Member Review

Just as Terra is getting ready to have the best Senior year ever, she finds out that she and the other adopted kids in her town aren't human. They're golems created by Cyrus Quill, a warlock on the run, hunted by dark and mysterious Thorne Wilder, who wants to use Terra's connection to Quill to hunt him down and have him face his death sentence. But if Quill dies, so do Terra and all the other golems tied to his magic. After Terra convinces Thorne and his coven to give her a chance to prove that Quill's creations are fully human by mastering the magic within her, the unexpected alliance she finds with Thorne grows to be something deeper. She'll have to find the true depth of her humanity and love to save them all.

It's an interesting story, and there is so much humanity in all the golems and the small town they live in that you can't help but connect with them even as the story focuses on just Terra and Thorne. You get to see a little bit of all their lives, which gives Terra the best kind of motivation and readers another reason to want her to succeed.

I really enjoyed the magic system and how Terra and Thorne explore the magic around them. It's a great way to show connections, and it puts her in a position to see how much she has going for her, despite the feeling of loneliness she often experiences from being adopted. I appreciate its emphasis on giving and taking to get things done instead of it just being an all-powerful thing. And the way that Terra ends up recharging after using magic is a cute tie-back to her being a golem, which is just one of many fun little details Birch sprinkles in between the ticking-clock urgency of her mission.

One thing I didn't particularly enjoy was mostly on me, as I dislike how overly dramatic YA can get. I understand that teenagers are all in their feelings and tend to take everything way too seriously, but toning that element just a tiny bit down would have made this a perfect read.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the fun and emotional read!