How
To Build A Golem And Terrify People
Author: Alette J. Willis
Floris Books
224 books (paperback ed.)
Author: Alette J. Willis
Floris Books
224 books (paperback ed.)
Edda
is tired of her nickname, 'Mouse', and wants to be braver. But when
her house is burgled on her thirteenth birthday, Edda is more afraid
than ever. That is until new boy Michael Scot starts school. There's
something peculiar -- and very annoying -- about know-it-all Michael.
He claims to be a great alchemist who can help Edda overcome her
fears by teaching her to build a golem. But surely they can't bring a
giant mud monster to life? Can they? (Source:
Floris Books)
Note:
I was provided a free e-copy of this book by the publisher via
NetGalley. No monetary compensation was involved in the development
of this review.
I
came into this story knowing pretty much nothing about the plot
beyond the title (dang it, Goodreads, why didn't you have a summary
for this?). In a way, I'm kind of glad. Despite the rather 'okay'
opening, by the time after the burglary and Michael the mysterious
starts to make his presence known in Edda's life I found myself
irreversibly drawn into Alette Willis' story. Fans of coming-of-age
novels with a supernatural bent will certainly enjoy this one. Plus,
who doesn't love a good golem in their middle school lit?
In
the vein of stories like Vera Brosgol's graphic novel Anya's
Ghost and Yukako Kabei's light novel series Kieli,
author Alette J. Willis' How To Build A Golem And Terrify People
is a charmingly effective mixture of a young girl coming into her own
during adolescence as well as exploring a world of magic – or in
young Edda's case, alchemy. It also turns into a very entertaining
lesson on history and various aspects of Jewish folklore as Edda and
her new companion go through various trials in making her a golem
that will protect her and make her fears go away.
I
read How To Build A Golem on my Kindle and was amazed at how fast I
blew through it. The ease in reading came from the writing style –
the just-enough-details set at a clipped pace writing that is common
in books for middle school and early young adult readers – as well
as the magnetic attraction of the story itself. The more I read of
Edda and Michael, the more time I wanted to spend with her. Her
struggles as a young artist who is insecure in her art and feels like
she can't stand up for herself really spoke to me on a basic level.
The
one thing about Edda I found odd was how quickly she realized certain
things, like some of the quirks of the golem and what was terrorizing
her garden. This is a weird complaint, yes, but I was thinking that
it would take her longer to realize some of the more pertinent
details as that usually adds to the overall dramatic tension.
However, in the grand scheme of things and considering it is a
tightly paced novel, it's a minor detail that can be ultimately
overlooked.
Michael
was a wondrous foil to Edda's character. It's rather funny that his
outward appearance is so Harry Potter, but his inner character is
like a darker Hermione Granger – or a Horace Slughorn, considering
his purpose is to make Edda a better, more realized person. Like a
true magical figure, his character is shrouded in mystery until the
very end but his friendship with Edda is no mystery, even if it
turned out to be much more faceted than previously thought.
A
surprising character turned out to be Euan, the school bully who
terrorizes Edda and is pretty much the bane of her existence. He is
also the prime suspect in who burglarized her home and squashed all
of her things. But here is the strength of Alette J. Willis'
writing; she is able to give characters deep, believable
transformations just like Michael and Edda transformed a bevy of
ingredients into a golem. If you hate Euan like I did at the
beginning, stick around for the last third of the book and you may
find yourself growing a soft spot for this bully like I did.
Speaking
of golems, I loved that Willis made its creation so detailed and
layered. She did not shy away from its Hebrew roots, which is a plus.
More than a plot device, the golem became a character in itself. The
scenes with the golem were amazingly tense and exciting; I was
surprised as how much book-appropriate dread the author was able to
work in.
The
only downside to reading this book on the Kindle was the slightly
wonky formatting. Maybe it was the file or a formatting error, but
there were a lot of odd line breaks and not all the chapter heading
graphics were present. If you want to read this – and you should –
then you should definitely pick up the paperback instead until the
publisher gets around to fixing the file.
Software
follies aside, I really enjoyed reading How To Build A Golem. It was
a solid, magical middle school novel with a likeable and utterly
relateable main protagonist and a well-written cast of characters in
a vividly set Scottish town. I look forward to reading more of
Willis' writing as well as more works of fiction from Floris Books.
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