A unique take on Jewish history and legend, with the prospect that it will pay off further in later books.
This debut fantasy follows two young Jews escaping the Inquisition who discover their connection to another world.
In a region resembling Renaissance-era Spain—to the extent that it includes Christians, Muslims, Jews, and the works of medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides—the Inquisition is coming, and Jews must flee or convert. Naftaly Cresques, a bad tailor tormented by true visions and odd dreams of familiar-seeming places peopled by square-pupiled inhabitants, is among the refugees. Strong-willed fellow refugee Elena Peres soon drags Naftaly into the search for her lost granddaughter, Toba. Toba is a strangely weak and strangely gifted young woman—she cannot run or shout but can simultaneously translate a book into Latin with one hand and Arabic with the other—who has disappeared into a burst of light within a pomegranate grove. She has been transported to the realm of the square-pupiled people, the magical, long-lived race known as the Maziks, who are still suffering the effects of a brutal political coup and spiritual upheaval centuries before. As Toba explores her own mysterious connection to the Maziks and struggles for control of her newly discovered magical gifts, Naftaly faces deadly challenges both on the road and in his dreams, and both become entangled with the Maziks’ dangerous intrigues. It is perhaps a bit confusing that the mortal world of the book, which specifically names the languages, religions, and politics of our own history, is set entirely in imaginary lands. On the other hand, a great deal of Jewish-inspired fantasy tends to employ a coded version of Judaism, and some might find it refreshing to read a book with clearly identified Jewish protagonists and that directly draws on Jewish rituals and culture instead of cloaking them in author-invented terms. It is also refreshing that although the introductions of Naftaly and Toba initially suggest to the experienced reader of traditional fantasy novels that they are destined to become a couple, that expectation is shattered fairly definitively. The worldbuilding is intricate and takes up most of the plot, which unfortunately causes the pacing to drag somewhat. The climax is exciting, but it's clear that the book is mainly a setup for actions that will take place in future volumes, which makes this installment an intriguing tease but not entirely satisfying in and of itself.
A unique take on Jewish history and legend, with the prospect that it will pay off further in later books.Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781645660576
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Erewhon
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Suspenseful and terrifying; Moreno-Garcia hits it out of the park yet again.
A graduate student studying an obscure horror author is visited by a haunting of her own.
Minerva Contreras, one of the protagonists of Mexican Canadian author Moreno-Garcia’s latest, has always had a thing for the dark side. As a girl in Mexico, she “preferred to slip into the tales of Shirley Jackson rather than go out dancing with her friends,” and as a grad student in 1998 Massachusetts, she’s writing her thesis on Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure horror author and H.P. Lovecraft contemporary who only published one novel during her lifetime, The Vanishing. Beatrice was an alum of the college where Minerva studies, but Minerva still struggles to find information about her, until one of Beatrice’s acquaintances, Carolyn Yates, agrees to let Minerva examine Beatrice’s personal papers, which contain the author’s account of the disappearance of her college roommate, a quirky Spiritualist named Virginia Somerset. As Minerva tries to figure out what happened to Virginia, things start getting weird—she starts hearing strange noises, and begins to wonder whether a student who went AWOL actually met with a bad end. She also begins to notice parallels between what’s happening and the stories she heard from her great-grandmother Alba, whose family endured horrific experiences at the hands of a witch in Mexico in 1908. The point of view shifts among Minerva, Alba, and Beatrice in their various time periods, a technique which Moreno-Garcia uses effectively; it’s impressive how she keeps the narrative tension running parallel in each one. The writing is beautiful, which is par for the course for Moreno-Garcia, and in Minerva, she has created a deeply original character, steely but yearning. This is yet another triumph from one of North America’s most exciting authors.
Suspenseful and terrifying; Moreno-Garcia hits it out of the park yet again.Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9780593874325
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
