There is no doubt in that fantasies are an important fulfilling genre in literature. Most of popular fantasies use magic or supernatural power that young characters somehow gain through unimagined satisfying ways. The thrill comes from the imagined possession of extraordinary powers.

While the power in the protagonists in most fantasies does not have much to do what the characters work or endeavor to win them. So whatever fulfillment the young readers many have had in reading in fact turns out "just fun."

I'd like to talk about the touching elements in a fantasy world, that provides the adventure, but human relationships provide the means of survival and growth. The story doesn't ask what superpower the protagonists gain through adventure. There is no one to teach magic. Instead, there is an ordinary boy, a door to an impossible world, friends who refuse to leave him alone, and a grandfather who is dead and yet still has a role to play when the children are in danger.

Opening the Door to Maktharon begins somewhere different - with an ordinary child facing experiences too large to overcome alone. One day, 12-year-old Suhoon faces his mother's death. To him, the door to Maktharon opens onto an extraordinary adventure, but the heart of the story is lasting factors that are human: courage in the face of fear, friends who come to one another's aid, and the strength a child receives from family, including the wisdom and protection of a grandfather.

The children do not become superheroes. They become braver human beings.

Opening the Door to Maktharon is fantasy that takes young readers beyond the mundane and brings them back with the excitement only children can challenge to find and own. A rare creation I've found in decades in Korean publications!

Jungsook Kim