To start off, The Light of the Midnight Stars has just as much beautiful, wondrous prose as The Sisters of the Winter Wood. I am obsessed with so many quotes, and I cannot wait to go back and reread them. Rena has such a way with words. I'm marveled and in love with them.

"Every star has memories. Every star burns with the story it has to tell. It is our job to listen to the stories... The stars never forget; they see everything, and they remember, even when it feels like we are in a time of darkness."

My main critique for this story is that this story tries to encompass so many themes, moments, ideas, and scenes (that are seemingly separate from one another) that it does not come together at the end. The beginning/ first 1/2 of the book does not suffer from this, but once the family leaves their way of life due to persecution, the plot started to ramp up and go in a thousand different directions for each sister. I think if Rena had decreased the amount of allegory and storytelling, at times, then this novel could have flowed smoother. I just felt as if I never had a chance to take my bearings for each scene because none of them felt as connected. I spent mere moments with a sister before being ripped to another in dire circumstances. The worst part is that this leads me to have little connection to each sister, so when big scenes of death or pain happen in the latter half of the novel, I'm left baffled but with no visceral emotion. Plus, there were plenty of characters' endings that I never got confirmation on. The whole family never has confirmation on Guvriel or Isaac's mother. These characters' end happened during the chaos of leaving their home for another, but I still want some sort of clarification because I do not think it is believable that these characters would know nothing. Isaac seemed the type of father/ son to find out what happened to his mother. It just didn't make sense to me.

"Some evil is so unspeakable that the only way we can fight it is by telling a story. Over and over again, until history stops repeating itself."

Now something this story shined with was representation. Not only for Judaism and Jewish culture (I cannot speak on the rep specifically but many Jewish reviewers have said this is a powerful portrayal) but even LGBTQIAP+ representation. Sarah is attracted to both sexes, and many have termed her bisexual even though that term is never used within the story itself. The start of the book has a heavy focus on the sisters marriage and marriage prospects (which can be a bit uncomfortable in comparison to modern day), but once they escape, Sarah starts a relationship with Theodor/ Theodora. Theo (I'm going to use a nickname, so I don't have to utilize both names every time), in my interpretation, is gender fluid because sometimes they wish to be traditionally feminine and called Theodora while other times Theodor is preferred. Some people on here have labeled Sarah and Theo's relationship lesbian, but I do not think that is correct because Theo basically refers to their identity as gender fluid. These terms are never used (lesbian, gender fluid, etc.) because the time period is the 1500's, so it's not easily discernible to label either. I hate labeling character sexuality/ identity in books when these terms aren't used, but I do want to paint the picture of these characters. A lot of Theo and Sarah's conversations were heart wrenching and powerful, and I really wish this story was more so about them than the sisters. Sarah's lore included both folklore and elements of historical fiction, and I think this unity could have been executed better if the focus solely was on Sarah. I'd love to know more about Sarah Theodora's life than the little portion at the end, especially because her relationship with Ivan is... intense. There's just many questions/ confusion I have about this part of the story, which receives only a few pages at most.

"That's the first step towards acquiring wisdom- writing, then learning, and only then, turning words into action."

Overall, I'm giving this poetic story a 3/5 rating because while there were things I adored, there were also parts that didn't work for me. I think it's a fair rating, and I still am very happy to have read it. I'm, of course, going to continue to read/ review Rena's books because she's still an auto-buy for me. The Sisters of the Winter Wood is her debut, and I highly recommend it for sister bonding and Jewish representation. It's magical.

TW: extreme Antisemitism; sexual assault/ violence (r**pe off-screen); extreme misogyny; sexual content between minors and adults (historically common for 1500's girls but still a point to make); major grief; infanticide; murder: buried alive, burned at the stake, burned while trapped inside buildings; etc. I know there is probably even more triggers, but these are the ones that came to mind.