I’d be happy to read an entire book about the families living in Little Syria or the bakery that Chava works at. These moments away from the main plot added to the overall tension.Įvery single character is so complex and I fell in love with them all. Saying that, I also loved the flashbacks to Ahmad’s life when he was free and the interludes that followed Chava’s creator as he hunted her down. It’s beautifully written and the attention to detail is fantastic. Just walking across the street without looking odd is a challenge that they have to overcome if they want to survive. And I really enjoyed how much time was spent exploring the mundane aspects of life that are unfamiliar to the two main characters because these sections really emphasise how out of place they are in the world around them. I loved the slow progression of the plot from Chava’s creation to them both arriving in New York to the development of their friendship to the final moments of the book. Characters are people with backstories and lives rather than just props to hold up the story and help the main characters.

There are several subplots too that revolve around some of the more minor characters and this creates a sense of fullness in the novel. You have that of Chava (a golem) and Ahmad (a djinni) arriving in late nineteenth-century New York and trying to figure out how to survive, the story of Ahmad’s past life and how he was imprisoned in human form, and the story of Chava’s creator. The plot is made up of several intertwining stories. It makes the main characters outsiders in communities that already feel like outsiders in the country that they live in. Since the fantasy elements are so eprominent, the historical setting is almost just part of the story but I like how Wecker explores late ninteenth-century life and the specific challenges that the characters and communities faced during this time. I don’t usually like historical fantasy novels because I get weighed down but this one was gripping. I loved this! I didn’t think I was going to after the first couple of chapters because I felt rather unmoored but it didn’t take too long to fall in love with the characters, the stories, and the drama of it all.įirstly, the mix of genres is wonderful. As far as I’m aware, djinni and jinni are pronounced in exactly the same way so I’m not sure why we use a different spelling in the UK.

I read the UK edition which uses the title The Golem and the Djinni but elsewhere the book is known as The Golem and the Jinni. But a powerful threat will soon bring Chava and Ahmad together again, challenging their existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice. Summary: U nlikely friends whose tenuous attachment challenges their opposing natures – until the night a terrifying incident drives them back into their separate worlds.

The golem and the jinni book review