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A review by karis321
Woven From Clay by Jenny Birch
2.0
~~Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC!~~
I've read some great reimaginings of golem mythology, such as Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros and This Dark Descent duology by Kalyn Josephson; it has even driven a deeper want to learn more about golems (And Jewish mythology, by extension). This book did heighten that curiosity, but not in a good way, unfortunately.
I'll be plain and say this book was just so boring. There was so much unnecessary juvenile drama that didn't do anything to make the characters go beyond their one-dimensional personalities. The whole thing with Brick (Yes, that's the name of Terra's non-love interest) was exhausting to read about, and the fact Terra actively choose not to tell him the truth of their relationship (Or any one of the other side characters with an obvious, and incredibly stupid, earth related names) annoyed me so damn much. On top of that, I hated Thorne because, at first, he was a creepy stalker, then for his terrible communication and habit of ghosting Terra for days until randomly showing up when the plot needed him, too. The villains were so cartoonishly evil, and I barely registered them as a valid threat. The story tried really hard to "redeem" or explain some behaviors to make them seem more complex, but it just didn't work.
The worldbuilding with the witches and the guild juxtaposed terrible with the contemporary setting. Forgive the metaphor, but the story felt like it was smashing two different color clays together to make a prettier one, only for it to turn out drabber than what you expected. Plus, the witch lore wasn't that much interesting, and I thought the use of food and sleep to be the method of replenishing magic to be so basic and boring; it got weirdly childish at times, too.
The only parts of the story I thought were somewhat interesting were when the themes of adoption were explored. Terra shares a lot of feelings regarding the loneliness adoptees have, and the using golems as a metaphor could have worked if this was written better. I did see that Birch herself was an adoptee, and I see how personal this was for her, but everything else around it really bogged down the message, in my opinion.
All in all, this wasn't for me, and I'm sad because I wanted to read more good books with golems in it. Guess I'll be looking elsewhere.
I've read some great reimaginings of golem mythology, such as Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros and This Dark Descent duology by Kalyn Josephson; it has even driven a deeper want to learn more about golems (And Jewish mythology, by extension). This book did heighten that curiosity, but not in a good way, unfortunately.
I'll be plain and say this book was just so boring. There was so much unnecessary juvenile drama that didn't do anything to make the characters go beyond their one-dimensional personalities. The whole thing with Brick (Yes, that's the name of Terra's non-love interest) was exhausting to read about, and the fact Terra actively choose not to tell him the truth of their relationship (Or any one of the other side characters with an obvious, and incredibly stupid, earth related names) annoyed me so damn much. On top of that, I hated Thorne because, at first, he was a creepy stalker, then for his terrible communication and habit of ghosting Terra for days until randomly showing up when the plot needed him, too. The villains were so cartoonishly evil, and I barely registered them as a valid threat. The story tried really hard to "redeem" or explain some behaviors to make them seem more complex, but it just didn't work.
The worldbuilding with the witches and the guild juxtaposed terrible with the contemporary setting. Forgive the metaphor, but the story felt like it was smashing two different color clays together to make a prettier one, only for it to turn out drabber than what you expected. Plus, the witch lore wasn't that much interesting, and I thought the use of food and sleep to be the method of replenishing magic to be so basic and boring; it got weirdly childish at times, too.
The only parts of the story I thought were somewhat interesting were when the themes of adoption were explored. Terra shares a lot of feelings regarding the loneliness adoptees have, and the using golems as a metaphor could have worked if this was written better. I did see that Birch herself was an adoptee, and I see how personal this was for her, but everything else around it really bogged down the message, in my opinion.
All in all, this wasn't for me, and I'm sad because I wanted to read more good books with golems in it. Guess I'll be looking elsewhere.