The more he rode the trolleys and trains of New York, the more they seemed to form a giant, malevolent bellows, inhaling defenceless passengers from platforms and street corners and blowing them out again elsewhere.

There were aspects of the story I really, really enjoyed, and others I didn't care for. The good outweighed the bad and the star rating sits at a four.

The Good
Unique characters placed in a familiar setting. The Golem and the Jinni are two very unique, and vastly different characters. Experiencing an 1899 New York City was a fun element and could feel their wonder and awe at a city like that. Learning about these two characters while exploring the city and understanding who they were was a big reason why I enjoyed this book.

While I preferred the Golem chapters more the reasons why I found the Jinni ones less entertaining (disgruntled, moody, etc.) were justified and a part of who he was. Intentional or not, the Golem was the highlight of the book for me.

You expected their stories to cross over but the underlying thread between them was a nice touch. It brought the Jewish and Syrian parts of NYC together nicely and in a hurry.

The Bad
As the story started I was afraid that both characters would have a romantic interest, and it leaned heavily in that direction. This may be a big critique for something that didn't materialize, but with this story being a trilogy and romantic interests still being a possibility I may not read the remaining stories in the series.

What made this book fun was learning who these characters were and their unique perspectives on life and understanding what made them unique. With the main conflict resolved I feel that this story could have been a solid single book and expanding on it may repeat similar themes from this book.

If the future stories focus on other Golem's and Jinni's (not Chava and Ahmad in particular) then I may be more inclined to read, but at the very least I'll wait for the series to complete and make my decision then.

This was an entertaining read and found it as a nice break from what I have typically read.