4/5

Kicking off a slower pace than its predecessor, but aided by the momentum from its chaotic conclusion, The Republic of Salt brings further context to the mirrored mortal and mazik realms, on the brink of war with La Caceria. The Gate city of Zayit is predicted to burn unless the Cacador’s conquest can be brought to a halt, and Zayit’s salt trade could be the key. Deviating from book one, The Republic of Salt features a variety of perspectives across the realms like scattered pieces within the mirror fracturing and mending against an inevitable destruction. My favorite of these continued character arcs is certainly Toba’s. A buchuk of the original Toba now dead, Toba Bet struggles with her identity in the face of her creator’s beheading and her being the one that remains with those memories and experiences. Despite this, Toba is steadfast in her way forward and finds an unlikely path in allying with her sister, Tsifra, the very person who killed her prime self. Connecting two realms and building up to an irrevocable confrontation, Kaplan’s sequel is as immersive as its first installment, providing further context to a wonderous fantasy series.

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⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

There were so many things I really enjoyed about The Republic of Salt. The world is SO unique, which is something I adored in the first book, and the dynamics between the characters are so interesting—I particularly loved the relationship between the old woman and Naftaly. I also loved how Barsilay’s character was developed deeper.

However, I did feel the pacing lagged quite a lot, up to maybe 70% in. That being said, there were a couple small moments during those 70% that suddenly grabbed my attention, but they were mostly swarmed by long odd stretches where my attention drifted, which I found unfortunate because I really liked the whole premise and world. I feel it might also have something to do with the overall writing style, which was not particularly visceral and probably contributed to reduced immersion for me.

Overall though, I really appreciated how different this series has been compared to more formulaic stories (whether good or bad)!

I read the Pomegranate Gate a few months ago and immediately requested this book on Netgalley so I could find out what happened next. I was super excited to be approved. To my utter dismay I found out this is a trilogy not a duology so now I'm gonna be waiting for the third book. These books end on major cliffhangers and continue from where the last one left off (which I like, but it makes for a hard wait for the next book to come out).

I absolutely love this series. Those who follow me know I am Jewish and love reading Jewish books, I also love fae stories. I'm not a big fantasy reader but I've always had a weakness for fae. It's so cool how this series is a Jewish take on a fae fantasy novel and I think it works really well.

I found this second book a little bit slower than the first one but I still really liked it. I love how each character feels so different and multi faceted. I especially love Elena and the old woman, which is cool because I often have trouble relating to elderly characters

I can not wait for the next book! I definitely recommend this series!! Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy on Netgalley.

DNF - Despite all the "previously" front matter and the infodumping, it takes a while to untangle the plot and the characters just didn't make that worth all the work.

eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.

3.5 stars

The sequel to “The Pomegranate Gate” is a more adventurous installment than the first, as Toba Bet and Asmel journey through the mortal world and Naftaly, Barsilay, Elena, and the old woman travel through the Mazik world. We also get to know the Courser better, with chapters from her perspective that are very exciting. This book is gorgeously written and takes us all over multiple worlds. I enjoyed Naftaly and Barsilay’s relationship, Elena being iconic, and Toba Bet and Asmel growing individually and together. It ended on a cliffhanger that’s already got me eager for book 3.

Welp.

The Republic of Salt was one of my most-anticipated sequels for this year, after I fell hard for the first book in the trilogy, The Pomegranate Gate.

Alas, middle-book syndrome definitely got this one.

Very little really happened in Republic until the last quarter or so – up until that point, most of the story just involves setting up pieces for that last quarter. And yes, that’s often how climaxes work, but I think the difference is that, in a good story, the setting up is interesting for its own sake as well. Whereas here, we were just passionlessly moving pieces around to get them into position for the finale.

The finale itself? Pretty great. Not perfect, not stunning, but great.

But this book is just under 600 pages long. Meaning I had to slog through a whole novel’s worth of pages to get to the pretty great stuff. It was exhausting and very, very boring. Certainly the sense of wonder that infused Pomegranate Gate is completely lacking here – it was all very pedantic, practical, trotting from one place to another, doing things that had to get done like ticking tasks off a check-list.

And there was so much telling-not-showing. As an example, from a worldbuilding perspective, learning that the Mazik have very few soldiers because they don’t like to fight (because they’re immortal) was really interesting, but I wish it had been conveyed to us in a more organic way rather than in an exposition-dump.

