Zach and his little sister Naomi are shopping for their mom’s birthday gift at the flea market. Zach finds a super gaudy ring his mother would love–she collects paraphernalia and items about their Jewish heritage, but soon he finds out it comes with special powers. The wearer gains the ability to talk to animals, and Zach awakens the King of Demons, Ashmedai, who is bonded to the ring. Great timing for Zach; he can use it to scare off his antisemitic, racist, homophobic bully.
Eventually, Zach learns a secret society called the Knights of the Apocalypse wants the ring to trigger the end of the world, and he and his friends must save it.
Oh my gosh, I thought Zach was so funny. He’s so ridiculous, you’d think when you’re in danger you’d learn to close your mouth, but Zach has no filter, seriously. Zach and Sandra’s squabbles were funny too. Their dialogue reads fast because they go back and forth like a ping-pong match.
I like that Aden didn’t take his villains too seriously because it’s a little silly to think about a heavily botoxed group in khaki shorts trying to intimidate Zach and end the world. Like in their attempt to look perfect, they went overboard and botched their faces. Thanks for the silly image, Aden.
The Jewish mythology we were introduced to was intriguing; it was revealed naturally throughout the story, and I enjoyed learning new things–I liked doing some googling in the background. Learning about it with Zach made him more relatable to me; his lack of connection with his heritage–I feel–will resonate with other readers too.
I noticed that some details in the story were missing or just weren’t mentioned earlier. For example, when Zach is thinking about all the strange people he’s run into since carrying the ring, he brings up traits or some other descriptor they have in common, but these details aren’t mentioned the first time we see them, so these clues he uses to show some connection between them feel inconsistent. Also, sometimes Zach was annoying because almost every time he was in trouble, he would blame Ash for it, which happened a lot. (But also take this with a grain of salt cuz this could just be my petty self. You could chalk it up to his age but I was like, you gotta blame Ash for everything that goes wrong?)
Really fun book, I know I’m sticking around for the rest of the trilogy.
3 stars from me!
Eventually, Zach learns a secret society called the Knights of the Apocalypse wants the ring to trigger the end of the world, and he and his friends must save it.
Oh my gosh, I thought Zach was so funny. He’s so ridiculous, you’d think when you’re in danger you’d learn to close your mouth, but Zach has no filter, seriously. Zach and Sandra’s squabbles were funny too. Their dialogue reads fast because they go back and forth like a ping-pong match.
I like that Aden didn’t take his villains too seriously because it’s a little silly to think about a heavily botoxed group in khaki shorts trying to intimidate Zach and end the world. Like in their attempt to look perfect, they went overboard and botched their faces. Thanks for the silly image, Aden.
The Jewish mythology we were introduced to was intriguing; it was revealed naturally throughout the story, and I enjoyed learning new things–I liked doing some googling in the background. Learning about it with Zach made him more relatable to me; his lack of connection with his heritage–I feel–will resonate with other readers too.
I noticed that some details in the story were missing or just weren’t mentioned earlier. For example, when Zach is thinking about all the strange people he’s run into since carrying the ring, he brings up traits or some other descriptor they have in common, but these details aren’t mentioned the first time we see them, so these clues he uses to show some connection between them feel inconsistent. Also, sometimes Zach was annoying because almost every time he was in trouble, he would blame Ash for it, which happened a lot. (But also take this with a grain of salt cuz this could just be my petty self. You could chalk it up to his age but I was like, you gotta blame Ash for everything that goes wrong?)
Really fun book, I know I’m sticking around for the rest of the trilogy.
3 stars from me!