was how this book treats mythology and folklore like living threads. Korean stories, childhood fairy tales, local legends, and inherited histories all weave together to show how stories shape who we are and what power we believe we are allowed to claim.
The campus setting has that dark academia magic, but the emotional center is really the connection between V and Sharon. It is about identity, family fractures, growing up, and realizing our parents had entire lives and selves before we knew them.
Also, Zella the Librarian Archivist? Icon behavior. Immediately obsessed.
✨ Tropes and vibes:
🌳 magical tree portal energy
📖 magical journal
🪡 story based magic
🏫 magical university
🖤 dark academia vibes
✨ Korean folklore
🧚 fairy tale inheritance
👩👧 mother daughter story
🔮 hidden powers
📚 librarian archivist magic
🧵 mythology and memory
🌙 lyrical fantasy
📚 Read this if you like:
Ninth House, Babel, magical campus novels, folklore rich fantasy, family legacy stories, and books where magic is tangled with identity, memory, and the stories we inherit.
This was thoughtful, magical, beautifully layered, and unlike anything else I have read.
#TheLoomTree #AngelaMiYoungHur #DarkAcademia #FolkloreFantasy #BookReview @kensington
The Loom Tree • Angela Mi Young Hur
One phrase: folklore woven into family magic 🌳✨
This book feels like crawling into the hollow of a redwood tree and finding an entire universe of magic, memory, and inheritance waiting inside.
The Loom Tree is lyrical, strange, tender, and beautifully original. It blends Korean folklore, fairy tale legacies, campus magic, family history, and the complicated ache between mothers and daughters into something that feels completely its own.
V is a Korean American teenager trying to understand herself, her mother, and the strange magic that suddenly finds her. When she discovers her mother Sharon’s memories spilling into a fading magical journal, the story opens into Alvsdahl, an elite magical college where family stories are not just history. They are power.
And I LOVED that idea.
Fairy tale descendants fighting over inherited narratives? Magic tied to stories, lineage, and reclaimed identity? A daughter learning how to understand her mother through the life she never knew she lived? Yes. Absolutely yes.
What I loved most was how this book treats mythology and folklore like living threads. Korean stories, childhood fairy tales, local legends, and inherited histories all weave together to show how stories shape who we are and what power we believe we are allowed to claim.
The campus setting has that dark academia magic, but the emotional center is really the connection between V and Sharon. It is about identity, family fractures, growing up, and realizing our parents had entire lives and selves before we knew them.
Also, Zella the Librarian Archivist? Icon behavior. Immediately obsessed.
✨ Tropes and vibes:
🌳 magical tree portal energy
📖 magical journal
🪡 story based magic
🏫 magical university
🖤 dark academia vibes
✨ Korean folklore
🧚 fairy tale inheritance
👩👧 mother daughter story
🔮 hidden powers
📚 librarian archivist magic
🧵 mythology and memory
🌙 lyrical fantasy
📚 Read this if you like:
Ninth House, Babel, magical campus novels, folklore rich fantasy, family legacy stories, and books where magic is tangled with identity, memory, and the stories we inherit.
This was thoughtful, magical, beautifully layered, and unlike anything else I have read.
#TheLoomTree #AngelaMiYoungHur #DarkAcademia #FolkloreFantasy #BookReview @kensington
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
**THE LOOM TREE — Angela Mi Young Hur**
★★★★★
Angela Mi Young Hur's *Folklorn* announced her as a writer of rare and unsettling ambition — a novelist willing to let myth and realism collapse into each other without apology. *The Loom Tree* confirms everything that debut promised, and then pushes further.
The novel operates on two timelines held in deliberate tension. V, a young Korean American woman, watches her mother Sharon reconstruct her past through drawings, diagrams, and fragments of memory — specifically, her time at Alvsdahl, an exclusive East Coast college where family lineage is everything. At Alvsdahl, heiresses trace their descent from Bluebeard or Cinderella, and those stories are not metaphor — they are power, dangerous and literal. Sharon arrived there with no known inheritance and no claim to the narratives that confer ability and status. What she found instead cracked the school open. As V pieces Sharon's story together line by line, she begins to understand that the story itself is something she can wield.
