In 1943, there is little left of the Lithuanian countryside to suggest civilization. The country has been torn apart by Soviets, Germans, and even its own people. Always at the bottom of the totem pole though are the Jewish residents of Vilna and its surrounding countryside. But Ezra has had enough. After putting his life on the line for his country during WWI and now having lost his daughter in WWII he has created a golem. The golem's of Jewish folklore are creatures brought to life to aid Jewish communities in peril, but Ezra has imbued his golem, Vera, with Kishuf (black magic) and partial remains of his dead daughter Chaya. Vera has been made to exact vengeance and once alive she feels little, but the drive to use her strength to destroy, that is until she meets Akiva, a boy from Chaya's memories that pushes her to consider other possibilities. In a world full of death and destruction, is she allowed to forge a path of her own?

This is a unique and fascinating twist on a subject that has plethora of novels to choose from. Here, Aden Polydoros has created a Jewish heroine unlike any we have seen before. There is an inherent horror to Vera's being with the mix of the golem from Jewish folklore and Frankenstein-ian scifi, but as you follow her through the war ravaged Lithuanian landscape, readers are forced to ask what really makes a monster? I loved the integration of Hebrew and Jewish customs throughout this novel and how various characters clung to or distanced themselves from religion, community, and themselves in-order to simply survive. I had some mixed feelings about the end that I won't divulge for the sake of spoilers (reason for 4 instead of 5 stars), but think this is a worthy book for reading none the less.

I received an advance copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Inkyard Press. This is a hard review. I struggled with my feelings for this book. I wanted to enjoy it, truly. I feel like the author makes an excellent pitch in the opening notes. The concept is sort of a modern Frankenstein, but with Jewish protags and a WWII setting in Lithuania. All of these disparate elements seem like a win, but I found it difficult to get into and I had a hard time relating to the characters. It seemed both incredibly long to me but also not long enough to resolve many of the questions I had.

Vera is a golem created by Ezra to avenge the death of his beloved daughter, Chaya. Vera is not a typical golem - she is made with forbidden dark magic and imbued with a soul - she has several of Chaya's body parts and memories of all the resources used to create her. Ezra wants vengeance for Chaya's death. Vera understands her role, but Ezra is captured before she can come to full terms with her creation and who/what she is. She sets off to rescue her creator, meeting a partisan fighter/ Chaya's former love, Akiva, along the way. On her mission, she witnesses unspeakable horror and grief among the Jewish people and questions what it means to be human and whether human life is actually worth protecting.

****************SPOILERS BELOW****************************

Here are some of the reasons I had a problem with this text.

-Ezra creates Vera, but he loathes his creation and is so cruel to her and imbues an automatic self-hatred simply for existing in Vera. The author uses this as a jumping point for Vera to explore who she is, but I feel like giving a female main character (especially one who is supposed to be a doom machine) this sort of mental trauma is weak character development.

-We have no idea how Ezra is discovered. The farmer who was concealing him is murdered by the same auxiliary police who took Ezra, so he obviously didn't turn him in. If it was a random search that uncovered him, surely they would have also found Vera in the same search. The thing that sucks is Chaya's memories show us that the Nazis looking for Ezra (for info on creating golems) but his capture is a mystery.

-When Vera finally finds Ezra, he commands her to kill him to free herself. But like, that's it. There's so little character development for Ezra that he's like a tertiary character at the most.

-Vera's mixed identity as Chaya/Vera makes her automatically unrelatable. She constantly struggles with whether or not her feelings are her own or if they are some memory of Chaya's. Conceptually it is interesting, but I think only people with past life regression could relate to it.

-Akiva is a little too trope-y for me. He's a brooding love interest with a dark past. Then he dies - which was definitely going to happen, one way or another - and Vera uses him to create a golem like herself. After all of the self-hatred and exploration of whether or not she actually wanted to continue existing (and destroying the Nazi golems-in-progress) it just seemed...unlikely.

