Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing an eARC of The Pomegranate Gate! This is an honest review.

The Pomegranate Gate is a breathtaking epic fantasy spanning mirrored worlds full of Jewish folklore and history.

Toba has always been sickly, and with the Inquisition breathing down their necks, she is forced to flee her home. While making the journey to Merja, she is stolen away and finds herself in the Mazik world.

Naftaly is a tailor's son, yet lacks much skill for tailoring. He dreams reality and sees things that aren't there in the waking world. When his father dies and he leaves Rimon, Naftaly tries to rescue Toba from the man who took her away, only to see her disappear into a beam of light.

Now with a homeless, curmudgeonly old woman (though they are all homeless, seeing as they have been forced from their homes for their religious beliefs), and Toba's grandmother, Naftaly finds himself on a quest to save Toba.

My Thoughts
The character development throughout this story are absolutely incredible. You see characters be split in two and forced back into one, see the world ripped away from their hands, and feel the pain of every betrayal in the name of "what is good for everyone".

This is, however, not the easiest book to ease into. There is so much to take in on every page, but the commitment is well worth the story. I cannot wait to see where we end up in the sequel!

This book was so good! It's probably one of my favorites this year so far. The characters were so well-written, and I loved Toba, Naftaly, and the side characters (Barsilay was definitely my favorite). The magic system was so interesting and complex, and really different from most of what I've read before; the author did an excellent job laying everything out, without making anything very obvious. The plot was quite fast-paced, and overall, this book was pretty unputdownable! I'd definitely recommend it!

I don't know what happened but this book started off really great and then it lost me. I couldn't keep up with it at all.

The writing was really good but it was hard to care about all the characters and there were a lot of them. The descriptive narrative is what kept me going in the end and I am partly wondering if it was more my mindset than the books fault.

Right book wrong time so I may come back and read this one again but for now, it was just ok for me.

The Pomegranate Gate reads like a classic beloved fantasy novel. The rich world-building and character driven journey was slow paced and charming.
I love a portal fiction, this was mixed with historical elements and Jewish folklore making it unique.
There’s politics, a plucky FMC, magic, different cultures clashing, books and family ties.
The dual POV works well fleshing out the world-building and different plot points. I did prefer some characters to others but I think with further development I will have new favourites.
Can’t wait to see where the journey goes from here, I’m intrigued and invested.
Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon for an E-ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book.

The folklore was really abundant and the characters were well crafted. The world building was interesting and the lore was fascinating to learn about. The pacing was a little slow at the beginning but it picks up gradually. It is a very cozy read that reminds me somewhat of the stardust thief.

The Pomegranate Gate is an adult fantasy debut that follows Toba and Naftaly as they are forced to flee their homes when the Queen demands all Jews convert to Catholicism or be expelled, inspired by inquisition-era Spain. Toba then accidentally stumbles through a pomegranate grove and into the magical realm of the Mazics (the world’s version of fae) and discovers latent magical abilities, which makes her a target to the Mazic Inquisition. Naftaly, stuck on the mortal side of the gate, vows to help Toba’s grandmother find her while running from the mortal Inquisition. Hunted by an Inquisition in both worlds, Toba and Naftaly must unravel history and magic to understand the link between their two worlds.

I enjoyed The Pomegranate Gate a lot more than I expected, it’s a very impressive and beautifully written debut. It’s told with three POVs, from Toba’s group, from Naftaly's group, and from a member of the Mazic Inquisition, though I didn’t really care about the third POV and found myself skimming those. There were many characters to keep track of, 3+ in each group and they almost all got some POV time, but it worked really well and it intricately weaved together to form a big picture. The characters are all very diverse and I think even the lesser main characters are developed beautifully (Barsilay definitely stole the show) This book was also compared to Studio Ghibli and I could really see the same whimsical fantastical vibes, so if you enjoy Studio Ghibli I think you’d like this. TPG was very slow-paced, which I personally don’t mind, though I’d say this book was very much act 1 of a trilogy(?) in that there wasn’t as much standalone plot and everything was working towards the overarching plot of the trilogy. Again, I don’t mind this, but that does mean that we’ll have to wait for the rest of the series to come out for any resolution. Overall, it was very beautifully written and I’m excited to see what comes next in the series!

I am sorry to say that I could not finish this book. I got about 50 pages in and realized this just isn't for me.

Now don't get me wrong! The characters were very interesting to me, and the political intrigue was wonderful. There was just too much description and not enough dialogue to break it all up. It took me two weeks to get 50 pages in simply because it lacked the excitement for me to pick it up. I want to love it! I want to know more about it! I just don't think I'm in a place to mentally invest in books that have paragraphs of description. If there was just a bit more dialogue, I would have been able to hold on.

