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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“If something brings us mutual pleasure and harms no one, it’s a virtue.”
I really wanted to like this. The blurb sounded absolutely amazing and this quickly jumped from my want to read, to my reading list. I loved the exploration of Jewish culture, and it felt like something personal to the author, which I appreciated. It reflected a very raw portrayal of antisemitism in the 1800s and generally, how people in power so often get away with exploiting and hurting those without.
Similarly to 'The Poppy War', this looked at cultural trauma and followed a protagonist who wanted justice and retribution for their people. Similarly, it was visceral and incredibly emotive, which, while saddenning was really interesting to read about.
However, despite the passion for these topics that came through in the book, it feel short on a few things that I was really looking for. Despite the issues being really impactful, a lot of the revelations were crammed towards the end, feeling very obvious, rather than something the author had let us discover.
The characters' relationships just didn't have a lot of impact on me - the love interests seemed to blend together, or only have a handful of interesting moments. Otherwise, both Frankie and Yakov felt more like plot devices than genuine people. Altar also wasn't as engaging as some of the side characters, such as Raizel, so I just didn't get very attached to him. The romance also feel short because of this, which I was quite disappointed by.
This writing style was also kind of lost on me. It seemed very "telling, not showing" and the descriptions never pulled me in, seeming a bit forced. Of course, not all books will work with a lyrical prose, but this one didn't feel very distinctive either, like 'The Foxhole Court' did. While I was quite hooked with the mystery, there weren't many quotes that ever stood out to me, unfortunately.
I'm also not sure whether this was really fantasy. Elements of Jewish culture were real, such as Altar being cursed, and Mrs Brenner's glimmers, but these were so briefly explored, I'm still not sure whether it was meant to be the fantasy element. Seeing as it was labelled as such, this vagueness was dissatisfying.
Overall, I appreciate what the author was trying to do, and I really liked the themes that were explored. But it didn't come through in a lot of the areas I was hoping for, hence only 3 stars.
I really wanted to like this. The blurb sounded absolutely amazing and this quickly jumped from my want to read, to my reading list. I loved the exploration of Jewish culture, and it felt like something personal to the author, which I appreciated. It reflected a very raw portrayal of antisemitism in the 1800s and generally, how people in power so often get away with exploiting and hurting those without.
Similarly to 'The Poppy War', this looked at cultural trauma and followed a protagonist who wanted justice and retribution for their people. Similarly, it was visceral and incredibly emotive, which, while saddenning was really interesting to read about.
However, despite the passion for these topics that came through in the book, it feel short on a few things that I was really looking for. Despite the issues being really impactful, a lot of the revelations were crammed towards the end, feeling very obvious, rather than something the author had let us discover.
The characters' relationships just didn't have a lot of impact on me - the love interests seemed to blend together, or only have a handful of interesting moments. Otherwise, both Frankie and Yakov felt more like plot devices than genuine people. Altar also wasn't as engaging as some of the side characters, such as Raizel, so I just didn't get very attached to him. The romance also feel short because of this, which I was quite disappointed by.
This writing style was also kind of lost on me. It seemed very "telling, not showing" and the descriptions never pulled me in, seeming a bit forced. Of course, not all books will work with a lyrical prose, but this one didn't feel very distinctive either, like 'The Foxhole Court' did. While I was quite hooked with the mystery, there weren't many quotes that ever stood out to me, unfortunately.
I'm also not sure whether this was really fantasy. Elements of Jewish culture were real, such as Altar being cursed, and Mrs Brenner's glimmers, but these were so briefly explored, I'm still not sure whether it was meant to be the fantasy element. Seeing as it was labelled as such, this vagueness was dissatisfying.
Overall, I appreciate what the author was trying to do, and I really liked the themes that were explored. But it didn't come through in a lot of the areas I was hoping for, hence only 3 stars.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
this book made me feel good. i mean like its nice to see jewish characters and stories and it feels good when, even without being the same stream of judaism, i identify with the traditions of these characters. i found the story fun, and engaging, and while sometimes i skimmed some of the action and got a bit lost (my own fault), the story was good and i loved the characters and villains. i think i found the writing style mostly good, but there were times where i skimmed or felt a bit bored by the paragraph. it didnt last long but thats alright. i loved the characters, and how much love was given even to the background characters. i think the unreliability of the narrator was cool. i also think alter is a sweetie.