-The Nazi golem. It felt like that entire subplot was only there to add action. Since it doesn't seem that the soul they used to create him was a human one, his cruelty and aggression don't really line up with the overall message that humans are the true monsters.

-Vera's final choice to protect the family camp as opposed to going out and kill Nazis was supposed to be her big free-will decision. She made it because she basically says that it doesn't matter how many people she kills, there will always be more to replace them. So she would rather protect the people she cares for so she actually makes a difference. It was a little anti-climatic tbh. I wanted her to carve a swathe through the Nazis (hell, and the Russians too since it's not like they weren't conducting pogroms for centuries.) I don't know a lot about Jewish folklore, but I thought golems were actually designed to protect rather than avenge. Please correct me if I am wrong.



Ultimately, I feel like the characters are not well-rounded and the philosophical debate is trite.

I really did enjoy this book! Vera and Akiva are beautiful and flawed characters. I think Vera was the most human of all. The main concept of this book was very entertaining and was able to draw me in very well! Ezra was a character I love but hate all at the same time. He definitely gave father vibes, but then again he was distant from it all. I really enjoyed the story.
I wish we got a bit more drama and prolonging the ending, but overall, I would recommend this to my friends and family and fellow YA lovers!

4/5 stars for friendship, belonging, and acceptance!

**Thank you to NetGalley for a review copy! I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I liked the over all premise of the book. The cover was beautiful.

I thought characters didn’t grow emotionally as the pages progress. I would hope that with the drama and the drama of the plot it would.

This was a beautiful interpretation BUT I think it would be beneficial to only have Jewish reviewers preread this going forward. There were a lot of questions I had surrounding culture and I did need to ask my friend in order to understand some context. I love the weaving of myth and horror together.

Disclaimer: I received a gifted copy of this book from netgalley, and in exchange I am leaving a thorough, honest review.
I don't have a lot of experience reading historical fiction, so this was a new experience to me. This book is set during World War II. I am not Jewish, and I will be honest when I say my high school didn't really teach a lot about WWII, at least not about the holocaust. I read Night by Elie Wiesel for my honor's English class in 2013, but outside of that I haven't read many books that are set during that period. My high school basically taught it as if America saved the day lol. I feel that stating this is important, because this book did teach me a lot. It may be fiction, but it's written by a Jewish author and he has experience with antisemitism, which is an important topic in today's world, just as it was during WWII.
Obviously, this is fiction, but it does seem to have a lot more information about it than I was ever taught. It's a tale of revenge, and about tragedy. And it has paranormal aspects to it with the golems, and I really like that. I like that the main character is a golem, and she still has feelings--which from what I know about golems, doesn't seem to be common. I like that she's humanized. I always appreciate that with paranormal/supernatural books. I definitely think I should follow this author, as he is really talented and is wonderful at worldbuilding and writing diverse characters.
I would like to thank Aden, netgalley and inkyard press for the opportunity to read this book.

An author to watch. Just beautiful writing, heartbreaking, horror and Jewish folklore and is as wonderful to read as their their other book The City Beautiful. Be prepared to feel a lot of emotions. Truly wonderful. 3.5 stars

The writing in this book is beautiful. I love Vera as a character. I had no idea what I was missing out on, but I'd love to see more fantasy-esque books like this with Jewish history and stories. The whole thing was so heartbreaking and fascinating, I was definitely intrigued.

I was a huge history reader when i was younger, as i got older i lost interest in that and have moved more toward fantasy books. When i saw the description of this book i got excited because it tied the two worlds together.

Vera is such an interesting character that ties in some great mythology. This book is of course set in the holocaust so it's definitely not a happy feel good story, but gives a wonderful power struggle and fight to the losing side. The pain and suffering expressed in this book shook me and i did have to put it down a few times because it definitely broke me at some points.

If your looking for an dramatized historical story that will keep you wanting more this book is definitely worth the read!

