Reviews with content warning for Antisemitism - Ring of Solomon

Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

Ring of Solomon by Aden Polydoros

8 reviews

directorpurry's review against another edition

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adventurous funny informative fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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micaelacccc's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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kasanas's review

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3.0

Zach and his little sister Naomi are shopping for their mom’s birthday gift at the flea market. Zach finds a super gaudy ring his mother would love–she collects paraphernalia and items about their Jewish heritage, but soon he finds out it comes with special powers. The wearer gains the ability to talk to animals, and Zach awakens the King of Demons, Ashmedai, who is bonded to the ring. Great timing for Zach; he can use it to scare off his antisemitic, racist, homophobic bully.

Eventually, Zach learns a secret society called the Knights of the Apocalypse wants the ring to trigger the end of the world, and he and his friends must save it.

Oh my gosh, I thought Zach was so funny. He’s so ridiculous, you’d think when you’re in danger you’d learn to close your mouth, but Zach has no filter, seriously. Zach and Sandra’s squabbles were funny too. Their dialogue reads fast because they go back and forth like a ping-pong match.

I like that Aden didn’t take his villains too seriously because it’s a little silly to think about a heavily botoxed group in khaki shorts trying to intimidate Zach and end the world. Like in their attempt to look perfect, they went overboard and botched their faces. Thanks for the silly image, Aden.

The Jewish mythology we were introduced to was intriguing; it was revealed naturally throughout the story, and I enjoyed learning new things–I liked doing some googling in the background. Learning about it with Zach made him more relatable to me; his lack of connection with his heritage–I feel–will resonate with other readers too.

I noticed that some details in the story were missing or just weren’t mentioned earlier. For example, when Zach is thinking about all the strange people he’s run into since carrying the ring, he brings up traits or some other descriptor they have in common, but these details aren’t mentioned the first time we see them, so these clues he uses to show some connection between them feel inconsistent. Also, sometimes Zach was annoying because almost every time he was in trouble, he would blame Ash for it, which happened a lot. (But also take this with a grain of salt cuz this could just be my petty self. You could chalk it up to his age but I was like, you gotta blame Ash for everything that goes wrong?)

Really fun book, I know I’m sticking around for the rest of the trilogy.

3 stars from me!

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starrysteph's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A delightful Jewish fantasy adventure that would have meant the world to me as a young reader.

We’re following Zach, a middle schooler who discovered an unusual antique at a flea market alongside his annoying little sister Naomi. It’s a magical ring - but while it grants him some cool powers, it also summons Ashmedai, King of Demons.

Now Zach, his best friend Sandra, and Ash have to somehow defeat monsters from Jewish folklore, avoid a secret society, and stop an apocalypse. Oh, and it probably wouldn’t hurt to also take down Zach’s school bully and impress the boy he’s crushing on.

Ring of Solomon is short and takes off at rapid speed. There was SO much interesting content here and so much that I wish we could have had time to explore more. I know this is the start of a series, but I think the events of this book could have easily been spread out and expanded. I would have loved more character development for Sandra, more history on Ash, more exploration of Zach’s queer identity, a deeper dive into the Jewish folklore behind the monsters, an expansion of Zach and Sandra’s varying experiences with faith, and so on.

My attention never dropped & I had SO much fun reading. If you know anything about me, you’ll know that pretty much all I need to be happy is a talking animal scene. And we get several. :)

I also think the integration of casual antisemitic experience was done well - it will be all too familiar for Jewish kids and perhaps eye-opening for others.

Overall, this was a fast-paced chaotic adventure that I would recommend to any middle grader looking to take on a new Percy-Jackson-esque read.

CW: bullying, antisemitism, homophobia, slavery, racism, violence, blood, fire, vomit, drowning, kidnapping, brief mention of restricted eating

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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

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beforeviolets's review against another edition

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Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book!

An incredibly fun and adventurous middle-grade novel that I would easily pitch as a queer Jewish Percy Jackson. This is most definitely a book I wish I could've had when I was a kid. I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a diverse middle-grade pick.

It did feel a bit rushed at times, and I think it would've been far more fun for the plot of this book to be stretched out over 3-5 books detailed with more adventures and more folkloric flashbacks. All the elements were there, but felt a little crammed in. There was just soooo much goodness that deserved to be narratively milked.

CW: bullying, antisemitism, racism, violence, blood, fire, emesis, drowning, kidnapping

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kayladaila's review

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC! I will be withholding my review of this book until the Harper Collins Union receives a fair contract.

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lastblossom's review

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adventurous challenging hopeful informative fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

tl;dr
An incredibly fast-paced adventure that hits all the right notes for fans of middle grade mythology.

Thoughts
I had a great time reading this book. Middle grade mythology books can be tricky - the structure is what makes them fun, but stick too close and you run the risk of seeming derivative. Ring of Solomon balances expectations with some great twists, and I especially enjoyed the friendship between Zach and Sandra devoid of any crushes or romantic leanings. A lot of people are going to talk about the strong rep in here, with good reason. I'm not Jewish, so I can't speak to the presentation of the folklore, but as a fellow queer who dislikes rainbows and face paint, my heart absolutely connected with Zach. I think the one thing that caught me off guard is how quickly the story moved. If I didn't know this was the start of a trilogy, I would have guessed that the author only had this one book to fit in everything. The ending ties off neatly enough that this can be considered a standalone, but I do look forward to seeing what comes next.

Thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for an advance copy. All thoughts posted in this review are my own.

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ezwolf's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I think my new favorite genre is Jewish middle grade fantasy where children accidentally befriend a demon/other magical creature. I am so pleased that there are so many Jewish fantasy books out now that I actually have a list to recommend people! I would have loved that as a kid.

The “Dear Reader” at the start was very touching and I loved it. And even in the fantasy setting, Polydoros sets up the very real feeling of “otherness” that comes from being Jewish or queer or Jewish AND queer. And the added helplessness of being part of a minority group while being harassed by school bullies and the way teachers just ignore it instead of taking a stand. I know the book is really more geared toward the fantasy and apocalypse plot but it does a great job paralleling to real world discrimination.

My only complaints were the kind of like “boy humor” jokes which were kind of gross but I know I’m not the target audience so it’s something I can forgive and then also the way the ending just seemed to kind of trail off. Open endings are fine but this seemed waaaay more broadly open ended.

Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

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