The Mirror Realm Cycle Book 1
Author: Ariel Kaplan
Genre: Fantasy
Hardcover; Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781645660576; 9781645660941
Erewhon Books
576 Pages
$15.46; $22.57; $14.54 Amazon
September 26, 2023
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Toba Peres can speak, but not shout; sleep, but not dream. She can write with both hands at once, in different languages, but she keeps her talents hidden at her grandparents' behest.
Naftaly Cresques sees things that aren't real, and dreams things that are. Always the family disappointment, Naftaly would still risk his life to honor his father's last wishes.
After the Queen demands every Jew convert or face banishment, Toba and Naftaly are among thousands of Jews who flee their homes. Defying royal orders to abandon all possessions, Toba keeps an amulet she must never take off. Naftaly smuggles a centuries-old book he's forbidden to read. But the Inquisition is hunting these particular treasures -- and they're not hunting alone.
Toba stumbles through a pomegranate grove into the mirror realm of the Mazik: mythical, terrible immortals with an Inquisition of their own, equally cruel and even more powerful. With the Mazik kingdoms in political turmoil, this Inquisition readies its bid to control both realms.
In each world, Toba and Naftaly must evade both Inquisitions long enough to unravel the connection between their family heirlooms and the realm of the Mazik. Their fates are tied to this strange place, and it's up to them to save it.
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I must say that I am not a huge fan of fantasies, but I decided to read this anyway. It is a story of two remarkable individuals who are brought together by fate; two worlds that are connected by a pomegranate gate. Two people who are Jewish and refuse to give up their religion, and two people who have powers that they have not been able to use. It is these connections which create the story and tell the tale.
Toba and Naftaly are only in the beginning of their journey to find out where they belong. They are facing two separate Inquisitions from two different worlds, and yet, even though each faces their own trials, somehow they manage to make a difference in these worlds.
This is a complicated book with many characters, and the POV is from both Toba's and Naftaly's. I liked a lot of this book, but of course, I hate cliffhangers, and since this is Book One, I knew first off that it would have one. It is a large book (576 pages) so going in I knew it would take a while. That said, there were pros and cons, but I managed to get through it regardless.
For a fantasy, the book is written well. The fact that both characters are Jewish is something different, but it is written in just that manner. It is a dark book, but the words flow off the page; it is a book about magic and other things, and it crosses the realms easily.
For the most part, I enjoyed reading this. The characters were exactly as they were supposed to be; and the ending gives you enough to know what the second book will be.
I won this book from the publisher but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Ariel Kaplan's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/ariel-kaplan/
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