“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.