emeth: Island of Golems

by Souki Tsukishima, Tora Tsukishima, Mura Karuki (Illustrator)

No one ever believed that the orphan Cliff would actually be able to pull off building a golem and bringing the iron giant to life. That’s because the only people who can do it live in luxury far from the abandoned subway in the slums that Cliff calls home. But all that changes when his slumbering iron giant activates and fends off the army in hot pursuit of the mysterious girl Lovel. Now Cliff finds himself drawn deep into the conspiracies surrounding the island of golems and their Tamers!

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Action

347 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 5, 2018

Reviews

[Kino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dunno about the tag "light novel", I don't really think it fits the format of the usual light novels that come from Japan (I've been reading a bunch of them recently). To me if it's length then it's comparable to most middle grade novels, slightly longer but it's not a series so it wraps up everything neatly. (I'm pretty sure the format of "light novel" is quite different from short novels which are to my knowledge only defined by their length)

There are some dialogue that are exposition dumps but overall it's a pretty good read. The "magic" system isn't your typical high fantasy elemental spells with elves etc... Here we have Golems. It's not that comprehensive and there are a lot of plot holes if you look for it but I still recommend this book because the characters are pretty likable AND they also seem real if that makes any sense.

If you've read other series like Mistborn or Broken Earth where the magic system is relatively unique, I think this is in the same vein albeit bite-size. I don't think this is a story for kids but maybe 12 year old kids and adults can enjoy this.

[Terrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kind of read through this one in parts, so excuse me if I forget a lot. But I can recommend this book to people who like really intense action fiction, singular works where you know anything can happen / edge of your seat tension, and those who want to visit a world that isn't your typical medieval style fantasy but a more modernized almost steampunk kind of fashion to the world. Emeth is basically a story about a ruling religious class who says who can and can't make mechanized robots, and levies taxes, fines, and raids on those who dare to defy them. Within that structure, there's an emerging mystery tale to uncover revolving around a red cube and a mysterious figure named Jaer who seems to throw the rules of mechanized automaton creation, or golem creation, on their head.

The world is extremely small overall. You basically have the slums area (Shoulder Coast), the mining area (Chest... Island?), and the church / school area (Head Island), and within those spheres the different classes. Description of places is fine enough I guess, nothing that knocks my socks off, it's more the character interaction and action in areas that is striking.

So let's talk about that action. It's very visceral, and one of the few light novels where I've rooted for my heroes to "get away" "finish him", etc. Anything that isn't human is capable of being blasted to smithereens by the Golems, and it describes the head crushing, limb snapping, column crushing, roof collapsing nature's in great detail. Despite this taking place in such a small sphere, there's a good sense of movement as well: characters splitting up, joining back together, finding resolve.

Let's talk about the cast for a second. This is an ensemble, and it does feature characters that are on spectrums of good and gray. A lot of characters hide intentions, reveal intentions, or some even go with the flow at times. Our major heroes are Cliff, a boy from the slums, and Lovel, a spunky kind red head girl with a mysterious red cube and a mission. You've got some more neutral supporting characters in Eiri, a school girl with memory loss, and Heath, a boy who says he knew her in the past. Jaer, mentioned above, is a menacing figure who when he appears on the page you know something is about to go down; you wonder if you want Jaer to appear so you can learn about his mysteries, or you don't want him to appear so tragedy doesn't have a chance to strike our cast. He brings the tension you need in a story like this.

Overall, I liked it. Again, I did read this one over a long period and took a lot of breaks, so I'd like to go back and give it even more of a look at a later date. This is a fairly long single volume. About 1/3 through, I looked at the digital page count to realize that it wasn't near the end and was surprised. I don't think it really drags too much, though it does do the split cast + multiple perspective thing, so maybe those changing perspectives can kind of throw a reader off a bit (or keep it fresh for you, who knows). I would definitely recommend this one to anyone; it doesn't really fit the typical mold of Cross Inf. This is much more of a Gurren Laggan style Shounen tale than their more typical Shoujo / Josei. I enjoyed it, and I hope for more licenses like this.

[Pablo García · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author designed a too close circle of characters and coincidences. Both the students involved and the rabbi investigators in charge are related. Too many poor and forgotten orphans, dumb and closed minded investigators stereotypes in this fiction short story.
Even though golems are not often themes in light novels, and it seems that this story won an international prize, the main plot arc is flat and not that interesting.