This book was a wonderful creation of a historical novel with fantasy sprinkled in. the characters had such depth to them and i loved that there was a whole cast of characters for the story. i don't know much about Jewish folklore but this was a beautiful and lyrical take on an historical event. I didn't realize it was a series and now i don't know what to do with myself until the next book.

firstly, this book was very well written and I loved the unique magical setting! I especially enjoyed the Jewish folklore and historical elements woven throughout. I really really really wanted to love this book, but for some reason it just didn’t work for me personally. I ended up dnf-ing at 40% because the structure and pacing of the story made it difficult for me to stay engaged with this story and connect with the characters. I was so intrigued by several of the characters, but felt like it took so long for me to learn anything about them because of how many POVs there were. personally, I have a hard time keeping up with multiple POVs so it could definitely be a me issue. I’ve seen so many raving reviews about this book, so I might return to it later on and finish it. if I had been in the mood for an intricate slower-paced historical fantasy, I think I would have enjoyed it more!

Thank you NetGalley and Erewhon Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

E-ARC REVIEW
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
🖤 (dark themes/tropes)
No spice but these feelings are eluded to (no explicit content) and there are romantic interests (secondary to the plot)

The Pomegranate Gate
…

I don’t know how I’m going to wait for the next book? 😭 Such an awesome first instalment in the new Mirror Realm series.

This book reads like an old fable - full of mystery, magic and the unshakeable spirit of adventure: where the characters are hidden from plot developments, leaving just enough unsaid with plenty of intriguing twists.

The characters had so much depth to them and I found them to be so loveable. It’s been a long, long time since a book has made me tear-up and The Pomegranate Gate achieved that on multiple occasions. It’s impossible not to root for some of these richly developed characters… I would absolutely die for the old lady.
The multiple points of view were also really well done, with none of them being ‘boring’ and sitting well with each change of pace. Another thing I really appreciated was that each characters passage was kept short - no great expanses of the story were overtaken by one particular plot point and it meant that the story kept moving at a good pace.

It is quite a complex read, but not in the sense of flowery language or hard-to-read passages. More so, it’s sometimes hard to keep track of what has happened or who is who but this was not something that affected my reading experience, it was a very minor inconvenience that happened maybe twice throughout my read. I would say though that it’s important to pay attention and never discount a characters importance to the story!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Im so happy to have found such a unique set of characters to finally engage my tear-ducts and I CANNOT wait for the next book. I need to know what comes next for my faves 👀

Tropes/themes:
• Hidden powers
• Family curse
• Found family
• Multiple realities/worlds
• Sacrifice
• Myth & folklore abundant
• Ancient & hidden societies
• Loveable characters
• Arranged marriage

The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan is book one in The Mirror Realm Cycle fantasy series. This was a 4 star read for me.

There are two parallel storylines, one tells the story of what happens when Toba unwittingly follows Barsilay and Asamel into the Mazik realm, where she shouldn't be. Toba has always been sickly, able to speak but not yell and able to walk but not run. That's not the only way she's different though. She has the ability to write with both hands at the same time in different languages.
Now she's stuck in the Mazik world until the next full moon, so Barsilay puts her to work translating their library. Toba is very curious, though, and as she lives and learns about Barsilay and Asamel, it becomes clear she can never return to the mortal world and her family.

The other storyline tells of Naftaly, son of a tailor, who was trying to save Toba when she walked through the light-filled gate in the pomegranate grove. He doesn't know her, but feels the need to save and protect her, so he tries to find a way to the gate by the next full moon. But Naftaly isn't just any man. He has dreams where he can talk to people who are far away. His father was able to do this, too, but never explained the significance to Naftaly. Now, Naftaly is in charge of a secret book that his father left him that he's not supposed to ever open or read, only protect and never let it get into someone else's hands. With him is Toba's grandmother Elena and an Old Woman who begged around their town. The gate opens at different places at each full moon, so they must get to the correct location before the next full moon ends to be able to get Toba back.

The beginning is a little slow as the foundation and world-building are established, but it is well-written and imperative to the story. The characters are all well-developed and there is tension where necessary. Our main characters are all Jewish, and are needing to evacuate where they live due to a decree that all Jews must convert or deal with the consequences. We see the fear through the different characters' eyes, and how persecuted they are by those around them. They aren't able to take many items with them, having to leave behind not only their possessions but life as they know it. They have to flee their homes or face execution.

All in all, this is a great beginning to the Mirror Realm Cycle series. The pacing is good, and the storylines come together in an unexpected way at the end. If you enjoy fantasy novels, then this would be a wonderful addition to your TBR.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for a digital copy of The Pomegranate Gate for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

"The Pomegranate Gate" started very slowly, I found the first 1/3 or so to be an absolute slog, but it picked up after that point. Despite some additional pacing issues, I thought this book was wonderful. Mystifying and mystical, engrossing and charming, I came to love reading this book.

The Pomegranate Gate is the first novel in the Mirror Realm Cycle. This is my first novel by Kaplan and will not be my last as she weaved together a unique fantasy tale that features elements of Jewish mythology and the Spanish Inquisition. The story follows two main POVs, along with other POVs, a woman named Toba Peres and a man named Naftaly Cresques. In the kingdom of Seafarad, an inquisition-era Spain-like place, the queen has ordered all Jews to convert or be exiled. Toba gets separated from the group and enters the world of the Masiks through a mysterious pomegranate grove. Naftaly vows to find her.

