Shira Glassman's The Second Mango
I was SOOOO excited when I heard about this book--a fantasy novel that's straight up JEWISH! But I feel like it needed one more pass with an editor. The bones are pretty solid--young Queen Shulamit has only been queen for a couple months, and she's lonely since her girlfriend abruptly left the palace, so when she meets a woman warrior disguised as a man (who just happens to have a horse that can turn into a dragon!) they go off on a quest to . . . find a lesbian who might be into the queen? It's not a well-thought out plan and it's pretty crappy Queensmanship! Plus that all happens in like the first five pages--the friendship isn't really built up at all, they're just suddenly best lady-bros. There is good adventure here, so the story mostly works despite the awkward writing (sooo awkward, and don't even get me started on the random Yiddish interjections). I think the best part is warrior Rivka's backstory--those sections are much stronger. I really want to like this--JEWISH FANTASY!!!!--so I might give the second one a chance. B.
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