The lack of explanation around Mazik magic worked beautifully in Pomegranate Gate, where it contributed to the sense of wonder that I loved so much. But here, with a much more mundane-feeling story, it seemed misaligned; the wonder was gone, so an explanation felt needed. Which meant that having no grasp of how this magic worked or what its limits were felt hand-wavey at best. Why can Maziks create any food they please out of lentils, but not spices? In our world, hand-made items are of higher quality in terms of craft, and usually of materials too; Maziks prefer hand-made stuff to magic-made stuff, but there doesn’t seem to be any difference in quality, so why does the difference matter? And the whole thing with the Mirror – the idea that the two worlds copy or echo each other – felt very vague to me. That the characters didn’t really understand it either didn’t help – I kind of wondered why we needed the Mirror at all. It might have been better to pull the whole concept from the story; I’m pretty sure that even without the Mirror, everyone would still be doing things. There are enough other reasons to stop Tarses and so on that the Mirror felt very tacked-on.

I have no idea why the Ziz is important, and the urgency around rescuing it seemed to come out of nowhere, appearing really abruptly without explanation. Prior to that point, the Ziz was barely mentioned! Turn the page, and suddenly Toba’s obsessed with it. Was the arc missing some text?

Both the romances feel so tacked-on, as if even Kaplan doesn’t ship the characters. Yes, Toba started to feel some attraction Asmel in the previous book, but I thought it was mostly just physical, and I wasn’t expecting it to go anywhere, because what on earth (or off it) do they have in common? But nope, here, have a romance, and both they and Barsilay and Naftaly just…have zero chemistry. I didn’t feel their attraction, never mind romantic love. I wouldn’t be surprised if Barsilay and Naftaly, at least, break up by the end of the trilogy, because seriously, there’s nothing holding them together.

Tsfira was great, and I wish this book had been more focused on her – I think she and the Peregrine had the most interesting arcs in this book, which, while not a high bar, were still the only ones I was interested in. The Peregrine especially got almost no page-time, despite everything that was going on with her – really weird narrative choices were made here, I’ve no idea why you would focus on Naftaly and everyone instead of, you know, zooming in on the characters things are actually happening to.

And please don’t get me started on the whole time-loop-vision-thing that shaped the whole climax. Convoluted and pretty dumb, imo. No thank you.

I’m still going to read book three, because, you know, presumably it will have Many Exciting Things Happening as everything comes together. But I think Republic was way too long, focused on the wrong characters, and was so dull. There were some great ideas – the demon/s, the killstone, the Peregrine switching sides – but they were stretched to cover far more pages than they needed, and bogged down in endless zig-zagging as the characters went from point a to b to c with nothing happening.

It’s hard to believe that the person who wrote this also wrote Pomegranate Gate.

Honestly, this is a pretty damn solid second book in a trilogy that raises the stakes, makes a side character undergo a really neat existential reckoning with herself, and has a bunch of queer kids trying to find their way as they're being uprooted by the Inquisition and transitions in the magic world. Hell of a cliffhanger. In for the last book.

Disclaimer: I haven't read the first book. Its on hold at the library.

Starting with a race across the desert with potentially carnivorous horses. What a start. I am hooked despite the fact that I’m jumping in at book two. The relationship between the mc’s are entering trying to decipher everything behind the curve.

I love the historical context and the magic of this world. The mix of Judaism into things as well was a lovely touch. Very relatable for me anyways.

i absolutely loved the development we get from all the characters in this, as the second book in a trilogy (i believe) it really strengthens the character relationships and adds to the world!!

the story revolves around all the characters moving and working towards coming together at the end, which i really enjoyed as we explored new relationships as well as expanding on ones formed in the first book. because the book revolves around all this movement, it can feel slow at times and the pacing did drag a couple of times, but i still really enjoyed seeing the characters come together and be one big group at the end

we do also see more on the relationships within this, they are a subplot but they do help make the slower scenes feel like they have more significance, and i love barsilay and naftaly together

the world and magic in this are so cool, and i can’t wait to see how everything culminates in the final
book!

What an interesting second installment of this series. I thought it was a duology so surprised at the end, which was clearly also a beginning.
In this book there is a lot of hopping in between the Mazik cities and the mortal cities. More characters get their own bits of stories which makes for a confusing read at times.
However the world-building and details are so intricate and inspired that you are sucked in as a reader.
This book more so than book one was incredibly tense all the way through. Might be good to alternate this with a lighter book.
Our protagonists run into a myriad of issues both in their awake and dream worlds.
Such interesting concepts and ideas. I love the moral gray areas of the characters and their thought processes.
I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

So I still haven't read the first book (it is currently staring at me from my color coordinated shelves next to my desk, AND in my netgalley shelf) so I am going to tentatively give this 4 stars, but will edit when I read it.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and to the publishers for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Republic of Salt starts right where the Pomegranate Gate left off, with our main team injured and scattered, with Toba Bet a flock of birds, and a magicless Asmel in the mortal world. On the other side of the gate, just outside Mazik Rimon, Elena, Naftaly, and the old woman have to nurse Barsilay back to health after he nearly died at the hands of the Courser.

