An Ode To The Mythmakers: March 2025 Book Recommendation

In honor of women's history month, I decided that it would be a novel idea for me to read books that are either: books written by women, about women, for women, or popular among women. Unfortunately, with the nature of how busy I was for my midterms, I was only able to complete three books: Untamed by Glennon Doyle (well-written, but not my favorite), It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover (downright terrible), and The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg (Actually my second time reading this). All three of these books have or will have film adaptations in the future, which was why I chose these books to begin with. The One Hundred Nights of Hero is currently in production, with a star-studded cast including Nicholas Galitzine, Charli XCX, and Richard E. Grant, but the news of this adaptation is not a factor in why this book is March's book of the month.

I first came across The One Hundred Nights of Hero at a local library during my freshman year of High School, It had cool art and I basically skimmed through it in the span of two hours, only remembering the art and that vague feminist theme. Several years later, this book popped up again on display, this time, at a different library, so I figured that I should actually put my mind to the book.

Now, about the book itself. The One Hundred Nights of Hero is essentially a modern retelling of The One Thousand and One Nights, with the story of Scheherazade and the various stories she tells Shahryār. The stories have an overarching theme of womanhood and femininity, and are all somewhat endearing. I love the lore, and the worldbuilding put towards this book is extensive in a very poetic way. The artstyle, despite it's thoughful use of limited colors, felt fitting for the tone of the stories. 

I categorize modern-day feminism into two categories, which are defined by vibes, the first of which is what I call "Girlboss" feminism, (Think Barbie, Taylor Swift, and bright pink aesthetics), and the other, which I'll call "Witch" feminism, (Think r/WitchesVsPatriarchy, modern wicca, and Paris Paloma). The One Hundred Nights of Hero expresses a form of storytelling consistent with the themes of the latter, and this book definitly introduced me to a different type of perspective of feminism that is rarely seen in mainstream pop culture. However, unlike what other reviews and praises claim, I wouldn't really consider this a feminism story, but rather just a story with themes of feminism littered throughout. Overall, This is a good book, and is one I would recommend, for it's captivating stories, accompanied by beautiful artwork. For the first graphic novel to be recommended, I give this book a 4.