What Hur does so well is hold the domestic and the mythological at exactly the same register — neither diminishes the other. The fractures between mothers and daughters, the particular loneliness of being an outsider to a world that runs on inherited narrative, the violence quietly embedded in fairy tales: all of it lives in the same sentences, inseparable. The campus novel scaffolding — rivalries, animal professors, debauchery in the woods — is strange and vivid and entirely her own.
Lyrical, layered, and genuinely unlike anything else being written right now.
★★★★★
Angela Mi Young Hur's *Folklorn* announced her as a writer of rare and unsettling ambition — a novelist willing to let myth and realism collapse into each other without apology. *The Loom Tree* confirms everything that debut promised, and then pushes further.
The novel operates on two timelines held in deliberate tension. V, a young Korean American woman, watches her mother Sharon reconstruct her past through drawings, diagrams, and fragments of memory — specifically, her time at Alvsdahl, an exclusive East Coast college where family lineage is everything. At Alvsdahl, heiresses trace their descent from Bluebeard or Cinderella, and those stories are not metaphor — they are power, dangerous and literal. Sharon arrived there with no known inheritance and no claim to the narratives that confer ability and status. What she found instead cracked the school open. As V pieces Sharon's story together line by line, she begins to understand that the story itself is something she can wield.
What Hur does so well is hold the domestic and the mythological at exactly the same register — neither diminishes the other. The fractures between mothers and daughters, the particular loneliness of being an outsider to a world that runs on inherited narrative, the violence quietly embedded in fairy tales: all of it lives in the same sentences, inseparable. The campus novel scaffolding — rivalries, animal professors, debauchery in the woods — is strange and vivid and entirely her own.
Lyrical, layered, and genuinely unlike anything else being written right now.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The Loom Tree is an ambitious amalgamation of world myths and folklore, with strong themes of cultural heritage, identity and finding your place in a land that’s not historically been home. I loved the message of hope after colonisation and decimation of peoples and cultures, and how previously lost histories, myths and languages can be reconstructed and passed on to future generations. I also loved how seemingly disparate myths were woven together, highlighting how similar they actually are and ultimately how interconnected our stories are.
I found this novel to be charming and whimsical at times with its fairy tale underpinnings, but this quality did get a bit lost towards the middle. There was a lot of info dumping in this section to flesh out the world and magic system. This started to feel at times like the story was running away with itself, layering complex myth and magic connections which made me feel like I was scrambling after the plot. I believe part of what contributed to this was the main character acclimatising so quickly to this new reality, guessing what was going on almost immediately, while I was left wondering how the hell that connection had been made.
Overall though I really enjoyed this novel, mainly due to the comparative mythology elements and how these were woven into a story about connectedness and belonging. Although the abundance of information was a bit much for the page count, I think the author has some great ideas and I’m interested to see what other exciting worlds they can take us to next.
I received an eARC from NetGalley and I am voluntarily leaving this review.
I found this novel to be charming and whimsical at times with its fairy tale underpinnings, but this quality did get a bit lost towards the middle. There was a lot of info dumping in this section to flesh out the world and magic system. This started to feel at times like the story was running away with itself, layering complex myth and magic connections which made me feel like I was scrambling after the plot. I believe part of what contributed to this was the main character acclimatising so quickly to this new reality, guessing what was going on almost immediately, while I was left wondering how the hell that connection had been made.
Overall though I really enjoyed this novel, mainly due to the comparative mythology elements and how these were woven into a story about connectedness and belonging. Although the abundance of information was a bit much for the page count, I think the author has some great ideas and I’m interested to see what other exciting worlds they can take us to next.
I received an eARC from NetGalley and I am voluntarily leaving this review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you Angela Mi Young Hur and Erewhon books for the ARC!
