This book has a lot of things going for it, but I’m sorry to say that the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
The setting is a great one. It’s set in a fantasy version of Spain in 1492. The Reconquista is over, and Christian rule has been reestablished over the entire Iberian peninsula. The kingdom’s Jews, who had prospered under Muslim rule, have been presented with a choice: either convert to Christianity, or leave the land where you have centuries-deep roots (and leave your money behind, thanks very much). Any practicing Jews remaining after the designated time will die. And even those who choose to convert have a hard time of it; the Inquisition is keeping a very close eye on them, because for some reason they think people who converted under threat of death might not have been entirely sincere about it.
The main characters are Toba, orphaned granddaughter of a translator, sickly and with no particular prospects; and Neftaly, a remarkably inept tailor. During their journey from their hometown towards fantasy-Portugal, Toba is quietly pulled away from the group by a bandit. Neftaly sees, and follows, but cannot find her. Toba has stumbled through a mysterious portal in a grove of pomegranate trees, and is in a world that mirrors our own in some ways, and is very different in others.
The story proceeds along two lines from here. Toba falls in with (essentially) the Fae, while Neftaly is trying to both find and rescue Toba and survive in a country that is rapidly becoming a very deadly place to be a Jew. Along the way, they both begin to learn about themselves and their heritage (which, it is not surprising to learn, is not entirely human).
For the most part, this is decent. There are some parts that drag a bit, but it’s not too bad. But the books fails in one major area: motivations. Why is Neftaly working so hard to find Toba? They’re from the same town, but they only knew each other in the vaguest of ways. And why are the Fae that Toba stumbles into on the other side of the gate helping and sheltering her? It’s made clear that they’re doing so at some degree of risk to themselves.
These are serious questions, and the lack of any good reason in either case undercuts the entire novel. Ultimately I finished it, but I’m not interested in reading the sequel.
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