The Pomegranate Gate was an interesting read. I stayed interested in the storyline through the whole book but it felt dragged out and too long. It could have been shortened. I liked Toba's character but once Toba Bot came again I preferred her. Naftaly's character was okay. He felt his character building was lacking. I am not sure what else I could say because this was a good book, but it could have been shorter.

I will probably continue with the series or at least read the next book because the ending of The Pomegranate Gate indicated the real action will be in book 2.
Thank you Erewhon Books and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of The Pomegranate Gate.

I really wanted to enjoy this. It sounds exactly like the kind of book that I would really connect with. For some reason I just could not connect with the world and characters.

I genuinely believe this is an issue with myself, and much less with the book itself. I will say the beginning of the book is complex but no more so than The Night Circus or The Starless Sea. The prose is lyrical and gorgeous, but I never felt the desire to continue reading the book. It was far too easy to put down, and for that reason I did not finish it.

I definitely think this will find its audience, especially those who enjoy atmospheric “vibey” kind of books. I’m hopeful that I will be able to give this another chance at some point, and if I do I will update my review.

3/5 stars for the beauty and prose

It was a good read full of complexities. I just feel it was a little predictable and it is hard to move on from that. But thar is just my opinion.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023, and I was absolutely devastated that it took me so long to get to it! I was hoping it would meet my expectations, which were pretty high for this story. But seriously, how could they not be? An Inquisition-era fantasy with Jewish folklore sounds right up my alley.

To start with, this is the kind of slow-paced book that I don’t mind. It gives me time to savor all of the complex aspects of the world-building, the storyline, and the incredibly detailed geopolitical aspects of both the Sefarad and the magical world behind the Pomegranate Gate. Unlike many other series I’ve read, where each book has its own individual plot with an overarching theme or mega-plot to tie them together, this one gave the impression of having the plot spread out over multiple books, so that this is more like Act I of a multi-act play. It makes it difficult to judge the plot fully, but I loved seeing how it developed and I wonder where it is going to go next.

It was so easy for me to get attached to the characters. Toba has spent her entire life being unwell, and is used to her limitations, although they frustrate her. It isn’t until she’s in a scary situation that she realizes how dangerous they can be. But the situation leads her to pass through the Pomegranate Gate, where she’s thrust into a new kind of danger—a land full of politics and magic that she knows nothing about. Naftaly is descended from a long line of tailors, but he doesn’t have the gift for it, yet is forced into the trade nonetheless. His talent lies in dreaming, instead. When he sees Toba go through the gate, he tries to follow, but can’t. So he tries to find her in dreams, yet keeps encountering the same mysterious man.

We’re introduced to two mirrored worlds—one that is basically just a fictional version of Inquisition-era Spain, where the Jewish population, who has lived there for hundreds of years, has been given the option of converting to Catholicism or leaving Spain and all of their belongings (including all of their money), of course. Even the converted Jews weren’t above suspicion, and were often in just as much danger as they were before. The other world is a magical world full of Maziks, a race of Fae-like creatures who have magic and can be identified by their square-pupiled eyes. There’s an Inquisition-like event happening in this world as well, and it was so interesting to learn about this new world.

Jewish fantasy books have been few and far between, although recent years have seen a few published. This is one of the most Jewish that I’ve seen, with the representation threaded throughout the entire story, so that it becomes impossible to separate the story from its Jewishness. From the names (the character names are common Jewish names), to the setting (Inquisition-era persecution of Jews), to the way the characters say Hashem instead of God, and even to the way words are pluralized with the suffixes -im or -ot instead of adding an “s” at the end of the word. It was also fascinating to learn about Sephardic folklore and history, since that isn’t as well-represented in books and especially fantasy.

I adored this story. Normally, slow-paced books aren’t my thing, but this one allowed me time to process everything that was being presented in the story. The world-building is a bit complex with the two worlds and the world-building, and the differing experiences of Toba and Naftaly. I enjoyed the author’s use of humor and found myself laughing while reading, the queer slow-burn subplot, having my heartstrings tugged on, my Jewish soul nourished, and my nails bitten to the quick after a cliffhanger ending that is making me desperate for a sequel to come out soon.

There are books that are pretty good, and there are books that are captivating beyond the point of understanding. "The Pomegranate Gate" is definetly the second type. Although I need to mark that I took a four months long break from reading (without particular reason, certainly not a problem of the book itself), so my opinion is partially based on trust in this story. Coming backto it after such period of time made catching with the plot harder – but, gods, if Ariel Kaplan can't serve, I am a Queen of England. Despite the break, despite months that passed, I was brought into this world again quicker than a thunder. It's magical. It's not afraid to take a long moment to unravel, but every stage is mesmerizing. The characters are great, they complement the world-building and vice versa. And the story - the story is so original, so different, and yet not overcomplicated, it's impossible to resist its charm. I loved it very dearly and regret a bit not reading it sooner.

