If you ask me (and since you clicked on this post, you DID ask me), one of the best things about the current surge in popularity of graphic novels is that publishers are scrambling to bring us new content from new voices around the world.

Finding books in translation is already an uphill battle; finding graphic novels in translation used to be practically unheard of. Then came the manga boom. Then came the manhwa boom. Then we started seeing a smattering of French graphic novels in English.

And now the sky’s the limit. Thankfully.

Late last year, First Second Books, perennially awesome publisher of amazing graphic novels, released an English edition of Janne Kukkonen’s Lily the Thief. Kukkonen’s story, which first appeared in his native Finnish as Voro, is set in a (fairly standard) high fantasy world and follows a young thief (Lily) who’s fed up with the local thieves’ guild that won’t take her seriously or entrust her with any good bounties.

Lily longs to be a master thief, but the Guildmaster only sees a little girl and won’t assign her more than simple pickpocketing jobs. Like any good Strong Female Protagonist™, though, Lily dutifully ignores the men who think they can control her (i.e., all of them), and she sets out to prove her worth… and damn the consequences.

Pretty quickly, Lily uncovers an ancient curse, a demonic cult, a zombie army, and a long-forgotten evil that could destroy the world. As you do. Typical.

The First Second edition of Lily the Thief has been translated by Lola Rogers and features Kukkonen’s stunning art. But don’t let the preteen protagonist and “kid friendly” design of the book fool you.

Plenty of blood, violence, murder, mayhem, and a high body count might make you drop this one in the PG-13 range. (There’s also a scene with Lily sitting in a large bath with a significantly older man, so… there’s that.)

Despite that, we’d heartily recommend Lily the Thief for readers 10 and up. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I’m four times that age. Fingers crossed we see more Lily, more from Janne Kukkonen, and more graphic novels in translations.

Our lives would be richer for it all.