Beinoni
Taking the traditional hero’s quest in intriguing directions, Mari Lowe’s enjoyable novel Beinoni follows a boy who spent years preparing for his bar mitzvah—with the added pressure that, as the Nivchar, or Chosen One, he’ll spend the night in a battle to save Earth from a host of maladies.
Ezra lives in a Beinoni time, a period without violence, crime, or other social ills. He excels at yeshiva and in his after-school combat lessons. He’s part of a centuries-long chain of Nivchars who, on the day they become adults, enter a cave to fight a gurya and either kill or imprison it. If he succeeds, Beinoni time continues until the next Chosen One comes of age. If he fails, as several before him have, the gurya will wreak havoc until a new hero comes of age. Ezra doesn’t know what form his future enemy will take or how to defeat it.
This coming-of-age tale packs in a lot of worldbuilding that develops Ezra as a character while explaining the complicated rules of his destiny. His dual lives as a student in an Orthodox community and a chosen hero are compelling, with real stakes and interesting side characters.
As circumstances change, each of Ezra’s decisions can put the world at risk, whether befriending the class troublemaker, questioning the history of the Nivchars, or investigating why new problems are seeping into his world. And that raises bigger philosophical questions about what Beinoni time is worth and how good and evil manifest.
Beinoni is a thrilling, nuanced adventure novel about destiny and what it means to be a hero.
Reviewed by
Jeff Fleischer
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
