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A review by emilyeehaw
The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros
adventurous
mysterious
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
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 and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia and Pedophilia