Thank you to NetGalley, publisher Inkyard Press, and author Aden Polydoros for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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If I had a nickel for every book I read in a row about non-humans having very human experiences, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right? What a strange and niche pattern to fall in. But that's exactly what happened here. After I finished Emergent Properties, a book about an AI having a difficult relationship with zir parents and trying to find zir identity and purpose, that's more or less what Wrath Becomes Her is: A story about a golem, who has a difficult relationship with her creator, trying to find her identity and purpose because there must be more to existence than just vengeance, right?

I was, admittedly, a little nervous to read because it had 'horror' listed as a genre, and I am a firm no-horror-reader-or-watcher-EVER sort of person. Disney's "Haunted Mansion" with Eddie Murphy scares me, ok? But I do like thrillers, and I do like psychological and existential stories, so I took a gamble on this one, hoping the horror here would be more like Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' and less like John Carpenter's 'Halloween'. Wrath Becomes Her is... both. It's really both.

I wish someone had warned me about all the <i>teeth</i>. I can stomach reading about people being disemboweled, or how an injury is festering, and blistered feet are rotting in the 1943 Lithuanian winter, because this is wartime after all, but <i>teeth</i> are my one body horror I cannot deal with. Nope. That is a hard no for me. And it's not just human teeth, or pulling teeth, removing teeth (my stomach is turning writing this, oh god) but at one point the rain is described as "teething" on the tin roof and Aden, buddy, pal, bestie, were there really no other appropriate words to describe the sound of the rain? I'm dyin' here.

I enjoyed the writing style, as Polydoros has a great way of adding just enough description of the setting to get the idea across, without getting lost in the colors of the curtain or whatever. I felt like the pacing was done well, as some times it felt like we were just sitting and waiting around with Vera, and other times it was very fast-paced during a mission. Some of the characters were very complex and well written (Ezra!!!) but others seemed to simply serve a single function (Susannah and Rav Oren), and it left me trying to figure out if they had more significance or not.

My biggest complaint was I think this story needs a sequel for two main reasons. First, it ends just as Vera starts existing comfortably in her own skin (clay?), and second, the blurb promised "Frankenstein meets Inglourious Basterds". I definitely got the Frankenstein vibe, easy, but when Inglourious Basterds is mentioned, I'm expecting a lot of N*zi punching. A lot. And I don't feel like that was delivered on. This story is good, don't get me wrong, but it's more about humanity and what it means to be alive, and trying to stay alive by finding food, shelter, medicine, community. And that's great, it's just not what I expected going into this.

This book sits comfortably at 3 stars: I like it, I would definitely recommend it, but I'd like to see more N*zi punching or a different tag line in the marketing.

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC!!
I really loved how this book blended horror aspects with jewish folklore (golem!!) I liked it and would love to read it again! :)

Vera was created for vengeance. After being killed by Nazi soldiers, Vera was reborn to kill those who killed her. A monster and an abomination, Vera knows she isn't who she used to be but can't help but long for the life she once lived through the short memories of her past that she glimpses from through her soul.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!

My heart hurt for Vera. She was created for one thing but longed for something else. She wanted to be more than vengeance and often questioned whether or not she deserved to have her own life. She was made to kill those who killed her but what else? When all was said and done who would Vera be and what would she do for herself? I loved how she had Akiva (by the way I love this name so much) who helped tether her to Chaya's memories and not straying too far beyond reach. From the beginning, I knew this book would hurt me but I welcomed it :)

My one critique would be that sometimes I felt there was unnecessary dialogue between chapters. The writing flowed beautifully but there were times I felt like skipping paragraphs because it felt like too much. The ending was rushed and I would have loved to see more build-up with the bad golem created by the Germans. This book was a solid 3.5/5 stars for me but it was something out of my comfort zone and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this.

