Howard Books, November 3, 2015.
Three Stars
This is another retelling of a biblical story, although I found it
grittier and more realistic than others I have read. I actually did not know
the story of Esther before reading this, and had only learned about the reign
of Xerxes in the context of military history, so I found the subject matter
very intriguing.
King Xerxes of Persia has anything he desires, including concubines
from all over his kingdom. His men make raids to gather these women from small
surrounding villages, and Esther is one who joins his harem. She also happens
to be Jewish, a fact that she hides from her captors – the King’s advisors are encouraging
Xerxes to expel the Jewish people from his lands. This was one part of the
story that I wish had been explained further, with more historical background.
Evoking the name of the Amelekites might be enough for a bible story, but I ended
up having to do my own research to understand the context, and I’m still not
sure I fully understand the reference. In any case, people throughout history have
never felt the need to have a legitimate reason to attempt the extermination of
the Jews, and Xerxes’ advisors are no exception.
Despite being held captive, Esther is strong and clever, and she does
her best to impress the King. With help from the head eunuch Hegai and her
servant/confidante Ruti, Esther has King Xerxes in her thrall, and he is
convinced to remove her from the harem and make her his queen. Of the thousands
of beautiful women in his possession, I found it hard to believe that Esther
was so much more special to him, especially after only one night with her. It
made the story seem more like legend than fact, which I suppose it is.
Esther works so hard to become queen, with the goal of protecting her
people from genocide – but once she is in a position to rule, she seems to
think only about herself and the people close to her. With over half of the
novel devoted just to preparing her for her night with Xerxes, there was a lot
of build-up to her role as Queen Esther. However, she becomes complacent as a
ruler, worrying mainly about her relationship with Erez, the man who originally
captured her and helped her to hide her Jewish background. Their love story
seemed fairly trivial compared to the impending genocide of Esther’s people,
and I found myself hoping for much more historical information. There was so
much rich detail regarding food, clothes, etc. – the story was obviously well
researched, yet lacking in information on the political situation.
However, Esther’s cunning and quick thinking show that she was not
just a docile wife – her choices raise the question of free will versus faith
in God. Additionally, the details of her life go beyond the basic bible story,
with realistic dialogue and modern sex scenes. Esther is not just a fable, she
is a real woman, demonstrated by her romantic love for Erez, friendship with
Ruti, and her grief over the loss of her child. While this novel is based on a
bible story, I found that Esther relied on herself and her friends to make decisions,
as opposed to her faith – in fact, issues of God and religion are rarely mentioned.
Because of this, I felt it would be more accurately classified as historical
fiction, although lacking in details of history. The intrigue and excitement of
the first half of the novel fell flat in the last half, which is why it is only
a three star read for me.
I received this book for free from Howard Books and NetGalley in
exchange for an honest review.
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