Even though the bible clearly forbids witchcraft, declaring witches to be one of the people on the put-to-death list, instances of magic and sorcery run rife through its pages. A man is created from a golem spell. Mentions of dragons, giants, unicorns and the walking dead proliferate. God sets soaked wet wood on fire. People ask oneiromancers and necromancers to divine the future. Moses’s staff turns into a huge serpent and devours the ones produced by Pharaoh. Snakes and donkeys magically talk. Manna and frogs rain from the sky. Having a mother devoted to all things Jewish means the stage is set for a young boy to find magic.
Zach strikes you as a likeable, slightly biddable young boy who may have a crush on someone he hasn’t told his parents about yet. He’s also involved in a not-so-subtle tug of war between his grandmother’s attempt to convert him and his sister Naomi to Christianity in defiance of their Jewish mother’s wishes. Given that his paternal grandparents are rich and his parents aren’t means there’s additional tension, especially when the family visits the grandparents in their ritzy home in the better part of town.
So matters are already tense and there’s plenty of opportunity for drama. Then the story abruptly skews sideways when Zach starts hearing things. I nearly laughed out loud when the first inkling of the magical hits Zach. The time he tries out his power on another beast is both scary AND funny.
It’s “The Lord of the Rings” meets “The Story of Doctor Doolittle” with a little bit of “The Amulent of Samarkand” thrown in for flavor. This promises to be one exciting tale, with instances of humor mixed in for those who like fun with our sorcery.
Zach strikes you as a likeable, slightly biddable young boy who may have a crush on someone he hasn’t told his parents about yet. He’s also involved in a not-so-subtle tug of war between his grandmother’s attempt to convert him and his sister Naomi to Christianity in defiance of their Jewish mother’s wishes. Given that his paternal grandparents are rich and his parents aren’t means there’s additional tension, especially when the family visits the grandparents in their ritzy home in the better part of town.
So matters are already tense and there’s plenty of opportunity for drama. Then the story abruptly skews sideways when Zach starts hearing things. I nearly laughed out loud when the first inkling of the magical hits Zach. The time he tries out his power on another beast is both scary AND funny.
It’s “The Lord of the Rings” meets “The Story of Doctor Doolittle” with a little bit of “The Amulent of Samarkand” thrown in for flavor. This promises to be one exciting tale, with instances of humor mixed in for those who like fun with our sorcery.