I adored this book. I won't lie, I didn't find the first chapter exciting or interesting, even when the magic happened. But the second chapter was perfect and pulled me right in! Sharon's a really enjoyable character to read. She's a bit awkward, a bit of a loner, and too curious for her own good, and at times really envious and jealous which is understandable given the situations she's in. I'm so in love with her character, normally I don't enjoy first person point of view but I can't imagine reading Sharon or V's POV in third person.
Sharon's inner thoughts and feelings were (mostly) relatable and her struggle with her story and identity reminded me of myself in some ways, and her relationship with V was wonderful too. Both character's felt so alive and I really liked how similar their voices were, but also liked the differences too. Like mother like daughter and all that.
The fairy tale aspect threw me off a little at first even though I was expecting it. It felt a bit campy. but it was whimsical too and it really grew on me. I won't go into detail but I loved nuanced takes and twists that the stories and fairy tales had and it had me wishing for even more than what we got.
Some of the concepts and parts of the plot were a bit hard to follow, but I really loved the world building, it felt unique and fresh and was one of my favourite parts of the book and I do wish there was more of it. All in all, this was a banger of a book.
Thank you again for the ARC!
I adored this book. I won't lie, I didn't find the first chapter exciting or interesting, even when the magic happened. But the second chapter was perfect and pulled me right in! Sharon's a really enjoyable character to read. She's a bit awkward, a bit of a loner, and too curious for her own good, and at times really envious and jealous which is understandable given the situations she's in. I'm so in love with her character, normally I don't enjoy first person point of view but I can't imagine reading Sharon or V's POV in third person.
Sharon's inner thoughts and feelings were (mostly) relatable and her struggle with her story and identity reminded me of myself in some ways, and her relationship with V was wonderful too. Both character's felt so alive and I really liked how similar their voices were, but also liked the differences too. Like mother like daughter and all that.
The fairy tale aspect threw me off a little at first even though I was expecting it. It felt a bit campy. but it was whimsical too and it really grew on me. I won't go into detail but I loved nuanced takes and twists that the stories and fairy tales had and it had me wishing for even more than what we got.
Some of the concepts and parts of the plot were a bit hard to follow, but I really loved the world building, it felt unique and fresh and was one of my favourite parts of the book and I do wish there was more of it. All in all, this was a banger of a book.
Thank you again for the ARC!
July 7, 2026
I picked this book up with the hopes of a dark magical academia as the main character finds herself while she moves towards adulthood. I was a bit confused in the beginning as there feels like a lot of different things happening but I couldn't see the big picture.
We start the book with V who is talking about falling into a redwood tree and her friends have to pull her out in a very Alice in Wonderland fashion. A lot of this book feels a bit like V being Alice as she falls further into this world of magic and stories she never knew existed. Her mom, Sharon, never shared her past with her daughter, so the daughter is caught off guard when the school of Alvsdahl comes calling to invite her into the fold.
It feels like two parallel stories being told as we get part of the story from Sharon and her going to Alvsdahl and learning about her "origin story" and then we have V who seems to have the ability to read people and pull stories out of the air? I ask this more like a question because I don't think this was very well explained. It's such a good premise to merge the modern day with fairytale and folklore stories.. Even creating a college for those who's lives are intertwined with these stories makes sense. However, I found the characters hard to connect with and underdeveloped.
I love the idea that legends have roots in reality. It's one of the reason I've studied epic poetry to the extent I have. However, the way the author tried to weave it, didn't quite work. I still love the premise and hope to see more from the author in the future.
We start the book with V who is talking about falling into a redwood tree and her friends have to pull her out in a very Alice in Wonderland fashion. A lot of this book feels a bit like V being Alice as she falls further into this world of magic and stories she never knew existed. Her mom, Sharon, never shared her past with her daughter, so the daughter is caught off guard when the school of Alvsdahl comes calling to invite her into the fold.