While we spend the first third of the book or so traveling from Rimon to Zayit on both sides of the gate, this gives us a great insight into the world that Kaplan has built for us. Both groups are being pursued by the enemy, and must use their wits and cunning to evade la Caceria. I especially enjoyed the exploration of the Mazik world that Barsilay and Naftaly were traveling through, as well as the complex feelings that Toba Bet, Asmel, and Tsifra were battling on the mortal side.

Near the middle the pace slows as all the characters must set up the plot and prepare for the siege of Zayit by Tarses. Our group splits even more, so that our seven characters are now in four groups. This made the POV switches more drastic than earlier, as you have to catch yourself up to what all the different characters have been accomplishing recently. Here, the only part I was truly invested in was Toba Bet and Tsifra. They both are constantly battling within themselves, and it's captivating to read. Toba Bet must come to terms with being a buchuk, and what it means that the elder Toba is gone. Where does she fit into the world? Tsifra must also balance her hatred of Tarses, and her love of her sister with the knowledge that she is forever bound to him, and still secretly craves his approval and affection.

The pace picks up again near the end of the book, with showstopping conflicts between our main group of protagonists and Tarses's forces. With an ending that had me on the edge of my seat, I cannot wait for the third book!

Ok it’s been about a year since I read The Pomegranate Gate so it took me a few chapters to get back into the swing of things. Essentially Toba and Asmel are in the mortal realm which is clearly bad as being a Mazik means salt is poisonous to Asmel and Naftaly and the two human women are in the Mazik realm.
I did find the beginning a little slow as the various characters are all traveling and we get lots of different viewpoints as they each tell the reader what’s happening. This is fantasy that seats itself in history whilst adding Jewish myths to it which I found incredibly interesting. I will state that Naftaly is my favourite character even though those around him constantly underestimate and frankly baby him. Of course it’s the oldest female that made me smile the most because she’s quite simply a gem to read about ! There’s romance here but I just didn’t need it to be frank and I really enjoyed the juxtaposition as characters we thought bad could do a complete turn around. The later half when characters start to come together was fabulous and that ending is cruel because I turned the page and there was no more ! I certainly recommend this book if you enjoyed the first in this series although perhaps read closer together if possible to keep the flow going.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

This is a gorgeous book cover AND a gorgeous book. I love the Jewish mythology and culture, as well as the diverse cast of characters we follow of different ages, races and genders. This book did not fall under the sequel curse, and I was engaged throughout. The character banter was great, and I love a good journey trope.

I went into The Republic of Salt fresh from reading The Pomegranate Gate (which I’m obsessed with) so I was very eager to see where the story went. It’s a direct continuation from where we left off in TPG. I looooove these characters so much, I love the worldbuilding, I love the story. My thing with this sequel is that it took me fooooreeeeveeeerrr to read. I certainly enjoyed the journey, but for most of the time I wasn’t really very invested (the first chunk was very much just everyone traveling in the forest and that got old for me after a while). I think it’s because this book is way more heavy in the plot department than its predecessor, which felt much more mysterious and atmospheric and character-focused. I wanted the same super magical immersive feeling, but since this book was more focused on the actual big-bad threats and the plotting and scheming and mechanics of war strategy, I wasn’t as enchanted. However, THE END WAS SO GOOD and everything absolutely came together

Thank you for this ARC!

I loved to read this book so much and found it to be a great sequel. The story was very compelling.

It fell a little short compared to the first book for me personally. But it was still an incredible read with an in depth world and characters worth rooting for. The writing style was both thorough, yet easy to read, which really helps immerse you into the story.

I enjoyed a lot of this, but it felt a little bit flaily, as if the individual steps the characters needed to accomplish in support of the broader goal took too much time, relative to their importance to the plot.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!
The pomegranate gate was just an ok read for me and I’d hoped this sequel would fill some of the gaps for me, but it also falls just a bit too flat. It’s still a good book and will especially work for folks that lean more towards historical fiction. But there are aspects here, specifically with the pacing and character development, that just prevent me from loving it.