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A Magical Girl Retires

A Novel

by Park Seolyeon

Narrator Shannon Tyo

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Length 2 hours 55 minutes

Language English

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Bookseller recommendation

“Drowning in credit card debt and existential dread, a woman decides to try and end her life by jumping off Seoul's Mapo Bridge. She, with a lot of mental back and forth, nearly succeeds - until she's stopped by the beautiful Ah Roa - the magical girl of clairvoyance, who tells her she has a much greater destiny than this. Drawn into a world with so many magical girls there's a whole union to support them, the woman contends with personal and existential threats - climate change, violence against women, capitalism, and power imbalance - in a way that has a lot of whimsy, fun, and empathy for the people who get lost in bad situations. Includes magical girl transformations, manhwa illustrations, a cute sapphic love story, and a messy heroine who really just wants to wipe her debt. "...the first battle a magical girl must fight is a fight to save herself..."”
— Sierra • Page 1 Books

Bookseller recommendation

“A depressed 29-year-old millennial woman struggling with credit card debt and her sense of worth finds out she is a magical girl! With the help of her Guardian Angel, she joins the Union for Magical Girls to fight the crippling war of climate change. Oh, she also has a magical credit card (I need one of those). This fun, whimsical coming of age novella reads like an anime (it took me back to my Sailor Moon days), but also has some serious underlying tones dealing with suicide, debt, and the aftermath of the pandemic. ”
— Anna • Underground Books

Bookseller recommendation

“A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon covered a lot, from feeling lost in your 20s, financial insecurities, and the ever-looming threat of climate change. Magical girls receive their powers as a way for the universe to balance out injustice in the world. Instead of fighting monsters and villains, these magical girls deal with debt, climate change and even trauma. This was an interesting take on the magical girl trope. If you're a fan of Sailor Moon, Madoka Magica, or just magical girls in general, this book is worth a read. It is absolutely beautifully illustrated and please, please, please, read the translator's note once you finish the novel. It just adds so much more to the story. ”
— Amanda • Hub City Bookshop

Bookseller recommendation

“This audiobook was incredibly easy to listen to and entertaining the entire time. Typically when you hear of magical girls, you imagine a fantasy-like world, but this story had such a refreshing take. A Magical Girl Retires is the first book I’ve read that so perfectly executed magical realism, mixing the two aspects together so seamlessly that I found myself transported into the story itself. ”
— Eden • Cavalier House Books

Bookseller recommendation

“Did you grow up watching shows like Sailor Moon, wishing you too could be essentially a highly fashionable superhero, and now you find yourself constantly anxious about the environment and your credit card debt? This book is here for us. It's a fun and quick read that will re-awaken that sparkly, magical transformation-fueled wish for escapism, if it ever did leave. ”
— Valeria • Front Street Books

Summary
About the author

A millennial turned magical girl must combat climate change and credit card debt in this delightful, witty, and wildly imaginative ode to magical girl manga.

Twenty-nine, depressed, and drowning in credit card debt after losing her job during the pandemic, a millennial woman decides to end her troubles by jumping off Seoul’s Mapo Bridge.

But her suicide attempt is interrupted by a girl dressed all in white—her guardian angel. Ah Roa is a clairvoyant magical girl on a mission to find the greatest magical girl of all time. And our protagonist just may be that special someone.

But the young woman’s initial excitement turns to frustration when she learns being a magical girl in real life is much different than how it’s portrayed in stories. It isn’t just destiny—it’s work. Magical girls go to job fairs, join trade unions, attend classes. And for this magical girl there are no special powers and no great perks, and despite being magical, she still battles with low self-esteem. Her magic wand . . . is a credit card—which she must use to defeat a terrifying threat that isn’t a monster or an intergalactic war. It’s global climate change. Because magical girls need to think about sustainability, too.

Park Seolyeon reimagines classic fantasy tropes in a novel that explores real-world challenges that are both deeply personal and universal: the search for meaning and the desire to do good in a world that feels like it’s ending. A fun, fast-paced, and enchanting narrative that sparkles thanks to award-nominated translator Anton Hur, A Magical Girl Retires reminds us that we are all magical girls—that fighting evil by moonlight and winning love by daylight can be anyone's game.

Translated from the Korean by Anton Hur

Fiction Fantasy

Park Seolyeon was born in Cheorwon, South Korea. She made her debut by winning the journal Silcheon Munhak's New Author Prize and received the 2018 Hankyoreh Literary Award for her novel The Woman Who Climbed on the Roof. Her works includes the novels Martha's Job and The Shirley Club, as well as the short-story collections Your Mom's the Better Player and Me, Me, Madeline. She is the recipient of the 2023 Yi Sang Literary Prize and the 2021 Munhakdongne Young Writers Award. She lives in Seoul and writes in a variety of forms and genres, with a focus on gender and labor.