It feels like two parallel stories being told as we get part of the story from Sharon and her going to Alvsdahl and learning about her "origin story" and then we have V who seems to have the ability to read people and pull stories out of the air? I ask this more like a question because I don't think this was very well explained. It's such a good premise to merge the modern day with fairytale and folklore stories.. Even creating a college for those who's lives are intertwined with these stories makes sense. However, I found the characters hard to connect with and underdeveloped.
I love the idea that legends have roots in reality. It's one of the reason I've studied epic poetry to the extent I have. However, the way the author tried to weave it, didn't quite work. I still love the premise and hope to see more from the author in the future.
July 12, 2026
The publisher’s description gives a reasonable idea of what to expect. I love fairytales, folklore, and mythology, and explorations of how stories shape identity, so the concept of this novel really appealed to me. Not being very familiar with Korean-American culture, I’m sure I missed a few nuances, but I found most of the challenges the characters experience understandable and relatable. We all struggle at times with how to define ourselves and prevent the stories we grew up with from limiting us.
Unfortunately, the book got off to a slow start, and V’s story didn’t resonate with me as much as Sharon’s story did. I liked the portions of the book set at the college, even though some of the details of what was happening didn’t always make sense. I thought most of the characters were interesting, and I enjoyed seeing how their relationships developed. I liked the ending. I’m curious to know how the story might land on a second reading.
The audiobook production was excellent, and I enjoyed the dual narration by Catherine Ho for Sharon’s chapters and Da Eun Yoon for V’s chapters. They have distinctive voices and speech patterns to suit each character, and the ability to convey mood and emotion effectively. The story works well as an audiobook.
I think this would appeal most to fans of magical academy stories who have a good familiarity with fairytales and a willingness to go with the flow until the story starts to make more sense.
I received a free advanced review copy of the ebook and audiobook through NetGalley. I volunteered to provide an honest review.
Unfortunately, the book got off to a slow start, and V’s story didn’t resonate with me as much as Sharon’s story did. I liked the portions of the book set at the college, even though some of the details of what was happening didn’t always make sense. I thought most of the characters were interesting, and I enjoyed seeing how their relationships developed. I liked the ending. I’m curious to know how the story might land on a second reading.
The audiobook production was excellent, and I enjoyed the dual narration by Catherine Ho for Sharon’s chapters and Da Eun Yoon for V’s chapters. They have distinctive voices and speech patterns to suit each character, and the ability to convey mood and emotion effectively. The story works well as an audiobook.
I think this would appeal most to fans of magical academy stories who have a good familiarity with fairytales and a willingness to go with the flow until the story starts to make more sense.
I received a free advanced review copy of the ebook and audiobook through NetGalley. I volunteered to provide an honest review.
July 11, 2026
I tried.
I tried and I wanted to.
The Loom Tree sounded so interesting and I think it actually might have been...
Unfortunately, I have no clue what happened.
Literally.
Things happened in chapter 1 that seemed to have been completely irrelevant by chapter 2, which I had already forgotten about by the end of chapter 3 because they in turn seemed to have no relevant connection to any further plot.
Generally, I don't have an issue with that, assuming it might make more sense later, but here it really didn't feel like it would. And I reached the point where I realised I had zero clue what was actually going on because the book just lost me or rather never really got me. Which is why I DNFed.
It almost felt like the book couldn't quite decide on the tone and vibe, on what it wanted to be, so it had to do some exploring. Unfortunately, thats how it lost me. Or rather, never got me to begin with.
Generally, I think this might be a good read depending on where this goes and it's likely that this just wasn't for me. Maybe I'd enjoy it if I picked it up and tried again at a later time, who knows. Either way, I hope others have an easier time staying with the story.
--
Thank you to NetGalley, RB Media and Angela Mi Young Hur for an ALC of The Loom Tree
I tried and I wanted to.
The Loom Tree sounded so interesting and I think it actually might have been...
Unfortunately, I have no clue what happened.
Literally.
