Wrath Becomes Her

Not what I was expecting.

Vera was created for vengeance. After a man loses his daughter, Chaya, he uses ancient magic in order to create a golem in her image. Vera is born with Chaya's memories and parts of her body and her sole purpose is to track down her killer and to avenge her death. On her mission, she comes across Akiva, Chaya's former lover, and together they are out for blood.

This whole premise sounded cool and I wanted to enjoy it, but I found myself not liking parts of the book. Vera wasn't the strong female character I expected her to be. The only thing strong about her was her was her physical strength. I wanted more vengeance and murder, but instead, we got angst and identity crises. She spent most of the book talking about what it means to be human and rage that didn't belong to her, rather than actually avenging people. Also, the romance between Vera and Akiva was pretty weird. These two characters together, just no...

"Our history... Our faith. It's written all over you. As long as you survive, so will we."

In the middle of the night, I jolted awake thinking about this book. It stuck to my bones like clay.

Lithuania. 1943. Vera is a golem. She is designed for one thing and one thing only: vengeance. Her creator, Ezra, crafted her in his daughter Chaya's image after she was murdered by Nazis, bringing Vera to life with ancient Jewish magic called kishuf to avenge Chaya's death and protect her people. But when Ezra goes missing, Vera is forced into the world and straight into enemy territory, and when she encounters the boy from Chaya's memories, Vera starts to understand what it is she is fighting for and what it means to be alive.

Told in first person POV, encountering the world through Vera's senses provides a deep and moving reading experience. Chaya's memories from when she was alive provide context clues at first, since Vera is so new to life, but Vera quickly comes into her own. You can't help but root for her. I highlighted so many passages, the writing is truly gorgeous.

Admittedly, the middle chapters seem a little episodic in that Vera visits a new location, meets new characters, and moves on, but it serves a greater narrative purpose by giving Vera the opportunity to learn what it means to be human, from the individual to the community, and how even the smallest defiance is a candle in the dark. Vera's journey is all forward momentum, and there's never a dull moment.

Vera and Akiva's relationship had me in a choke hold (affectionate). I'll leave it at that.

WRATH BECOMES HER is a story about war, and evil, and despair - yes; but it's also a story about community, and love, and humanity, and how survival itself can be one of the greatest acts of rebellion. Five stars.

This historical fantasy is easily one of my favorite reads of the year so far, and I was so lucky to have the chance to read it before it comes out in October. I will sing praises about this book forever. Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

A list of content warnings provided by the author include:
• Antisemitism
• Genocide
• On page murder and violence
• Death of a parent
• Body horror

Merged review:

“Our history... Our faith. It's written all over you. As long as you survive, so will we.”