Book Review
May. 8th, 2005 02:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Alchemist's Door
by Lisa Goldstein
I chose this short historical fantasy because it concerns the same legend as a book I read last year, The Book of Splendor, and I wnated to see how two different authors would handle the story of Rabbi Loew and the golem in Prague. Goldstein's book centers more around John Dee, the English scholar who was in Prague at the same time that Rabbi Loew made the golem. And, being a fantasy, it takes the scholarly Renaissance magic (alchemy, scrying, etc.) seriously - it works. However, while The Book of Splendor was about the forging of deep connections between people, The Alchemist's Door is about responsibility, the nature of righteousness, and the courage required to face one's own darker side.
by Lisa Goldstein
I chose this short historical fantasy because it concerns the same legend as a book I read last year, The Book of Splendor, and I wnated to see how two different authors would handle the story of Rabbi Loew and the golem in Prague. Goldstein's book centers more around John Dee, the English scholar who was in Prague at the same time that Rabbi Loew made the golem. And, being a fantasy, it takes the scholarly Renaissance magic (alchemy, scrying, etc.) seriously - it works. However, while The Book of Splendor was about the forging of deep connections between people, The Alchemist's Door is about responsibility, the nature of righteousness, and the courage required to face one's own darker side.