Things happened in chapter 1 that seemed to have been completely irrelevant by chapter 2, which I had already forgotten about by the end of chapter 3 because they in turn seemed to have no relevant connection to any further plot.
Generally, I don't have an issue with that, assuming it might make more sense later, but here it really didn't feel like it would. And I reached the point where I realised I had zero clue what was actually going on because the book just lost me or rather never really got me. Which is why I DNFed.
It almost felt like the book couldn't quite decide on the tone and vibe, on what it wanted to be, so it had to do some exploring. Unfortunately, thats how it lost me. Or rather, never got me to begin with.
Generally, I think this might be a good read depending on where this goes and it's likely that this just wasn't for me. Maybe I'd enjoy it if I picked it up and tried again at a later time, who knows. Either way, I hope others have an easier time staying with the story.
--
Thank you to NetGalley, RB Media and Angela Mi Young Hur for an ALC of The Loom Tree
July 13, 2026
Thanks so much to NetGalley for this ALC.
The Loom Tree is an ambitious and imaginative blend of folklore, fairy tales, and dark academia that offers something a little different from the usual magical school story. I especially enjoyed how the author weaves (he he) together myths from different cultures while exploring themes of identity, heritage, family, and belonging. The world-building is rich and creative, and the concept of stories and ancestry shaping reality was fascinating throughout.
The book does ask a lot from the reader. At times the mythology, magic system, and large cast of characters felt dense, and I occasionally found myself trying to piece together exactly what was happening. However, once the various threads (hehehehe) began to connect, the story became much more rewarding.
Overall, this is a thought-provoking fantasy filled with folklore, mystery, and heart. It loses a star for occasionally being overwhelming and uneven in pacing, but it's a memorable read that will appeal to readers who enjoy complex world-building, mythology, and stories about identity and family. For fans of any of the fibre arts you'll feel seen with less known tools being spun in (tehehe) as part of the character building and folklore.
The Loom Tree is an ambitious and imaginative blend of folklore, fairy tales, and dark academia that offers something a little different from the usual magical school story. I especially enjoyed how the author weaves (he he) together myths from different cultures while exploring themes of identity, heritage, family, and belonging. The world-building is rich and creative, and the concept of stories and ancestry shaping reality was fascinating throughout.
The book does ask a lot from the reader. At times the mythology, magic system, and large cast of characters felt dense, and I occasionally found myself trying to piece together exactly what was happening. However, once the various threads (hehehehe) began to connect, the story became much more rewarding.
Overall, this is a thought-provoking fantasy filled with folklore, mystery, and heart. It loses a star for occasionally being overwhelming and uneven in pacing, but it's a memorable read that will appeal to readers who enjoy complex world-building, mythology, and stories about identity and family. For fans of any of the fibre arts you'll feel seen with less known tools being spun in (tehehe) as part of the character building and folklore.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This didn't hit for me, but I'm sure there will be others who completely disagree. This is the beauty of reading and finding your niche. I very much enjoyed how the Korean folklore was represented and how the main character grows throughout her experience as a first-year collegiate undergrad. This is what saved me from not finishing the book. However, I'm not sure why this book was given academia billing in its description/teaser as there's not much on the academia side except for the setting.
As I was gifted the audiobook ARC without the book, I found that I had to rewind several times while listening in order to comprehend the events of the story. This was no fault of the narrators (Da Eun Yoon and Catherine Ho) or editing, but the story itself does not transition well between ideas. While this helped to make the story more magical and moved the momentum of the story it didn't help with my understanding.
#TheLoomTree #NetGalley #RBMedia
Thank you to RB Media for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
As I was gifted the audiobook ARC without the book, I found that I had to rewind several times while listening in order to comprehend the events of the story. This was no fault of the narrators (Da Eun Yoon and Catherine Ho) or editing, but the story itself does not transition well between ideas. While this helped to make the story more magical and moved the momentum of the story it didn't help with my understanding.
#TheLoomTree #NetGalley #RBMedia
Thank you to RB Media for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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