Samara Shanker

For me this got off to a slow start, but grew on me as the story progressed. The focus on family dynamics at first frustrated me — or at least, the part of me that wanted to see Becca and her friends go right into kicking demon butt. But how things play out is a better match for her personality in general and her situation in particular, and it’s fun to see how she, Naomi and Eitan (each with their own strengths and quirks) work together to figure out what’s going on with all the not-Hanukkah-goblins.

My two caveats:

— I did wonder just how old Becca’s brother is supposed to be. Some of his behavior, even before [redacted], seems more destructive than just obnoxious, and would seem to call for more intervention than he was getting.

— Non-Jewish readers could probably use a glossary. The major terms introduced do have their own pages on Wikipedia, though (even the magical worm).

But overall — more Jewish fantasy in the world, yay! Hopefully Eitan will get his own book as well if we’re lucky.… (mer)