Wrath Becomes Her is certainly interesting… it wasn’t a super easy story for me to get into but someone who loves more historical aspects would probably love this as it’s a take on WWII and the holocaust. The writing style was great though.

A unique take on the historical, WWII book. The war and the time felt more like a setting instead of another character which I actually enjoyed. Chaya (while not human) helped humanize and center this story and took the "coming of age" archetype in a refreshing direction. I wish there was more rage but I understand the layers that were added to this story. The Jewish folklore mixed with the historical backdrop and a different kind of found family make this a book I will happily recommend for those want a different kind of WWII book.

What I found interesting about the book is the cultural reference to the golem and how this creature represents the anger against the Nazis. In the story, a father grieves his daughter who was killed by the Nazis. He can’t bring her back from the dead, but he can use kishuf — an ancient and profane magic — to create a golem in her image. A Nazi killer, to avenge her death. While reading it, I was filled with immense sadness - more so than other novel set during this time.

This book was an interesting and different take on World War Two and the holocaust.

It was a little hard for me to get into in the beginning but overall I enjoyed the writing and would read more by the author.

I quite enjoyed Wrath Becomes Her with its Frankenstein feeling with folklore entwined. It wasn’t quite what I expected with the cover/title/summary I did enjoy the storytelling and world building.

Wrath Becomes Her tells the story of a father desperately trying to find a way out of his grief of the loss of his daughter. What comes next is a heart breaking but oh so beautiful story of the golem he creates in his dead daughter's image.

I am all for and 100% ON BOARD with any and all revenge stories, but you add in that it's revenge on Nazis and *chefs kiss* perfection.

The writing was beautiful and the metaphor of Vera learning her place in the world fits perfectly with a young adult novel. I would have liked more showing and less telling of how the characters felt, but I'm a little older than the normal demographic for this novel and take that into account.

So well written. I think historical fiction readers will enjoy this new addition to the genre. The characters are well developed and I cared immediately about them.

Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros has such a great premise- a Jewish man creates a golem in his daughter’s image after she is murdered by Nazis in WWII Lithuania. The golem’s only purpose is to avenge Chaya’s death and exact retribution on all those that have contributed to the atrocities brought on during the war. Bits of magical realism and Jewish folklore are sprinkled throughout the novel. When Vera wakes after her creation, she has some of Chaya’s memories, but also has to learn to “live” as a human on her own. She quickly meets Akiva, the boy who Chaya was with prior to her murder. Vera and Akiva work together to to destroy the Nazis who patrol and terrorize the lives of innocents caught in the hell surrounding them. Vera discovers that there are those that are trying to harness the powers that allowed her to be created to destroy humanity- and she feels the need to stop them at all cost.

The premise was so interesting; the execution was not. While I understand the book is YA, I felt as though the author wasn’t sure where they wanted to take the story- was it magical realism? Was it romance? Was it folklore? The story just never seemed to find its roots and so it was very disjointed to me. Vera was a golem that did have emotions, but didn’t; she was supposed to be a strong, independent young woman , but she was constantly following around the men. I never felt fully immersed in the story. It was a serious premise that seemed superficial and silly at times. Unfortunately, Wrath Becomes Her is not one I would readily recommend. 2.5/5 for me. This is an honest review and solely my own thoughts and opinions. Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard for the opportunity to read the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley for the copy.

A story of self discovery through the eyes of a gollum created for vengeance during WW2. Ezra has made Vera in the image of his daughter, Chaya, after she died in an ambush.

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

Polydoros has been a favorite author since their debut because the world definitely needs more queer Jewish stories, but every time I tried to read this one I couldn't get past the opening scene. Good chance this is a case of being in the wrong mood for this one, and maybe I'll come back to it when I'm in a better place to handle the violence, but for now this just did not work for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I really liked this historical fantasy, I just think I’m outgrowing YA. Would still reccomend to other readers though.

I love that both of the books I’ve read by Aden Polydoros look at lesser understood parts of major historical events, and makes them Jewish and queer. The other book I read, The City Beautiful, followed a Romanian immigrant during the Chicago World’s Fair, and here we are in Lithuania during WW2.