The pacing is slow as the details are stretched out like a bedtime narrative. Since this is a high fantasy world, there are a lot of set-ups to the world, politics, and all the other elements that need to be established. Along with the establishment of characters and plot that takes a bit to connect with, the entire story did take me a while to become invested. Once you are in the middle of it all, the story keeps you captivated; however, I can see some readers giving up before reaching this point. The characters themselves are all interesting, although with so much going on around them they can sometimes appear flat. There are romances in the story for Toba and Naftaly where I was more invested in one relationship compared to the other.

As this is the beginning of a series, there are still some unanswered questions left for the sequels. This also means that there is not a huge payoff at the end compared to a standalone, so it is difficult to fully judge the storytelling without the rest of the series. Some readers may connect with the drawn-out writing, but, for me, I feel there are portions that could have been edited to be more concise. I don’t mind longer novels, but I also prefer slightly more brief sections throughout where I can get myself motivated to continue reading. While I prefer some changes, I did still want to read it and will eventually read the sequel. Overall, this was a great intro to the author and a great unique tale.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Erewhon Books, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

This book was so good! It reminded me a lot of The Lost Gate series by Orson Scott Card, but with some unique world building. It was a well written book with a lot of movement and multiple third person PoVs. This book had the absolute CUTEST LGBTQ+ m/m couple I've read in a book in a long while.

The ending was a lot, but so well done. I didn't realize this was part of a series until the ending,

Three stars for unaliving a child without a content warning.

Content Warning: death of a child, burning alive father and child, full rainbow of curse words (used sparingly)

An intriguing fantasy. You have to persevere for a while because the pace of the story is very slow. It's only halfway through the book that it truly becomes interesting. Of the two main characters, I found Toba's development the most interesting, although I also greatly enjoyed the budding romance of Naftaly. A fascinating introduction to the mirror realm.

I got this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a tough book to review.

On the one hand, the world building and setting was absolutely fantastic and unique. The Pomegrante Gate is set during the Inquisition in a fantasy version of Spain and features Sephardic Jewish characters and folklore. And as if that weren't enough, there is LGBTQ rep AND neurodivergent rep. Toba and Naftaly were fascinating characters, trying to do the best they can with the limited choices and information available to them.

However, this book is SLOW. You can 100% tell it's book 1 of a trilogy, and honestly, it's mostly vibes and little plot, which is almost always something I don't care for and this was no exception.

But the vibes? Immaculate. I'll definitely pick up the next one.

4/5 stars.

P.S. The Waterstones Standard Edition has lovely sprayed edges.

The world building and mythology in this story is delightfully rich and engaging.
I enjoyed learning about the characters and the world they live in. The main characters I found very interesting seeing their stories unfold and intertwine across two worlds. The romance is very slow and subtley done which makes me excited for book 2 in this series.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I was really looking forward to this release, I really enjoy historical fantasy and I've read Jewish fantasy before and found found it very interesting.
However, I sadly couldn't really get into it and ended up DNFing at 25%.

I think it's a well written book and I liked the setting and the general setup, it just failed to get my attention. At 25%, I still felt like I didn't know much about the direction of the plot or what the objective of the book really is.
I was also a bit confused with the worldbuilding itself, it felt like you're really getting thrown into the story and I personally think that it would have been better to get more explanations.
It also didn't help that the POVs felt rather impersonal, I don't need to connect to characters in order to enjoy a story, but it did feel like there was some detachment between the reader and the character.

Overall, I think it is worth a shot for anyone who enjoys historical fantasy and that this was a "it's not you, it's me" situation.

My first thought upon finishing the Pomegranate Gate was that I cannot wait for this book to be fully out in the world so I can force everyone I know to devour it as I did, and finally have people to talk about it with. What an enrapturing ride! Ariel Kaplan proved to be incredibly skilled at weaving so many seemingly unconnected threads of this story together into something that stole my breath by the end. Toba as a main character was complex and intriguing, and I was rooting for her with her every evolution. Though I will say, by the third act, Naftaly and Barsilay had completely stolen my heart. This book is completely drenched in rich, vivid folklore and worldbuilding, and I found myself completely lost in the machinations of this magical alternate history of the Spanish Inquisition. Kaplan brings to life this world strife with fear and tension; I felt the chase as easily as if I were who they were after.

Perhaps what I loved most is that every single character in this book is intelligent. Even Naftaly, branded by everyone and himself to be a fool, finds intelligence and sacrifice in his compassion. Toba, who knows nothing of the world of Maziks, survives through her cunning to possibly become the realm's only savior. Elena, Toba's grandmother, calls upon ancestral knowledge to protect Toba's life in childhood and chase her across time and place to save her as an adult. All of them, and this world itself, were a genuine pleasure to acquaint myself with over these nearly six hundred pages.

I will be waiting with baited breath for the next installment of this series!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

The Pomegranate Gate had a really interesting and unique premise, but unfortunately suffered from having too many POVs. The novel could also have profited from being a tad shorter, as I found myself skimming the last twelve or so chapters.