Book Review of The Gates of Midnight by Helene Wecker

 

Name of Book: The Gates of Midnight

Author: Helene Wecker

ISBN: 978-0-06-246868-0

Publisher: Harper 

Part of a Series: (The Golem and the Jinni as well as The Hidden Palace are prequels) 

Type of book: Fantasy, 1900s to 1920s? Golem, jinni, tales, history, past, memory, earth,  secrets, hidden memories, hidden monsters, sailing, building, architecture, New York, Judaism 

Year it was published: 2026

Summary:

The long-awaited final installment in the award-winning, bestselling Golem and the Jinni trilogy.

At the beginning of The Hidden Palace, the second book in Helene Wecker’s Golem and Jinni trilogy, Ahmad the jinni travels to Syria with the copper flask that holds the captured wizard Yehudah Schaalman. There in the desert he buries the flask for all time . . . or so he thinks.

In The Gates of Midnight, the riveting conclusion to the saga of the Golem and teh Jinni, it’s 1930 and three decades have passed since Schaalman’s defeat. Chava the golem quietly tends to her house and garden in Brooklyn, hoping to create a refuge for other magical beings. Meanwhile, Ahmad has found employment as an architect in Chicago, helping to build its towering skyline above the prairie.

But all is not well in the desert. Schaalman has managed to trick an unsuspecting passerby into digging up the flask, and now it passes from hand to hand as the wizard possesses his victims -- first a French soldier traveling to New York, then a small-time mobster—all in an effort to get to Chava, the only one who can release him from his prison.

Meanwhile others are gravitating to New York as well: Ahmad, who has lost his job following the 1929 stock market crash; the mysterious Thomas Beshara, a riveter on the rising Empire State Building, who also has hidden ties to Chava and Ahmad; and Kreindel Altschul, who still grieves her own destroyed golem Yossele. Does the reluctant Kreindel hold the key to saving Chava from Schaalman’s revenge? Will Schaalman succeed in escaping the flask, binding Chava to his will, and re-enslaving Ahmad? Or can they find a way to finally defeat him and free themselves from his power? An earth-shaking finale to the brilliant trilogy.

Characters:

Main characters would be Chava, a Golem who wants to find others like her and Ahmed and give them necessary sanctuary. She is still fearful and often confuses caution for isolation. She is an earthy element and is determined to be in a routine in her home and only do the minimal. The Jinni continues to be his almost careless self who goes away to become an architect but then runs into some troubles. (He is the polar opposite of Chava) Kreindel is from book 2, a talented woman who is determined to learn (quite like her father, Gd rest his soul) and often makes sacrifices to get what she desires. Thomas is dealing with his demons, in terms of trying to please his strict grandmother versus his nature and his story is very heartbreaking. There is also Selma, daughter of a baker where Chava worked who is trying to make money and refuses to deal with her grief as well as Yehudah who continues to contrive and plan his way back to mortality and Murphy who gets caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Theme:

Changes, no matter bad or good are very necessary

Plot:

The story is in third person narrative, omniscient point of view from what seems like all of the characters' points of views, although the dominating ones are Chava (Golem) Ahmed (Jinni) Kreindel, Thomas, Yehuda, Murphy and Selma. There are brief reminisces of the characters' lives at the start, but then we get to the meat of the story, of what happens post events. Perhaps like life, some characters leave the spotlight while others step in and I do assume that the choices might be heartbreaking for a lot of readers. While the previous two novels feel, well, eternal and encompassing, more focused on philosophy and how time and nature encompasses, this book feels very character driven and its as if the characters feel as sort of in a stasis.  (There was slight movement towards change at the end) but still, its a pleasure to read and get lost in the world again. 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

Helene Wecker is the author of the historical fantasy novels The Golem and the Jinni, The Hidden Palace, and The Gates of Midnight. Her books have won awards including the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature, the VCU Cabell Award for First Novel, a National Jewish Book Award, and a Golden Poppy Award, and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Her work has appeared in literary journals such as Paper Brigade, Joyland, and Catamaran, as well as the fantasy anthology The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories. A Midwest native, she now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

Opinion:

This promises to be the final book of The Golem and the Jinni trilogy, but it really doesn't reads like one, mainly because there are so many unanswered questions that are left for the reader to sift through, or to come up with conclusions on their own. I would first mention that its best to read the trilogy back to back, or at least all in the same period instead of in different years (as was my case because I had read the first book in 2014, second one in 2021 and third one in 2026,) and with few exceptions I had no idea who a lot of characters are. The novel reads like the previous ones, long meandering, with the reader becoming drawn to the characters that populate the pages. (I think I also would have liked if events from previous novels were briefly summarized because for one of the characters, I had no idea or memory of whom it was, I also struggled to recall how another character and Chava as well as Ahmed became friends...) Personally, I don't think its possible to ever finish telling the story of the Golem and the Jinni (and I meant it as a compliment) 

This was given for review

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)