Sometimes too much telling instead of showing and overly descriptive. I was Intrigued by the narration of the mysterious/nameless Messenger. I wanted more of that story!

The chapters are way too long for my taste so it was hard to pick up when I didn’t have the energy to commit to a potentially 1hr+ chapter. Plus the pacing dragged at times making it even harder to want to read.

Almost DNFd twice and set it aside multiple times for other books, but kept coming back to see where the story of Shiva’s ancestors would take us. I also really wanted to learn more about Jewish folklore.

The folklore and the idea of a generational family saga drew me to this book but sadly the execution just fell flat. If the book had been made shorter or at least better pacing, as well as more of the folklore/prologue type writing as opposed to Shiva, I probably would have stuck with it. It just felt like the author was trying to do too much and didn’t pull everything together in a satisfying way 

Sadly decided to DNF for good at 32%-another book with a great idea but poor execution. there are MANY glowing reviews so I definitely think others will love it more than me!

 I’m having the WORST reading month and luck with my netgalleys 😭 I’ve DNFd every single eARC so far this month. Most of them due to excellent concepts but poor execution 🙈

I was also excited because the author is a Non-binary, queer, Jewish anti-Zionist who supports Palestine 🍉🫶