⭐️ The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb - 4 / 5 stars ⭐️
Themes: Fantasy, Jewish folklore, Gender switching/Cross dressing
Overall, I thought the book was well paced, told an interesting story and featured interesting characters. I quite enjoyed reading it, especially as it was about Jewish characters and culture, which are topics I have not read much about, and thus know far less about than I really should. The setting was described in such lovely detail that I always felt myself transported into the story after only a few words.
One part that felt off to me was the end, where everything just happened too fast. The revelation of who Sam is came out of nowhere and could've been set up better. As is, he was just set up to maybe be a bit weird, but hardly any hints at his supernatural nature.
Another part that struck me as odd was the times where Sorel, in her disguise, interacted with people she knew from before her escape. While for some, the reasoning that people don't recognise her because it doesn't even enter their minds to think that Sorel could be cross-dressing and living like a homeless person holds, for others it became a bit unbelievable that they would notice absolutely nothing. I think it would've also helped believability if Sorel had been at all nervous in these situations, but I didn't really notice anything like that, which kind of took me out of the story.
Lastly, as someone who isn't Jewish and doesn't know much about Jewish culture, I found myself struggling with some of the terms used. Oftentimes I could kinda work out what a word meant from the context, or, in the case of Yiddish words, from being a native German speaker, but I think it could be helpful to have a short glossary of the Jewish cultural and religious terms used.
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Thank you to Levine Querido for the ARC
Release date: 1. October 2024 (Review originally published 18. August 2024)
