Eva Pasco
Goodreads
May 22, 2025

A Gem of a Story!

Author J.S. Frankel’s teen male protagonist, another one of his memorable and marginalized pillars of society, comes by a magical ruby gem which embeds itself in his hand after a strange encounter in an alleyway outside the Bowery in New York. About to be aged out of St. Elmo’s Orphanage, Clint Vaslef sets out in the world, a homeless orphan trying to find his way—something he’ll have to do on a world other than Earth.

What ensues is so much more than a harrowing adventure on the world of Yorkuni, a place redolent of America’s Old West. Teaming up with Mira, a female teen whose motives Clint can’t quite figure out, the two embark on foot to the Inn of Imagi where he can purportedly return the Gem of Ginowa and get back to Earth.

Along the way, those two are up against dangerous predators: the vampiric letmord, swarms of nago that will pick your bones clean, Soul Eating shifters who’ll eat your soul if you lie, and warring guild factions—especially the one Melk fronts. A plus for Clint in this scenario, the magic gem grants him five lives in case of death. This surely comes in handy for him.

Perhaps the greatest danger for Clint is misappropriating his trust, a lesson which becomes a game changer for him moving forward with doing right by the gem, the townsfolk in Yorkuni, and humankind on Earth.

I highly recommend this gem of a novel which burns with heart and soul.