The Pomegranate Gate was a really enjoyable book, particularly for those who enjoy a slower paced novel. This book began a bit mysterious, constantly wondering about the importance of the tiniest things. I am unsure how much of the mystic-ness of this book is from Jewish folklore compared to the author's imagination, but I was enthralled by it. The pacing bored me a bit, but the mystery behind the magical realm kept me going. That all being said, I sometimes felt confused about the timing of the story overall, and I struggled to keep track of what was happening when. I think this may be because I was listening to the audiobook, and I was getting distracted.

Thank you to Kensington Books and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I hope the author continues to write more books in the future. I can't wait to see what this author releases in the future.

The POMEGRANATE GATE by Ariel Kaplan is an epic fantasy about two worlds bound by a pomegranate gate.

- multiple POVs
-unique world
-Jewish folklore and 15th-century Spain
-found family
-lyrical prose

"It's a bad idea," she told the man, "to attract someone who cannot run away"

We follow the storyline of Toba who unintentionally enters the Mazik realm where she shouldn't be. Toba is special, in her own way; she can speak, but she cannot shout and she can walk, but she cannot run. Yet, she has the ability to write in different languages with both hands at the same time.
Toba soon realizes that she is stuck until the next full moon.

Our other POV follows Naftaly, the hero who tried to save Toba when she stepped through the Pomegrante gate. Toba's grandmother and the old woman from town join him in the adventure and will have to find the next Pomegranate Gate during the following full moon to get to Toba.

Although the beginning felt a little slow, it allowed for such depth and character development that made the rest of the book much more enjoyable. The writing is phenomenal and the POV comes together in such unexpected ways.

4,5 stars

Thanks to @netgalley and @kensigntonbooks for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3,5 stars

The Pomegranate Gate is a slow build portal fantasy that is set in a time where the Jews were persecutated. Be converted or exiled. It creates a jarring but realistic backdrop to a more whimsical tale in a different world.

I feel very conflicted about this book. In places the story and writing were very compelling and I found the book hard to put down. But in other places the story was bogged down by a drawn out narrative and too much details in one place of the story. There were many tiny switch scenes that could have been combined. It would have centered the book better and I would have been able to settle into a character better. Instead we switched between every scene. And every switch between our two main characters meant switching between the worlds.

While I love a good world building there were so many mentions of places and people, I found it hard to keep up. Some places were called the same thing in both worlds and then there were other names for others. We get the queen and rulers mentioned a lot but as we don't even meet the queen in 'our world' it was hard to picture where everything fit.

Having said that, I found it interesting to learn about the magic and this world through Toba and learing of this dream world through Navalny. There were a lot of compelling magic and politic bits that grabbed me in certain moments of the story.

The characters, Toba and Navalny were mostly decent but I didn't always find them compelling enough. I was actually more invested in two side characters. Old granny who we learned almost nothing off. But her character really helped make Naftaly's story interesting to read. I can only imagine what we will learn of her in next installments. And on Toba's side there was Barsilay, who was a bit flamboyant and created some tension and push in there.

I did care a little more for Naftaly who was genuinely just a good guy. But his motivation to have to find Toba was weak at best. The lengths he went through to get her back while he barely even knew her, felt weird in times. Adding in her grandmother into his story pretty much said that.

I struggled more with Toba, especially once she got split into two persons and especially one of them was really jarring. They kept talking about one being the original and the other the copy while personality wise it was pretty clear they were split. The 'original' Toba became a little whiny and quick to tears while the 'copy' Toba was more hardened and pushed through things to get what she wanted.

Despite being conflicted I am still interested in reading on with this series. I am especially curious what will happen between Navalny and Barsilay and to hopefully learn more about old granny.

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.

I have to be honest and say I stopped halfway through. The story was intriguing but the prose was wordy, and ultimately too much. This book is LONG, and I don't mean by sheer page numbers but in reading it, it feels never ending. I read the giant dragon book, so I have zero issue reading longer books, but this one simply did not need to be this huge. More succinct language and tightening down on POVs would have helped in a big way. There was also the issue of jumping from one POV to the next without warning and that really pulls a reader out of the story, when they have to read a page r two to figure out what is going on. I think this could have been done in such a way that I would have loved it, so I am sad I couldn't get through it. After 2 months of reading only a page or two at a time I had to simply give it up.
I hope the book finds it audience.

Where to begin?? This book was brilliant with lush magic and wonderful characters that felt like fully fleshed people. A did have a hard time getting into though I have to admit and sometime I was fighting and pushing myself through to the end. That said however, I really enjoyed the character driven plot and the political plot points. Overall, I think Toba was a very compelling character but I don’t think she’s what kept me reading the novel. I think it was mostly the magic and the history however fictional it was. The novel definitely has some Alice through the looking glass vibes and I’m so here for it! I need to find out what happens in book two!!!!!!

