Revisit the enchanting world of Tea Dragons with an all-new companion story to the two-time Eisner Award-winning graphic novel The Tea Dragon Society!
Creative Staff:
Story: Katie O’Neill
Art: Katie O’Neill
Colors: Katie O’Neill
What They Say:
Rinn has grown up with the Tea Dragons that inhabit their village, but stumbling across a real dragon turns out to be a different matter entirely! Aedhan is a young dragon who was appointed to protect the village but fell asleep in the forest eighty years ago. With the aid of Rinn’s adventuring uncle Erik and his partner Hesekiel, they investigate the mystery of his enchanted sleep, but Rinn’s real challenge is to help Aedhan come to terms with feeling that he cannot get back the time he has lost.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Silverleaf is a peaceful village where people are simply living their lives in harmony alongside the mischievous creatures known as Tea Dragons. Rinn, our non-binary protagonist, aspires to be a cook and is a bit frustrated that it isn’t going as well as they had hoped. What Rinn is really good at though is collecting ingredients from the earth. Rinn doesn’t find that to be a special talent and that is why they feel the need to become better at something useful such as being a cook. One day while foraging for ingredients in the forest, she comes across a sleeping dragon and accidentally wakes him up! The dragon, who goes by the name of Aedhan, is shocked to find that he has been asleep for eighty years! He is constantly depressed about all the time he has lost and not being able to look after the village he swore to protect. Rinn is determined to find a way to help Aedhan make up for lost time. At the same time, Aedhan helps Rinn to realize that they are appreciated and should be proud of what they do.
The entire story of The Tea Dragon Festival is a beautiful one of positivity, inclusiveness and acceptance. There are just so many heartwarming moments to highlight that I don’t even know where to begin! There’s a deaf woman in the village and we learn that everyone in the community learned sign language to be able to communicate with her and not make her feel left out. That’s just lovely. Another charming moment is the actual Tea Dragon Festival when the entire village helps Rinn cook food with different recipes passed down by various village cooks over hundreds of years. Not only that, they also include tea leaves from the different Tea Dragons. Rinn explains that the purpose of this is to help Aedhan feel like he belongs here and that hopefully the food will taste like home. Through the food, which Aedhan shares with Rinn, he is able to see the memories of the years he missed. They both smile and it’s clear that he certainly feels like he belongs now. Community and friendship is a wonderful thing.
My favorite scene has to be when Rinn and Aedhan are out gathering ingredients together. Rinn asks Aedhan if all dragons can shift between human and dragon forms. He confirms that they can but it requires a great deal of magical consciousness. Rinn then asks if dragons can shift between male and female forms. Aedhan replies that they can, if they decide to learn how. He knows a number of dragons that can. Rinn smiles and remarks that that sounds lovely. You can tell that Rinn is struggling with their own gender identity. Aedhan then compliments Rinn’s skillfulness at gathering food from the earth. Rinn shrugs his compliment off and says it’s nothing special. Aedhan responds with my favorite quote from the entire graphic novel.
“Just because something comes easily to you, does not mean it has no value. You find it effortless because you love it, and that is why it is your gift.”
I believe here that Aedhan’s words help Rinn understand that they have a lot to offer the community, that they are appreciated, and that they should be proud of the things they love doing. Their entire exchange in this scene was wholesome and uplifting.
If I had to find fault with the story somewhere, I’d say that I wish a little more time was spent on Rinn’s bounty hunting uncle Erik and his partner Hesekiel. They were tasked with finding out the truth behind Aedhan’s long slumber. They do uncover the mystery and discover it was because of an ancient creature that is able to put people to sleep for decades. However, I felt that everything was resolved rather quickly. I personally wanted to know more details about the ancient creature and the beautiful forest that it wanted everyone to see. That’s okay though because we got another delightful scene at the end of it all. Erik sympathizes with the ancient creature and comments that it just wanted to show off something it was proud of. Hesekiel playfully lays his face on top of Erik’s head and says he knows exactly how that feels. A charming lovey-dovey moment.
Lastly, I can’t forget to mention the artwork. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and the colors are exquisitely vibrant. Combined together, they create an enchanting atmosphere that perfectly compliments this radiant story. Oh, and the Tea Dragons are freaking adorable.
In Summary:
I loved everything about The Tea Dragon Festival. It paints a beautiful picture of acceptance in many forms. There are so many positive messages sprinkled throughout the story, it’s wonderful. It’s such a feel good story that you just can’t help but feel happy. I know I had a smile on my face the entire time I was reading it. This is a companion story to The Tea Dragon Society but worry not, you can still enjoy it without having read the first graphic novel. People of all ages can appreciate this lovely story and I would highly recommend you give it a read.
Grade: A+
Age Rating: 8+
Released By: Oni Press
Release Date: September 17, 2019
MSRP: $21.99 (US)
