A review by mdpenguin
The Book of Esther by Emily Barton

adventurous informative medium-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? No

3.5

This was a mixed bag that mostly came out positive. The biggest chunk of the book is decent hero's journey stuff, but it's set in an interesting world that has enough roots in reality that there's a lot to enjoy learning about. The writing isn't great, but it's also not bad. There's a whole lot of clunky info-dumping towards the beginning and I'm not sure that someone who doesn't have a lot of exposure to Hebrew and traditional Jewish blessings would find the way that the language hops around difficult: it's pretty good about explaining the bits of the Turkic languages that slide in but it leaves a lot of the Hebrew prayers and the little bit of Yiddish here and there untranslated. It didn't phase me but it makes me a little hesitant to recommend it to any of my gentile friends unless they're the sort who are happy to look up stuff they don't understand while reading. Esther's participation in the war was a little uneven and, while her perspective was very interesting, I don't think that it served the story as well as if she'd turned out to be a bit more of a commander. Overall, though, I really liked all of the ideas and found the adventure to be an enjoyable read. I'd love to read a sequel set in the same universe about Martov's Russia; I'm assuming that Martov's Mensheviks beat out Lenin's Bolsheviks since Barton kept referring to the Russians as the Menshevikim.