After seeing all of the glowing reviews for this book, I went into this novel with fairly high expectations. Sadly, I was left underwhelmed. The writing is gorgeous, and Barton knows how to set a scene. The only thing is, there was SO MUCH description that it made reading the book feel like a chore. The first one hundred pages were a slog for me, and I wasn’t able to fully enjoy the reading experience. The book does gradually pick up steam, but it wasn’t enough to for me, personally. I thought the main character Esther was strong and loved her determination, and she was what kept me reading.
I think the setting and the combination of Jewish history, steampunk, and the Biblical story of Esther are fascinating, but the execution didn’t live up to what I had conjured up in my head. I merely found The Book of Esther to be average, but if you love immersive fantasy novels, you will probably enjoy this novel more than I did.
VERDICT: 3/5
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*I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
