On the border of 3.75/4 stars, rounded up. A gorgeously written and rigorously researched story with incisive imagery and richly realized themes of autonomy, social hierarchies, revolution, and grief. I am a huge fan of Jesus the person (Comrade Jesus, as I like to call him) and I greatly enjoyed this novel as a reimagining of the events in his life... by obviously centering the story on the fictional Ana and her triumphs/longings/experiences as a passionate writer and recorder of 1st century women.

There were a lot of great things about this book: the prose, thematic elements, and historical details, to name a few. This is what brought my review up to a 4 instead of, like, a solid 3.5. But there were a lot of things that bothered me.

As a reader, I prefer subtlety. This is by no means a subtle book, and to me this is its greatest weakness. Even considering the emotional depth and intensity of the subject matter, it often borders on melodrama, at least in the first half: very-obviously-prophetic dreams, forced symbolism, a lot of telling and not showing, drawn-out lore/personal histories explained in large chunks through dialogue that I truthfully just kinda skipped over. I also found that the plot was oddly paced and that certain things took too long and others were rushed through.

I also found most of the characters to be a bit two-dimensional, except for Yaltha and Jesus. (Yeah, I honestly found Ana to be a “blank slate” type of protagonist: a stereotypical protofeminist with a sharp tongue and a lot of emotions, relatable to the point where her shtick is repetitive and overwrought; I loved her by the end and truly felt her grief but I don’t feel that she had any distinguishing qualities or humanizing quirks besides her drive to write.)

In short, I dug this book, but in other ways it was kind of disappointing. Definitely one of those very hyped books of the year, and I can see why. It *almost* hit the mark for me. Almost.