Woven From Clay / Jenny Birch / Book Review
WOVEN FROM CLAY
Terra Slater has everything a girl could want: the best adoptive parents, the most amazing friends, and the perfect senior year just about to start. Until a mysterious (and incredibly rude) new boy shows up in town to ruin all that.
Thorne Wilder isn't just here to harsh the vibes, either. He's a bounty hunter. A magical one. One on the hunt for a vicious, dark warlock who he claims lives right here in town. Who he claims doesn't just know Terra. This warlock made her.
Terra Slater is a golem, crafted from mud and magic instead of flesh and bone. Terra Slater is a golem, and she didn't know that. Until now. But what she does know is that Cyrus Quill isn't some nasty old warlock. He's been like a grandfather to her, to a lot of kids around town. And whatever crimes Thorne claims he committed, Terra knows they're not true. She's willing to prove it. She's desperate to.
Thorne Wilder isn't just here to harsh the vibes, either. He's a bounty hunter. A magical one. One on the hunt for a vicious, dark warlock who he claims lives right here in town. Who he claims doesn't just know Terra. This warlock made her.
Terra Slater is a golem, crafted from mud and magic instead of flesh and bone. Terra Slater is a golem, and she didn't know that. Until now. But what she does know is that Cyrus Quill isn't some nasty old warlock. He's been like a grandfather to her, to a lot of kids around town. And whatever crimes Thorne claims he committed, Terra knows they're not true. She's willing to prove it. She's desperate to.
THOUGHTS
This book felt like a throwback to early-2000s-style "urban fantasy," and I do mean that in the absolute worst way possible.
This book felt like a throwback to early-2000s-style "urban fantasy," and I do mean that in the absolute worst way possible.
PROS
| Adoption Rep | There was a lot that I didn't like about this book, but the adopted kid representation wasn't one of those things! I liked this bit of representation (even if the overall picture here gets a bit... convoluted by the end). At times, this issue is handled more textbook than not, which isn't that great for character development, but it was still nice to see. You don't get a lot of adopted kids in YA lit. |
| Solid Bones | I really liked some of the ideas behind this book, even if the execution ended up being... less than ideal. I liked the themes of atonement, of dark magic and just consequences. I liked the oozy, drippy golems living their happy-go-lucky lives. I liked the concepts. It's the execution that fell flat for me. |
| Creepy Coven | I liked best of all the weird witch coven we get in this book. Some mild spoilers ahead, so beware! But why do they live in caves? Why are they almost kinda like a cult? Why are these witches subterranean? I've got a lot of questions, and I've got no answers. Which to some extent I like. It adds to the mystique. I would rather have read a book that looked into this whole side of the worldbuilding than anything that we got. Alas. |
CONS
| Trends happen in teen lit not because they're good but because they're where the money's to be found (whatever money that happens to be). Usually, they're kicked off by a good book, the kind that brings in a lot of money for publishers because of how good it is. And when a trend dies, no sense in beating a dead horse, right? Well, apparently not. Maybe it's this whole current culture surrounding revivals. Like, the author maybe thought if the film industry can reboot and reboot, why not literature? But some things should stay in the past, and this particular type of teen urban fantasy is one of those things. I think the way I would describe this book is "immature." It feels Wattpad, but without any of the fun tropes. She's so special; she's not like other girls. And she doesn't even get any witty banter. And you know what else feels 20-years-old? Writing about a type of magic with roots in one particular cultural group without so much as mentioning that culture. Why are we writing about golems and not mentioning Jewish mystics? If there's one thing we should really be leaving behind, it's appropriating a culture without even paying it tribute. | Let Bygones Be |
| Secrets, secrets, everywhere! And what was the reason? Every time Terra learns something new, she decides for literally no reason to keep it to herself and to her mystery boy only. The whole side plot with her "brother" Brick ends up feeling pretty icky because of this (in the vein of City of Bones; if you know, you know). The secret-keeping was irritating and sad. I didn't like it. | Secrets, Secrets, Secrets |
| I liked the concepts, but the execution was particularly boring. The magic system is so bland, and even though a chunk of this plot revolves around learning magic, we don't get to spend any time learning about magic. And having the drawback of your magic system being that... you need to eat some food and get a good night's sleep? That's just called being alive, actually. It could have been a more interesting give-and-take system if we leaned into it, but that didn't happen. Overall, everything ends up being rather uninspired. The characters are flat as boards. They're all surface-level, and they don't change from the beginning of the story to the end. So I didn't even have an interesting cast to root for. I wanted more from this, and all I got was... sad. | Bland as Mud |
Rating
⭐⭐
2/10
Those who enjoyed Cassandra Clare's City of Bones might like hopping back in time to the same brand of urban fantasy. Those who enjoyed Dana Claire's Hunterland will like diving into this regular high school with its supernatural hunter/hunted twist.
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Details
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Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own. |
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