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A review by podanotherjessi
A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I am very conflicted about this book. I loved the story and the characters, the romance was sweet, the themes were great. But there were some world building elements that I felt very uncomfortable.
This is very clearly fantasy Europe, which is fine, but then it has fantasy editions of real religions (with particular emphasis on Catholicism and Judaism). And I'm just not sure how well that was done? There are changes to these religions to make them fit the fantasy world, but they're still very recognizable in some of the structural elements (like having a Pope) and the kind of biases people exhibit toward them (like antisemetic stereotypes). And I just found myself uncomfortable with that execution. Specifically, it felt odd to have the Hebrew terms for Jewish ideals used in the book given it wasn't actually Judaism, just a fantasy religion based on it.
I think the worldbuilding fell into a weird place where it wasn't far enough from the real world to make sense for it not to just BE the real world with fantasy elements used as needed (something like Nethercott's Thistlefoot, for example). And if Saft wanted it to not be the real world, she could have pushed things further away and not used so much from the real world. The allegory could have still landed without it.
Overall though, I did really like this book. I'm just a little confused. Would love to see some own-voices Jewish and Irish Catholic reviews of it, honestly.
This is very clearly fantasy Europe, which is fine, but then it has fantasy editions of real religions (with particular emphasis on Catholicism and Judaism). And I'm just not sure how well that was done? There are changes to these religions to make them fit the fantasy world, but they're still very recognizable in some of the structural elements (like having a Pope) and the kind of biases people exhibit toward them (like antisemetic stereotypes). And I just found myself uncomfortable with that execution. Specifically, it felt odd to have the Hebrew terms for Jewish ideals used in the book given it wasn't actually Judaism, just a fantasy religion based on it.
I think the worldbuilding fell into a weird place where it wasn't far enough from the real world to make sense for it not to just BE the real world with fantasy elements used as needed (something like Nethercott's Thistlefoot, for example). And if Saft wanted it to not be the real world, she could have pushed things further away and not used so much from the real world. The allegory could have still landed without it.
Overall though, I did really like this book. I'm just a little confused. Would love to see some own-voices Jewish and Irish Catholic reviews of it, honestly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Animal death, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Abandonment