The Moth Keeper Book Review

I’m not going to lie and say that I haven’t experienced burnout while working on this website. I read many books at once, and I have to balance that out with my full-time job as an archivist, doing my share of the chores at my home, and raising three cats. Sometimes, it can be lonesome. Luckily, I came across a book that spoke to me about that. It’s called The Moth Keeper by K. O’Neill, and it’s a fantastic middle-grade graphic novel with its beautiful illustrations, memorable characters, and the themes of burnout and community.

The Moth Keeper is about a newly-appointed Moth Keeper who wants to see the sun for the first time. Anya is finally a Moth Keeper – the protector of the lunar moths that allow the Night-Lily flower to bloom once a year. It’s a position that holds great responsibility and honor. Her village needs the flower to continue thriving, and she is excited to prove her worth and give thanks to her community. However, being a Moth Keeper isn’t exactly what Anya thought it would be. It involves long nights in the cold desert, and the moths reside far from the village. She is isolated and lonely. Despite her dedication, Anya wonders what it would be like to live in the sun and bask in its warmth. She increasingly obsesses over it, and when she takes a chance to stay up to see the daylight, her village and lunar moths are left to deal with the consequences.

The illustrations are a key part of any graphic novel since they bring the story visually to life, and the ones in The Moth Keeper do just that. It utilizes a lot of warm colors like orange, blue, pink, purple, and gray for both daytime and nighttime scenes, but they are the most striking in the latter. I was also amazed by how many scenes where there’s little to no dialogue. O’Neill clearly knew that the visuals were strong in both the backgrounds and the characters. I could feel the isolation and anxiety Anya feels whenever she has to perform her job as well as the worry and support from people like her friend Estell and her mentor Yeolen.

Speaking of the characters, O’Neill does a great job with developing them, physically and mentally. Each is designed to look like a combination of a human and an animal. For example, Anya appears to be a regular human being, but she has fox ears. I understand that this is a trademark of O’Neill’s illustrations. I enjoy that because every character has a unique look with different animal body parts, a variety of skin colors, and are sometimes in same-sex relationships. They also do a fantastic job with fleshing out each player in the story. Anya wants to be the best moth keeper not only to give back to the village that helped her through hard times, but also to try to overcome her fear of the dark because her mother left her alone in the middle of the night. In addition, Yeolen – the previous moth keeper – knows how taxing the job is, so he attempts to offer assistance to Anya while respecting her independence. His partner Aimoss doesn’t always understand what Yeolen went through, but he’s always there for him.

The strongest aspect of this graphic novel are its themes of burnout and community. Right from the start, I knew what kind of environment they were in, and it’s one that I wanted to be in. They were supportive of what Anya was doing. Each villager, especially Yeolen and Estell, attempt to assist her in making sure she doesn’t get burnt out. She didn’t always ask for help, so it could be hard for them to know if she needed it or not. When something goes awry with the lunar moths, each of them expresses sadness as Anya passes by, yet they don’t blame her. As Yeolen said, “We all let you down.”

The Moth Keeper made a great argument for the need for community in combating burnout. Yes, I know that this is technically meant for a young audience, but even children can feel overworked. Burnout affects all ages.

If I had one nitpick, it would be that it takes about half the book to get the plot, as in Anya wanting to know what it’s like to be in the daytime. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the world building with the origin story of the moon spirit and of the girl who could only be happy when the moon was full. However, I think the author could have gotten to the main conflict quicker. 

The Moth Keeper by K. O’Neill is a great graphic novel that tackles burnout and community. The illustrations are wonderful to look at, especially how it utilizes a warm color palette to tell the story. The characters have unique designs and clear motivations. The best thing about it is how it handles burnout and community by making everyone an active participant in ensuring that Anya wasn’t feeling too stressed out. I love that each person is all for the collective as opposed to about themselves. I would recommend it to readers of all ages, especially those who love graphic novels, moths, animal-human hybrid characters, and community-focused stories. If you know someone who might be experiencing burnout, give The Moth Keeper to them. It might be able to help them out.

Before I go, I want to let everyone know that I have recorded the latest episode of the Adapt Me Podcast. Returning guest Alyson Wick and I talk about how we would adapt this novel into an animated short film. Keep an eye out for the link.

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