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Despite a slow start this was a compelling murder mystery with a couple of good twists (even though I saw them coming). I appreciated the depiction of anti-semitism in the US in a time period I wasn’t familiar with. I also enjoyed how we were just immersed into the Jewish community in Chicago without explanation or preamble. Alter really went through it in this book and his anger and rage were palpable and admirable. I also appreciated that the author didn’t shy away from the dark content despite this being a YA book. And the romance between Frankie and Alter was very sweet.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
Loveable characters:
Yes
i am really in my fantasy era right now, what can i say! this book was good. i liked that it focused so much on Jewish culture and how antisemitism affected alter and his family and friends. it's not often that a historical book centers Jewish characters without being about the holocaust, so i appreciated this book providing a new narrative.
i think one area that was lacking was the development of yakov prior to his murder. i would have liked more scenes between him and alter to depict their friendship, making his fate more tragic. he seemed like a two-dimensional character, even when his backstory was fully revealed. i thought it was interesting how there was the mystery of who killed yakov as well as some shady shit happening from other characters, specifically mr. katz. glad that POS died! that was karmic justice babes.
on the flipside, i enjoyed frankie as a character A LOT. i loved his history with alter and how much he was willing to be by his side when shit went down. alter was also a very lovable character and he was really put through the ringer in this book...but often in an angsty, entertaining way.
i think one area that was lacking was the development of yakov prior to his murder. i would have liked more scenes between him and alter to depict their friendship, making his fate more tragic. he seemed like a two-dimensional character, even when his backstory was fully revealed. i thought it was interesting how there was the mystery of who killed yakov as well as some shady shit happening from other characters, specifically mr. katz. glad that POS died! that was karmic justice babes.
on the flipside, i enjoyed frankie as a character A LOT. i loved his history with alter and how much he was willing to be by his side when shit went down. alter was also a very lovable character and he was really put through the ringer in this book...but often in an angsty, entertaining way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Pedophilia
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
I really enjoyed this, though my desire to classify things has again led me to spend far too much time trying to grasp the difference between urban fantasy and fantasy-that-takes-place-in-a-modern-city, if you count Chicago at the end of the 19th century to be modern, and I do. The city, and the World Fair that's going on there at the same time as the events in the novel, is almost a character in itself. Setting is so interwoven with story here that I'm not sure the novel could be set somewhere else, and if it was it wouldn't be the same. That being said, urban fantasy tends to have supernatural populations of some sort, and this just doesn't. There's only single fantastic element here, a central character is essentially possessed by the soul of a murdered friend, and has to hunt down the murderer, and that very limited application of the supernatural kind of shifts it away from urban fantasy proper, I think.
The experiences of minority immigrants, and of anti-Semitism, permeate the text, and it doesn't help that Alter is gay, a fact that keeps him in many ways isolated from the community that he lives in. I haven't read many books with Jewish protagonists that aren't in some way connected with World War Two, certainly very few fantasies, so it was exciting to find this one. Admittedly, I had to resort to the glossary in the back on occasion, but that just meant that I learned new words, which I always like. I also like the relationships that Alter builds up with the people around him - his love interest Frankie; the middle-aged woman who lives next door and whose help he is always refusing until he realises it's a foolish thing to do; the excruciatingly poor fit of a girl he's set up with in a matchmaking scheme, who turns out to be a really good friend instead... It feels like a living world, a living community of people, instead of an indifferent background against which Alter is going about his life.
Anyway, I zipped through it in record time, because it flowed so smoothly that I didn't want to put it down. I'll be making sure to look up more books by the author in future!
The experiences of minority immigrants, and of anti-Semitism, permeate the text, and it doesn't help that Alter is gay, a fact that keeps him in many ways isolated from the community that he lives in. I haven't read many books with Jewish protagonists that aren't in some way connected with World War Two, certainly very few fantasies, so it was exciting to find this one. Admittedly, I had to resort to the glossary in the back on occasion, but that just meant that I learned new words, which I always like. I also like the relationships that Alter builds up with the people around him - his love interest Frankie; the middle-aged woman who lives next door and whose help he is always refusing until he realises it's a foolish thing to do; the excruciatingly poor fit of a girl he's set up with in a matchmaking scheme, who turns out to be a really good friend instead... It feels like a living world, a living community of people, instead of an indifferent background against which Alter is going about his life.
Anyway, I zipped through it in record time, because it flowed so smoothly that I didn't want to put it down. I'll be making sure to look up more books by the author in future!
