I feel like this will be a hard review to write, not because I didn’t like the book, but because I did like it, and I’m finding it hard to explain why.

I mean, it’s a book about Chava the Golem and Ahmed the Jinny (genie) and the story of how they meet and why. I read in another review that the person called it a “fairy tale romance” which I don’t think it is at all, actually. I wouldn’t call it a fairy tale, and I definitely wouldn’t call it a “romance”.

The ending is not romantic in any way, but it felt true and as realistic as it could have been, considering, you know, that Chava is literally made of clay with no heart, and Ahmad is a genie in a bottle.

As I said Chava was literally made of clay and shipped off to the “New Land” (New York) to live with her new Master. Her new master dies on the trip over, and Chava finds herself alone in New York, but not for long, and that is how her story begins.

Ahmad is an old genie, who literally lived in a bottle for 1000 years, but is now released and somehow finds himself in a strange land (New York), and that is how his story begins.

We have different POV’s from different people, and I loved trying to make all the pieces into one big puzzle. A few times I was confident I had ‘gotten it’, but then something happened, and I had to realize, that I had in fact not ‘gotten it’.

With that said, I don’t want to give you the idea that it’s a fast-paced story with a lot happening, because it’s not. Yes, a lot does happen but it’s not fast-paced in any way. But then again, it’s the 1890’s so how fast-paced can it be?

All in all this is a very good book, with great writing, very likable characters, and a very interesting storyline, so what’s not to love?

4 stars