What an intriguing concept, beautifully rendered. An epic fantasy set among Sephardic Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, this may be stepping out ahead of my skis, since just the one book is published, but it could do for Sephardic magical stories what S.A. Chakraborty’s Daevabad Trilogy did for Arabic folklore.

I’ll say little to spoil the plot – so much of the The Pomegranate Gate’s delight is in the lush and strange world, the strange but alluring characters (those that are - or seem - human and those that very much do not), the sense that not everything is as it appears. There’s not yet a publication date for the sequel(s?) in the Mirror Realm Cycle but hopefully we’ll get them soon!

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️💫 4.5 stars rounded up
Rep: Queer, Jewish

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

I really expected to like this book. The premise is excellent - inquisition-era fantasy is such a great avenue for storytelling given the vibrancy and complexity of the period - and I'm always glad to see efforts to bring portal fantasy back into vogue. I could see the bones of an excellent story here, but ultimately, it failed to grip me. I think my main problem is simply that nothing happens for the first half of the book; Toba spends a lot of time trying to do vague magic that mostly involves turning lentils into other things, and Naftaly is simply wandering around trying to find a girl he barely even knows. There wasn't enough for me to latch on to the characters as their worlds seemed so small despite the hints of a larger universe, and I didn't really understand their motivations or what drove them throughout the story.

I did enjoy the way that Jewish myths and beliefs were incorporated into the story, and I'd potentially still recommend this book for others looking for more religious-themed works, but I just wish I'd been more inspired by this book overall.

5 ✰ // a wonderful book full of rich sephardic folklore and an engaging storyline. utterly atmospheric and truly refreshing to get to read books told from a lesser told tradition that i wish was more widely written upon. also, i cannot wait to read more of Kaplan’s work in the future!! i would highly recommend this book to those with sephardim heritage or anyone just looking to read an invigorating book with a riveting plot, interesting characters, and an immersive setting! cannot recommend this book highly enough! if you are a fantasy reader make sure to get The Pomegranate Gate on your tbr asap!!

thank you so much to Erewhon Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A stunning first entry to the series, Ariel Kaplan has created an absolutely magical world. The prose is beautiful, and the characters are extremely well fleshed out and I can’t wait to see what happens next

the pomegranate gate is a beautifully written adult fantasy inspired by jewish folklore that was engaging and kept me hooked the entire time. the found family trope (and reluctancy of the characters) was so sweet. magical books and mysterious libraries, alternate gated worlds and magic all around made for well written and atmospheric read that i enjoyed the entire time. the tiny smidge of romance that we got had me swooning and i can’t wait to read more about the world and characters and the messy lives they live in

Thank you NetGalley for the eArc copy of this book.

It was a wild read. I took way too long to review it. I quite liked it, it was engaging and had just enough fantasy to keep me engaged.

Many, many thanks to Kensington Books, Erewhon Books, NetGalley, and Ariel Kaplan for such a lovely novel to receive as an ARC!

5 out of 5⭐

A Sephardic tale by nature--The Pomegranate Gate, upon opening the novel, thrusts its readers into throws of the Spanish Inquisition as it spreads throughout the Iberian Peninsula. The story begins, and continues, with alternating narratives of Toba Peres, a disabled young woman whose intelligence is stifled by the limitations of body and gender in the time she lives in, and Naftaly Cresques, a young tailor who, better off doing anything else, is limited by visions and dreamwalking he cannot share with anyone.

Jews throughout the Peninsula are forced to choose between unwanted conversion or exodus, and Toba's family, Naftaly, and the many families in their town flee from their homes in a convoy with hopes of making a home elsewhere--a place where they won't be at odds with the world once again. Toba's disabilities cause her to fall further and further behind as the convoy moves onward, and it doesn't take her long to be captured by a gang of men looking to make a profit. She is rescued by strange, odd looking men and secretly follows them into a pomegranate grove and into a gate that takes her far from the land of mortals. When Naftaly spots that Toba is lagging behind, he makes to follow and get her back on track only to lose her as she slips through the gate with it closing behind her.

Feeling strangely responsible for her, Naftaly abandons the caravan to search for Toba with an old woman and Toba's grandmother. While they search, Toba struggles to keep herself afloat and alive in what she learns immediately is the Mazik world. Both parties become immersed in unexpected danger that is far more complex and intwined with one another as it becomes apparent that the Mazik would has more to do with them than ever thought before.

The novel is compelling in its characterization of Toba and Naftaly. Bother characters find what burdens them lends to their benefit more than could ever be expected. The dynamic between the human and Mazik characters was an utter & constant delight.

Primarily exposed to Ashkenazi culture through media, it was exciting to read through the perspective lens of Sephardic characters. It took me quite a while to process the novel upon finishing it; it was full of complex cultural layers that were hard to wade through as a gentile, but I ended the novel with a greater understanding of Jewish folklore and storytelling than when I began. It was well worth the journey!

I've recommended the novel to so many people at this point, and I'm sure that I won't be stopping any time soon!