The concept here is fantastic. The main character is a golem, so you have this whole idea of what is a human and what makes humanity, and you get to see the toll for death and destruction and laser. Focus on vengeance does to people, I think all of the questions Polydoros intended on bringing to this book are fascinating make for great discussion. Yet I didn’t really enjoy this book. I don’t know if it was the execution, or if it was the audiobook narrator, or if I just wasn’t in the right headspace for it, but I found myself quite bored through a lot of this.

I found myself feeling strangely distant from the main character, and that made it hard to be invested in her struggles or the relationships she was developing, and I think, as much as I loved all of the description and the atmosphere, that it held the pacing back which then made the book feel quite long. Ultimately, this was a book that I think relied on the character emotion and connecting to Vera, and because I felt so distant from her I didn’t get the full impact. That being said, I do like a Polydoros’s writing, and I love their concepts, so I am very interested and whatever they write next.

I really enjoyed the incorporation of Jewish folklore with magical realism in this novel. I loved the historical aspect of it. However, the characters were not my cup of tea, they felt too "young" to me. I think the YA genre may just not be for me anymore. Overall this is worth reading!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins for an EARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions

I really wanted to like this book however the book doesn't live up to the title. I wanted more wrath and I just didn't get that from the main character. I did like the Jewish representation and the different take on WW2. The book was still enjoyable but just felt very YA at times which made it hard to relate to the main character.

Genre: Fantasy Horror/ Historical Fiction
TW: PLEASE CHECK
Spice: None (YA)
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ [4/5]
Format: E-Book
Review written by: M

*Thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for providing an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

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This was a very interesting read. I have never read a historical fiction like this before where it merges historical concepts with fantasy.

This book introduces you to Vera, a Golem, who was created by a grieving father with the sole purpose; to avenge his daughter Chaya’s death by the Nazi. Once Vera awakens, she quickly realizes she has inherited glimpses of Chaya’s memories: of stolen kisses, adventures, and rebellions. As she sets off to avenge Chaya, she begins to encounter the two opposing truths of life, love, and cruelty. She must now battle with the fact that she has a reason not only to fight, but to live.

Aden Polydoros writing is very lyrical. He has a way of describing scenes so vividly and beautifully that it made it quite easy to view the entire book as a movie in my head while I read.

The only reason this book did not get a 5-star rating for me was because I felt the ending was lacking slightly. I expected more from it with such a strong last 1/3 of the book. It felt like the ending was a bit too abrupt and left too much to crave.

I don’t know much about Jewish traditions or their folklore but the incorporations of it within this book was done in such a magical and very educational/entertaining. It was a beautiful balance between fantasy and reality.

This book may be triggering for many, and the TW should be read. It is quite gory and does not shy away from the cruelty of humanity with a strong focus on the suffering that the Jewish community has endured throughout the years. It really makes you question what empathy is and how we as humans, have the free will to be as gentle or as cruel as we wish.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this read and can’t wait to see what else has been written by Aden Polydoros.

I loved the mix of fantasy and history. You could also feel the wrath so well. A great take on Jewish people fighting back in World War Two.

Wrath Becomes Her took me an absurdly long amount of time to read (3 months) and NOT because I didn't enjoy it! In fact I thought it was pretty good, it is just not physically possible for me to read one book at a time and I kept picking up books that I was more excited to read and then would forget that I was reading it…

Anyway, this book follows Vera, a golem created for only one purpose - revenge. After losing his daughter, Chaya, Ezra uses ancient magic and Chaya’s remains to create Vera in her image. But when Vera awakens she learns that she has fragments of Chaya’s memories and emotions from when she was alive, including feelings for Chaya’s former lover. She knows her sole purpose is to kill Nazis, but the story also shows her inner conflict of having human feelings but not being human herself.

I struggled with connecting to Vera. I know her not being human is part of the character, but the title is Wrath Becomes Her, and I figured that she would be just like… a little angrier? She is very disconnected from most of her actions for most of the book, seeming apathetic towards her entire goal.

I liked the supporting characters. They were well-written and complex. Both Ezra and Akiva’s grief over the many losses they’d faced felt so real.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction and fantasy, or both at the same time.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy of this title.

I really loved this story.