A Witch’s Life in Mongol Volume 1 Review
Sitara, a little slave girl, is bought by the household of Mistress Fatima, the widow of a learned scholar in the city of Tus in Khwarazm (thirteenth century Iran/Persia). The girl seems not in the least interested in study but the young son of the household, Muhammad, perseveres and after he utilizes many clever devices to catch her attention she becomes a diligent student, learning to read and write. One of the treasures of his late father’s library is Euclid’s Elements. Muhammad leaves home to study in Nishapur – but then the Mongols (or the Nomads as the people of Tus call them) ride in, destroying everything in their wake. Sitara stays behind with her mistress to protect the books – but one of Genghis Khan’s sons, Prince Tolui, is looking for a certain work: the precious Euclid (his wife asked him to bring it back for her!) and breaks in. He is furious when Sitara calls him a thief – and raises his sword. Her mistress throws herself in front of her to protect her and is killed. Sitara, alongside the other surviving women and children, is taken away to serve the great khan and his family.
However, she’s surprised to be approached by the young interpreter who found the Euclid. Crafty Shira from Samarkand suggests they work together, so they offer their services – and Prince Tolui assigns Sitara (now calling herself Fatima) to serve his wife, Princess Sorghaghtani, the one who requested the Euclid. But tensions in the Mongol hierarchy among the four sons of Genghis Khan (and their wives) are rising and Fatima/Sitara realizes: Everything here is my enemy. I’ll resist to the bitter end, even if I do so all by myself.
A Witch’s Life in Mongol is the first of Tomato Soup’s manga to be published in English and, as well as having been nominated twice for the Manga Taisho Award in 2023 and 2024, there’s an anime series in the works, Jaagadar, from no less a studio than Science Saru! And the instant you see the mangaka’s very distinctive, unconventional graphic style, you’ll know why it must have appealed to that particular studio. I’ve been trying to define the influences and I was reminded of Tezuka’s historical series not only in the character designs but also in the consistent use of stark black and white (there’s very little grey employed and then only as shading). Even the use of colour on the cover art is minimal with much reliance on decorative patterns. (I wondered if Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis might also have been an influence, conscious or subconscious.) I was not entirely convinced I’d be able to take the story as seriously as the historical subject matter demands because many of the characters are in a version of super-deformed, or childlike in stature. Faces are also difficult to read, especially with the Mongol hordes (is this done on purpose?). Prince Tolui is often depicted with the features and expressions of a malicious child even though he is a grown man with wives and sons and the most likely by Mongol law to inherit. However, the story itself is strong and grim enough for me to – just about! – put my concerns aside and accept the manga as an unusual and retro art-styled take on the story of a resourceful young woman surviving on her wits in thirteenth-century Asia. The book has a Teen rating but doesn’t sugar-coat the brutality of the Mongolian invaders; it might not show many of their acts of violence, but we’re left in no doubt as to the outcomes.
Facts regarding the historical background are fed into the story with just enough information at any one moment to explain the events but not to overwhelm the reader. All in all, this is an ‘interesting’ beginning to Sitara’s saga but as we see her gradually mastering the Mongol language as she bides her time and adjusts to the rhythms of the nomadic life, we can only guess where the story of the ‘witch’ is going to take her next.
The translation for Yen Press is in the very capable hands of Amanda Haley with lettering by Aila Nagamine that ably conveys when people are speaking different languages, as well as adding explanatory notes in the text between panels in a small but readable font such as Ordo = Mongolian court (there are no translation notes). At the end there’s a helpful map, a simplified family tree for Genghis Khan, a guide to the members of Mistress Fatima’s household and a couple of paragraphs about slavery in the Islamic world at the time. A two-page preview/trailer for Volume 2 brings the book to an end; the second volume (of five so far) is due out in November.
Our review copy was supplied by Yen Press.
