A 2026 Illinois Reads Book List Pick

Mae: The Definitive Edition includes all 12 issues of Gene Ha’s masterpiece comic series—remastered and fully realized to the creator’s ultimate vision, with never-before-seen story pages, new story edits, and a cavalcade of behind-the-scenes extra featurettes, all collected in this stunning volume.

Mae's beloved older sister, Abbie, has been missing for years. Mae has her theories about where Abbie might be, but never in her wildest dreams do those theories encompass a fantasy world full of terrifying monsters, power-hungry nobles, and nefarious scientists. That is, until Abbie suddenly returns.

She convinces Mae to return with her to the fantastical realm of Cimrterén to join in her quest to find their missing father. He has disappeared without a trace. Abbie believes it to be the work of the malicious nobility. The sisters must fight their way to the heart of land to find their father.

Along their journey, they’ll come across old friends and dangerous new foes. But even fantasy-locked sisters can have their differences. Together they begin to uncover sinister secrets and piece together a much darker family history than they ever could have imagined.