Gorgeous cover – check. Historical fiction - check. Jewish folklore - check. A sprinkling of dark magic with the feel of a Frankenstein retelling written in first-person and from the POV of the “monster” – check. Sounds amazing, right!?

Polydoros lines up his crosshairs on the WWII narrative that the Jews were like sheep led to the slaughter. When he pulls the trigger, we learn that there indeed was a resistance, and in the end the fight was worth it.

I loved this young adult novel. Additionally, the themes throughout will make for a great book club discussion – for teen and adult alike:
• Not all people/beings are as they seem.
• You are more than your parts.
• What constitutes being a person? A monster?
• Is vengeance ever justified?
• Can you ever un-see your experiences?
• What makes a life worth living?

My one issue is that this is a tale of revenge – of wrath – yet as a reader, I didn’t have the visceral reaction I was hoping for. Don’t get me wrong, the sadness and grief is quite poignant and well-written. And I give a slight pass on the execution of the revenge feelings, only because the main character is a golem – traditionally created out of clay and bound to a master. Clay doesn’t feel per se, yet this golem is different…more human. I wanted to be angry with her, instead Polydoros “told” us how she felt instead of showing us.

Otherwise, this is a unique WWII story with a fresh perspective told by a Jewish writer. If a “sometimes they come back” gothic horror trope tops your reading list, then don’t pass by Wrath Becomes Her.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for allowing me to read this tale in exchange for an honest review. It is set to be released in October of 2023.

Wrath Becomes Her is a thought-provoking tale of creation, humanity, and monsters.

After the death of his daughter, Chaya, at the hand of the Nazis, Ezra's mind is only focused on one thing: vengeance. Nothing will change the fact that Chaya is gone but through his knowledge of a dark and abominable magic Ezra can create an avenger - a golem to hunt and kill those who were responsible. He sculpts this golem in Chaya's image, ensuring that the last thing they see will be his daughter returned from the dead to enact her revenge.

As Vera awakens and begins to come to terms with her vengeful purpose, flashes of memories - of lives not lived - haunt her steps. After Ezra disappears, the fledgling golem is left to come to terms with her existence alone. Venturing far from the hayloft where she was created in search of him, Vera will encounter the best and worst humanity has to offer. Including Akiva, a young resistance fighter that she recognizes from Chaya's memories. Banding together, they begin to search for Ezra as well as the men responsible for Chaya's death.

As they journey onward, the truth becomes clear and it is darker than they could have imagined. Can Vera and Akiva get to the bottom of things before it is too late? And as the men responsible for Chaya's death fall in Vera's wake, she's left to wonder... what happens when she fulfills her purpose?

I was immediately drawn into this story. Vera's character is such an interesting lens for this tale. At the start she is newly created, almost childlike but with memories from lives she has not lived. Though her existence is colored by the purpose given to her at the time of her creation, it doesn't overshadow the other emotions and feelings that she is able to experience leading to what I felt was a very well-rounded main character.

Polydoros was able to bring this story to life with compassion and empathy without compromising the facts of the atrocities committed. A majority of the novel explores the questions of what it means to be human versus what it means to be a monster, and there can be no doubt who the true monsters of this story are. Polydoros' well-written prose showcases this not in a simple dichotomy of good versus evil, but through a wide range of characters whose actions fall along the spectrum somewhere between innocent and Nazi. It is an incredibly realistic portrayal and should be commended.

Wrath Becomes Her does not shy away from brutality. There is bloodshed in these pages, just as there was bloodshed in the events that inspired this story. The language is descriptive and graphic and the subject matter, while handled with care, may be triggering to some.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this story. I think it is a brilliant addition to the world of YA historical fantasy and I very much look forward to reading more from Polydoros.

I will update the review with the link to on our blog closer to publication date.

