Graci Kim Books In Order

Publication Order of Gifted Clans Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Graci Kim
Author Graci Kim is a Korean-Kiwi diplomat turned author that writes about all of the magic she wants to see in the world.

In a previous life she was once a cooking show host, a diplomat for the New Zealand foreign service, and she ran a business that turned kid’s drawings into cuddly little plushies.

When Graci’s not lost in her own imagination, you can find her eating ramyeon, reading, drinking flat whites, watching television, and most likely hugging a dog (or preferably, many).

“The Last Fallen Star” was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award for “Best Middle Grade & Children’s Book”.

“The Last Fallen Star” is dear to Graci’s heart and it was borne out of the same folklore and myths that her parents and halmeoni (grandma) told her while she was growing up. It was inspired by her own love for her sisters and her family, as well as her experiences growing up as a diaspora Korean child.

The story seed that grew into “The Last Fallen Star”, which is also her favorite Korean origin myth. The tale goes that there was this bear and tiger that each desperately wanted to become human. So they prayed to their god for some help, and their god, heeding their call, bestowed upon them this assignment that if they could take a handful of garlic cloves and a bundle of mugwort leaves and stay in a cave for a hundred days, their prayers would be answered.

After twenty days, the tiger got weary. He missed the warmth of the sun and the taste of meat much too much to remain the dark and the cold. So he left the cave, giving up his only opportunity to ever become human. However the bear persevered. And on the 21st day, their god rewarded her by transforming her into this beautiful human, and the first Korean woman to walk this earth.

Graci’s favorite part of writing the novel was getting to know her cast of characters, and falling in love with each one of them, one revision at a time. Sometimes, she would just sit there and wonder about what Riley and her family and friends are up to, if only she could join them.

“The Last Fallen Star” is the first novel in the “Gifted Clans” series and was released in the year 2021. Riley Oh cannot wait to see her sister get initiated into the Gom clan, which is a powerful lineage of Korean healing witches which their family’s belonged to now for generations. Hattie, her sister, is going to earn her Gi bracelet and will finally be able to cast spells without adult supervision. Even though Riley is desperate to follow in her sister’s footsteps when she turns thirteen herself, she is a saram, which is a person without magic.

Riley was adopted, and despite having memorized every single healing spell that she’s ever heard, she often feels like she is the odd one out in her family and the rest of the gifted community. But then Hattie has an idea: what if the two of them were able to cast this spell which would allow Riley to share some of Hattie’s magic? Their sleuthing reveals this promising incantation in the family’s old spell book, and the sisters decide they’ll perform it at Hattie’s initiation ceremony. Should it work, then nobody will ever treat Riley like an outsider again. This is the perfect plan!

Until it’s not. The sisters try violating the Godrealm’s laws, Hattie’s life winds up hanging in the balance, and in order to save her Riley must fulfill quite the impossible task: find the last fallen star. However what even is this star, and how could she possibly find it?

While Riley goes off on her search, she finds she’s meeting all sorts of fantastic creatures and is collaborating with her worst enemies. And when she finds some secrets which could challenge everything that she has ever been taught to believe, she must decide what it truly means to be a witch, what it means to belong, and what it means to be a family.

The way Graci takes lore and traditions and incorporates them into this exciting contemporary fantasy setting makes Korean readers’ hearts soar. It is a fantastical tale filled with humor and heart. Readers that love complex family relationships, magical adventures, and sisterhood, not to mention food should pick this one up. Riley’s positive voice is infectious and is going to have readers wanting to follow her adventures well after the final page has been turned.

“The Last Fallen Moon” is the second novel in the “Gifted Clans” series and was released in the year 2022. For Riley Oh, life as the Godrealm’s last fallen star is not all that it is cracked up to be. Her new divine heritage does not even come with any cool magical powers; half her family and friends (that includes her parents) are unable to even remember her; and to top all of it off, the whole Gom clan is ticked off at her for murdering the Cave Bear Goddess and stripping away all of their healing capabilities.

However when their anger boils over and this group of witches curse Riley’s home, she knows that it is up to her to restore magic back to her own family, even if this means sneaking into the Spiritrealm to do it.

Luckily, she’s got some backup. Along with Hattie, she meets Dahl, a heaven-born boy with shockingly white hair and this fondness for toilets that may not be telling the full truth about who he truly is. Together they are going to discover dark underwater worlds, fight some vicious monsters, and sprint to save the land of the dead from a fate that nobody could’ve foreseen.

This time around, Riley’s not going to all anything to get n the way. Because she is unable to shake the feeling that something horrible is heading their way, and the gifted community will need all of the powers that they can lay their hands on.