Yetzirah: A Place of Rescue is Suddenly in Need of Rescuing-Book Review
Yetzirah: The Pocket Worlds by Pam Bainbridge-Cowan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
There is a Golden Oldies song out there called, “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?” It is also commonly known that when when people are faced with extreme trauma, children in particular, they will withdraw into themselves. Some to the point of withdrawing into a make believe world.
What if it wasn’t make believe? What if some people, under just the right conditions, could gain access to a magical realm where you could create their own rules? Their own little “Pocket” of reality where they were safe from whatever hardship drove them there?
Such is the case with Elise who, with her twin sister Elena, discovers the world they call Yetzirah after hiding from their abusive father. It is a world of mostly mist that harbors many “pockets” each created by a cast of colorful characters who can make their worlds appear anyway they like, and people it with whomever they like – each world more Burton-esqu than the last. Though Elise and Elena cannot create their own pocket or wield magic, the other Pocket Wizards entertain the twins through much of their childhood, offering occasional refuge until they reach adulthood.
Though Elise continues to visit this wondrous world, Elena lets it go even to the point that she denies its very existence.
The day comes, however, when a butterfly made of wire and jewels follows Elise home from her latest visit announcing that the wall separating the worlds is dissolving. An instability is taking hold of the Pocket Worlds, making it not only difficult to control them, but the pockets start to turn on their creators.
Elise concocts a plan to save the world that saved her sanity as a child. She will find the elusive Queen of Yetzirah, the only person with the power to stop the instability. But to do so, Elise will need to band the disparate Wizards together and convince them to leave their comfort zones – and not all Wizards are exactly easy going characters with worlds full of rainbows and sunshine. Most difficult of all, Elise will need to convince Elena to join her on the quest. Something that will require re-visiting a lot of hard feelings and pain.
Yetzirah: The Pocket Worlds is an entertaining study on human pain, escapism, and healing. The idea of a Matrix or Inception-like world where people can go in their minds to take a break from “reality” to heal (or be tempted to withdraw indefinitely) is fascinating. Watching the character driven story unfold as the characters tackle their problems by coming together for a common cause is timeless and evoked many a real laugh and tear from me. Highly recommended!
