I can't figure out if this is supposed to be fantasy or historical fiction. The locations are all made up but in-universe, Judaism and antisemitism still exist? Why would you create fictional places and yet carry over that one specific bit of real oppression without changing anything? We have no indications of any other real-world religions or ethnic groups existing, but Jewish people specifically exist and specifically are oppressed. Not exactly a classy or respectful handling of things.
This would work better if it were just a historical fiction or alternate history of the actual black plague, but it feels like the author was too lazy to make their own universe and too lazy to do research on the actual history so they just did the worst of both worlds. I even reread "Masque of the Red Death" to try to parse this, hoping that some of the clunky stuff was Poe's fault somehow, but no, the fictional setting and real antisemitism is this author's choice alone.
Will be resolutely keeping Mara Rutherford off of my displays and recommendation lists unless the full book is somehow a complete 180 from this snippet. Unfortunate, because this story had a ton of really popular tropes that my teen patrons usually enjoy and want recommendations for, but I just do not feel okay about this author and her perspectives on things from this First Look and some googling.
This would work better if it were just a historical fiction or alternate history of the actual black plague, but it feels like the author was too lazy to make their own universe and too lazy to do research on the actual history so they just did the worst of both worlds. I even reread "Masque of the Red Death" to try to parse this, hoping that some of the clunky stuff was Poe's fault somehow, but no, the fictional setting and real antisemitism is this author's choice alone.
Will be resolutely keeping Mara Rutherford off of my displays and recommendation lists unless the full book is somehow a complete 180 from this snippet. Unfortunate, because this story had a ton of really popular tropes that my teen patrons usually enjoy and want recommendations for, but I just do not feel okay about this author and her perspectives on things from this First Look and some googling.