I'd like to thank the publisher Inkyard Press and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review

4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was exactly the book I needed to drag me out of my historical fiction rut. I am not typically a YA reader, but I was too excited about the concept of this book to pass up the opportunity to read it. The story follows Vera, a golem created by a grieving father to exact revenge on the Nazis who killed his daughter, Chaya. Unable to part with his daughter both spiritually and physically, Ezra crafts the golem in Chaya's image, endowing her with his daughter's sight, voice, and however unwittingly, her memories. This exciting modern take on Frankenstein combined with rich Jewish folklore will undoubtedly inspire many meaningful conversations about Jewish mysticism, the cultural significance of folklore, collaboration, resistance, and retribution.

I appreciated that Polydoros acknowledged that local non-Jewish European populations were often complicit in violence against the Jews. Lithuanian auxiliaries participated in the mass murder of European Jews alongside the Einsatzgruppen. By the end of the war, 90 percent of Lithuanian Jews were dead. Non-Jewish collaboration in Eastern Europe is rarely represented in fiction, so it is really encouraging to see it in the YA genre. I would have liked to see a bit more rage coming from Vera earlier in the book. She was more passive than I expected given the title. Though her character does develop beautifully throughout the course of the story, there is far more focus on her physical strength than her spiritual growth as she learns to navigate her and Chaya’s human emotions.

This was an incredibly unique story that effortlessly touches upon several important themes in Jewish cultural history. 10/10 recommend.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

A desecration. But necessary.

This book broke my heart. Constantly. Happy moments? What the hell is that?

"Chaya was long dead and buried. I'd never even known her. But even now, I felt drowned within her shadow."

Vera is a very complicated character, and fans of Frankenstein will understand her inner turmoil. She looks at humanity and wants to belong with them. She has emotions and has trouble discerning her own emotions from those that belong to her memories. Memories that belong to someone else. Being created for a specific purpose, a vengeful purpose, during this WWII time period also causes her to struggle with humanity themself.

"I told him to just look how we destroy each other, and to tell me who the real monsters are."

Vera's relationship, kinship, with Akiva is what broke my heart the most. Akiva lost everyone and is struggling. Vera is struggling with her purpose. They come together and struggle with each other. How lonely they both are... be prepared for the heartbreak because THAT is what you'll get from this.

The entire book read like a diary. Like I was reading Vera's diary. I honestly had a difficult time at the beginning of the book, but I'm glad I stuck with it. Fans of historical fantasy will really enjoy this.

"What are you?" he whispered, staring up at me in shock and - What was that? Awe? Terror?
"Vengeance," I said as I strode toward him.

Vera was made for one purpose, to seek revenge for the murder of her creator's daughter, Chaya. Not your ordinary golem, Vera was created using dark magic, plus a few body parts from Chaya. When Vera awakens, she finds herself in a hay loft, hiding from the Nazis and the Lithuanian collaborators in 1943. As she gathers skills to be able to move through the world, the unexpected happens and she is forced to kill in order to save herself. This act triggers Chaya's memories and Vera starts to recall Chaya's life in bits and pieces. Vera accidentally comes upon an airdrop being made and meets Akiva, who knew Chaya well and was there the day she died. This meeting sets Vera on a path to achieve the vengeance she was created to execute. What Vera didn't expect was that Chaya's memories would start to connect her to a life that is more than just vengeance and this makes it difficult for Vera as she continues to see. This is a powerful look at the Holocaust, resistance, and revenge.

After a man’s daughter was killed by Nazis, he uses an ancient but profane magic to create a golem in her image. Vera awakens with some of Chaya’s memories and feelings but is quickly told she’s nothing like a real human and that she only has one purpose – revenge. As she sets out to fulfill her purpose, she discovers that others may be trying to harness the dark powers that created her, putting humanity at risk.

The premise of this work is excellent, and the author did a good job executing it. The incorporation of magical realism and Jewish folklore into the setting of Lithuania during the early 1940s was an interesting combination. I enjoyed that this work was adjacent to the war but focused more on civilian struggles than on the war itself. The author also excelled at including meaningful descriptions and well written secondary characters, leading to an immersive read.

