Reviews

From Dust, A Flame by Rebecca Podos

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gidsreadsthings's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

wellvallie's review

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adventurous dark emotional

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

4.0

there's something so comforting about Rebecca Podos' writing

I haven't read a supernatural book quite like this one before. I liked how well the real and the magical were mixed in this story. It was an entertaining read, and something different than what I have been reading the last few weeks.

The story centers around a teenage girl who wakes up on her 17th birthday to find she's been cursed. Each day she wakes to find her body has a different animal mutation (scales one day, wings on another day, a forked tongue on another day). I found that part of the story very fresh & different! The girl & her brother delve deep into their family roots after their mother goes missing and find out they are Jewish, and have a whole huge family they never knew about. It is also slowly revealed that their mother & grandmother were full of secrets.

There is a lot of Jewish ideology & folklore mixed into the book, along with LGBTQ+ representation.

My rating system:
5 ⭐ = Great story, loved it, would definitely recommend
4 ⭐ = Good story, enjoyed it, worth the read
3 ⭐ = Okay story, some predictable parts, it was fine
2 ⭐ = Lame story, boring, kept losing interest
1 ⭐ = Terrible story, couldn't finish

devrose's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? No

3.75

This book had just the right mix of contemporary YA and Jewish mythology. The narrator got all the Hebrew right, which I greatly appreciated after the last book I read.

I want Hannah and Ari to decide to go to the same college now!

sustainablyspooky's review

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4.0

It's always just been Hannah, her brother, and her mom moving from state to state. Yet something has always felt off with her nomadic mother. It turns out there is so much more to her mom's past than Hannah ever bargained for. And when she starts growing mythical body parts, Hannah goes on a journey to hell and back to save her family from it.

atomic_tourist's review

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I got caught up in the description of this novel as a gay Jewish witchy saga... the truth is that it was a very YA-y book, and that's definitely no longer for me.