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Synopsis from GoodReads:
An evocative combination of fantasy, history, and Jewish folklore, The Light of the Midnight Stars is fairytale-inspired novel from the author of The Sisters of the Winter Wood.
Deep in the Hungarian woods, the sacred magic of King Solomon lives on in his descendants. Gathering under the midnight stars, they pray, sing and perform small miracles – and none are more gifted than the great Rabbi Isaac and his three daughters. Each one is blessed with a unique talent – whether it be coaxing plants to grow, or predicting the future by reading the path of the stars.
When a fateful decision to help an outsider ends in an accusation of witchcraft, fire blazes through their village. Rabbi Isaac and his family are forced to flee, to abandon their magic and settle into a new way of life. But a dark fog is making its way across Europe and will, in the end, reach even those who thought they could run from it. Each of the sisters will have to make a choice – and change the future of their family forever.
My Review:
I listened to this on audio, narrated by Ana Clements, and it just never grabbed my attention. I don’t have any major complaints or praise for either the story or the narrator, I just found it easy to tune the whole thing out–and did.
The story rotates between three different narrators–the sisters, Hannah, Sarah, and Levana. As I dipped in and out of the audiobook, I had trouble remembering who was narrating each section. I don’t always like multiple narrators but I think that might have worked well for this book.
There’s a system of magic at play here but I wanted more of it. It’s discussed a lot but not really used very often. Not that I noticed anyway.
I did enjoy hearing folk/fairy tales that I hadn’t previously been exposed to.
I finished listening to this on Thursday and on Saturday I’ve already forgotten most of it. I can’t give any specific reason for that. If you’re interested, give it a try.
Recommended by:
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If you liked The Light of the Midnight Stars, you might also like my reviews of
- The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
- The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
- Ice by Sarah Beth Durst
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4 Comments
I bought it because I really liked her first book, Whitehall was similar but worked better since there were only 3 very different narrators.Without spoiling anything I wasn’t a fan of any of the endings , although I agree that the folklore used was interesting.
Maybe I’ll give Whitehall a try since you liked it more. I really wanted to like this one more than I did.
Too bad this one didn’t grab you more. The concept sounded neat to me, though I haven’t yet been tempted to pick it up. (Yet I can’t actually point to why, either.)
I really wish I’d liked it more.