However, there were some things that were just too “young-adulty” for me to truly enjoy. I disliked how often we were told how a character was feeling rather than shown – this led to the characters feeling flatter than they could have while also making the writing less engaging. Similarly, there were instances when the characters were discussing something quite serious but then the next paragraph was about Vera misunderstanding a joke or a witticism; this odd and quick switch in tones detracted from the atmosphere of the work. I also disliked the lack of Vera’s personality or emotions, as well as the fact that she spent the whole book following men around. Now these two things could be because she’s a golem, but the author explicitly states several times that she was created to have emotions. I was hoping to see more wrath and general female epic-ness, so this aspect left me wanting a bit more.

I did quite like this unique premise and would still recommend reading it. Many thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for allowing me to read this work, which will be published in October 2023. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

When I saw the cover of this book, I was enticed because it is so gorgeous. When I read the description, I knew that I simply had to get my hands on a copy. I adore both Frankenstein and Inglourious Basterds, and there is nothing as satisfying as a Jewish revenge story. I knew this story would be original, and it delivered on that.

My favorite thing about this book was the lyrical prose. It reminded me of a lot of my favorites like Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller or the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor. The entire novel had a sing-song quality to it with swaths of sweeping descriptions of the setting. They always felt in place and fit the atmosphere, even if they were occasionally repetitive. It did make the cold Lithuanian countryside come to life.

I thought it was wonderful that so much Jewish culture was sprinkled throughout. I got excited when I recognized things, and was also very pleased to learn more things I’d never heard of. I learned a lot while not being taken out of the story at all. If anything, the traditional lore and words for things being weaved throughout added to the atmosphere and authenticity. I would’ve been very disappointed if a story like this didn’t include these things. Pro tip: there is a glossary in the back that you should absolutely use. When reading on a Kindle, you can get a lot of the definitions, but not all of them.

I also loved the fact that this book did not romanticize this period. It was a horrible time in history, and the story doesn’t dress it up in any way, which is very important when writing about such topics. Instead, it really captured the traumas and hopelessness that people were enduring. A good reminder of what cruelties humans are capable of, and what it means to be an unhappy survivor.

The protagonist actually being a golem was so cool. Such an interesting point of view as Vera was learning how to be, having to decide how she wanted to be, while also being influenced by all manner of other people’s memories. And then there was Chaya specifically, who Vera could feel inside her like a sometimes dormant second soul. It was fascinating to see her reconcile with such a unique experience. Wanting to be her own, wanting to be human but seeing what horrors humans can and do create. Wanting to understand herself and her place in the world. These were her main struggles, and they are super interesting ruminations and motivations for a protagonist. I did find her inner monologue quite repetitive, though, as it didn’t grow as much as it snapped to a sudden change near the end after having remained mostly stagnant and mopey. I did love that she went full circle to become a creator in her own right at the end, both understanding her own creation and deviating from the purpose of it.

I loved the book, but did not feel like it delivered on the promise of “wrath.” We did see Vera truly enact her revenge near the end of the book. Up until then, though, she didn’t express feeling any wrath. The emotions and motivations she expressed were mostly either melancholy, desire, or simply her suddenly being taken over by the compulsions of her nature and creator. So, we did get some of that wrath, but not much of the Inglourious Basterds, Lady Snowblood, V for Vendetta type true vengeance vibes from her. I might’ve enjoyed more of that, or been fine with it if the title didn’t make it seem so central to the concept.

My only other issue was with the plot’s direction. It moved forward and had momentum, but I didn’t feel there was direction still because I didn’t understand where it was going. I felt I didn’t understand the main goal, likely because Vera also was not so much in control as she was looking for her creator and then following Akiva where he went.

Overall, I loved the writing in this book, and thought the premise was super interesting and original. I will definitely be picking up a physical copy of this book when it comes out. Thank you again to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity!