emeth: Island of Golems (Light Novel)

Interesting idea but to me so-so writing and i quit at chapter 5. Did the author mean to write fresh golem or flesh golem?

The magic in this story is focused wholly upon golems, but it sure does a lot with the idea. It brings up some interesting points aside from the mechanics that the characters already know.

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.

“Ah, the authors wrote for the Final Fantasy series. I wonder how they got Square Enix’s attention…”*sees the name Sephiroth and someone with the last name Strife*“Never mind.”All joking aside, it isn’t just because of some similar Final Fantasy naming that emeth: Island of Golems this won an award from Square Enix: it won because it is darned good.Before I go into the actual story, after the opening illustrations, there is a character list with short descriptions. Do yourself a favor: skip it. You’re not going to remember a bunch of names off the bat anyway, and it’s more interesting to meet the characters during the novel, not before.Anyway, Golems are created by building a body and imbuing them with magic, the latter being a talent only some people have. Just as rare is the ability to afford a Golem; the church and de facto government of the island control their creation and price them out of reach for the masses. They say it’s to protect citizens, as Golems eventually go crazy. But for orphans like Cliff, the only way to survive is work in the black market and risk the wrath of the Rabbis. It’s a chance he’s willing to take in order to become a Golem Tamer.Although Cliff is the first character I’ve mentioned, it’s not only his story. He’s not some plucky shounen hero with a dream and a latent ability. In fact, I’d argue that he isn’t even the protagonist. This is supported by the fact that emeth features three groups whose stories all end up intersecting: Cliff meets a girl named Lovel who has obtained a forbidden artifact, Erie and Heath are a couple of students who get attacked, and then Ouka and Kiriko are part of the Torah Church’s efforts to hunt down these kids. The church isn’t the only threat to them either: the girls are being hunted (and are also hunting) a powerful Tamer named Jair.Regardless of who is the true protagonist, emeth isn’t a group save-the-world story either. In fact, it takes quite a while before Cliff/Lovel meet up with Erie/Heath, and plenty of separations occur after that. The point-of-view changes regularly, but it’s never hard to follow along with the switches. Everything flows, but more importantly, everything comes together. emeth is quite a lengthy novel (at times, I couldn’t believe how much I read and yet still had so far to go). But looking back, I don’t think it was unnecessarily padded despite the fact some sections have been added in for the English version. Several details I thought were just to add background information were instead woven together like a tapestry. I almost hate discussing the story since I had so much fun discovering this on my own and think others should too.The church being the oppressors of the people is a familiar trope, and the faith here is inspired by real-world Judaism. However, for those concerned, it isn’t anti-religious. With Golems being a major part of the story, there are the usual questions of natural vs artificial life (think Fullmetal Alchemist) along with mysteries surrounding the Berserker state.emeth could have gone into a little more detail on two aspects: how Golem Taming came to be developed and the ending. I imagine the authors wanted to focus more on the characters’ situations on this island rather than the world as a whole. While neither brings significant gaps to the plot, I was less impressed with the various romances and romantic interests. One makes sense considering the two just met, but the others felt like a flipped switch. “Oh, all of a sudden, I like you!” Fortunately, emeth isn’t a love story, but this was the weakest part of the story for me. The platonic or familial relationships were better.The art was commissioned for this release, and although I can’t compare it to the original artist, the illustrations look like typical light novel fare. That matches the overall feel of the text, as unlike most of Cross Infinite World’s releases, emeth wasn’t created as a web novel with short chapters. In addition, despite my opening joke, emeth is not a Final Fantasy VII — or any other game/novel — rip-off, so don’t worry about some amnesiac orphans or someone named Mifa Rockhart showing up. Do expect a few typos though, although nothing too significant.Despite some minor hiccups, emeth: Island of Golems is a long but thoroughly rewarding read. Fantasy writers, take note: this is how to create a story that is thoughtful and moving without having the story aimlessly wander.- Krystallina