Hey readers,
I have something a bit different. I have quite few reviews and thought I would quickly review one recent release and another upcoming release.
Hope you enjoy!
Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
Release date: May 11th, Orbit Books
Rating: ★★★★
From one of the most exciting new storytellers in epic fantasy, Son of the Storm is a sweeping tale of violent conquest and forgotten magic set in a world inspired by the pre-colonial empires of West Africa.
From one of the most exciting new storytellers in epic fantasy, Son of the Storm is a sweeping tale of violent conquest and forgotten magic set in a world inspired by the pre-colonial empires of West Africa.
“Everything I love in a fantasy novel. Damn good stuff!” —Jenn Lyons, author of The Ruin of Kings
In the ancient city of Bassa, Danso is a clever scholar on the cusp of achieving greatness—only he doesn’t want it. Instead, he prefers to chase forbidden stories about what lies outside the city walls. The Bassai elite claim there is nothing of interest. The city’s immigrants are sworn to secrecy.
But when Danso stumbles across a warrior wielding magic that shouldn’t exist, he’s put on a collision course with Bassa’s darkest secrets. Drawn into the city’s hidden history, he sets out on a journey beyond its borders. And the chaos left in the wake of his discovery threatens to destroy the empire.
Thank you to Orbit Books for sending me an ARC for review.
Trigger Warnings: blood, prejudice, colorism, violence
A west African-inspired fantasy novel with a cover like that is bound to excite any reader, especially one with mysterious islands and lightning bats! The amount of detail Suyi Davies Okungbowa and Orbit put into the promotion made it a fast sell for me. I wanted to know what his world would be and look like. Son of the Storm holds on to fun fantasy tropes that readers love, all while bringing in a breath of fresh air. A magical book, a scholar, a hero’s journey, a travel fantasy. All those well-known, fantastical elements wrap up into a Fantasy, but it is Okungbowa’s narrative that shifts our perceptions and understanding of the Fantasy novel.
Picture an epic fantasy world inspired by the realities of Nigerian politics and culture but placed in a world of epic proportions, of lore and imagination. In Bassa, society and each person’s place within it are determined much like a caste system. Those that society deems lower are marginalized and looked upon with disdain and suspicion. As much as immigrants and those within the margins of society try to climb, their position is isolated, even when told otherwise.
Each of the perspectives in Son of the Storm is struggling in their society and all of its rules, but each different from the other. Those in power and those in the margins are weighted under a system. Their identities and how they navigate Bassa and its politics are different, one person having more privileges than the other.
Danso, a student at the university, is engaged to a woman with ambitions and secrets, Esheme. Danso and Esheme arranged to be married and treat their relationship like a business transaction. Esheme, assertive and power-hungry, is the opposite of humble and academic Danso. Danso is seen as lower-class for being Bassai and other.
When a sacred book full of lore and mysteries disappears, fingers pointed to Danso. But then a mysterious woman is found in the city. Lilong, from mysterious islands only supposed to be in lore, is a Yellowskin. The author uses Yellowskin, typically a slur used in the author’s own country, to examine Bassai’s prejudices. She comes to retrieve a magical object that is sacred to her and her people. When Danso is enveloped in her plot, he and Zaq, a Yellekute immigrant, have no choice but to escape with her.
If you’re a fan of the magical mineral plot in Black Panther, this will be a book for you to read. Ibor, a magical mineral that has the power to change the world and those within it. There are magical objects and creatures within this world that change the scope of what fantasy can be. As they travel to The Breathing Forest (which, yes, is a literal breathing forest), they encounter wild things like a lightning bat. This place has green moss dwarves, dragon-pythons, ghost apes, and carnivorous trees in the lore. It is dangerous and beautiful.
What I love about this book is the politics and that characters don’t fit into our idea of a villain or a hero. The hero is clumsy and an academic book nerd. Villains go up against gender stereotypes and societal expectations. Characters you expect to sacrifice their lives don’t. Sometimes they’re selfish and have their own lives to deal with. The lore and the human interactions are what I love most about this book.
As far as problems with Son of Storm, a lot of my interest waned the farther I got into the novel. There are many places that I felt bored and disinterested. I waited many times to feel relationships develop and looked for more chemistry between them, whether in words or glances.
Many of my issues with this book come down to the pacing and developmental issues. A great deal of this book relies on the politics and plot, so much so that I felt that I could not latch onto the characters and their relationships. Instead of allowing some more intimate moments, everything feels more like a jump, which prevents me from knowing and feeling their vulnerabilities and intricacies, even with Zaq, who, when all his hopes feel lost to him, expresses his feelings to Danso. It fell flat because I could not latch on to who they were from person to person. I want to read a novel where my attention to the emotional details is equal to that of politics. I want to get inside that developing relationship between Lilong and Danso, between Danso and Zaq. I’m especially interested in the relationship between Danso and Esheme. I needed more of that.
The result is sometimes I felt that I was reading in a very technical way, from point A to point B, rather than being pulled by the characters.
I love the world that I’ve been brought into, its politics and magic. Even so, there are aspects that are not without its problems.
The Widow Queen by Elżbieta Cherezińska
Rating: ★★★
Elzbieta Cherezinska’s The Widow Queen is the epic story of a Polish queen whose life and name were all but forgotten until now.
The bold one, they call her—too bold for most.
To her father, the great duke of Poland, Swietoslawa and her two sisters represent three chances for an alliance. Three marriages on which to build his empire.
But Swietoslawa refuses to be simply a pawn in her father’s schemes; she seeks a throne of her own, with no husband by her side.
The gods may grant her wish, but crowns sit heavy, and power is a sword that cuts both ways.
Thank you to Tor/Forge for an e-arc via Netgalley for review.
Trigger Warnings: violence, blood, religious extremism, massacres, colonialism, mention of rape, slavery, miscarriage, death
It is a well-known tradition in Europe, and the West, to forget and erase women’s history. A Polish queen comes to life in The Widow Queen. This is an imagined and fictional life of what Swietoslawa and her life might have looked and felt like. There is such an emphasis on feeling what her life would have been. That is the part that makes this book most raw and well written. The rich facts build-up to emphasize every facet and complexity of Swietoslawa and her family. At its heart, this book is about family.
The Widow Queen is a historical fiction about an 11th-century princess, the daughter of Mieszko I of Poland. The story starts when she’s a young princess and into her twenties. The author quite literally throws us into ice water when Duke Mieszko and his son, Boleslaw, swim in an icy lake. It is brutal and old-world, she tells. The family surrounding Swietoslawa’s world makes it into a detailed, fun, and ravenous read.
Originally, my interest in this book stems from it being translated into English by a well-known Polish author. What grabbed me first is Swietoslawa, who is like the 11th-century princess version of a wolf stalking its prey. That’s the best way that I can describe her. She and her family are seemingly predatory in the way they’re described. It’s those little details that pull me. Swietoslawa’s father telling her how much she reminds her of him, so eager to get rid of their enemies. Mieszko sitting in his chair with a hawk on his shoulder. Ruthless and aggressive, yet loving and vulnerable. I’ve never read that before, or often, in a book like this.
This is a world full of cultural intricacies, struggles, and biases with religion. The power that religion gives privileged people becomes a large proponent and one thing that I found really interesting. In that sense, it reminded me a lot of the Vikings. Every character, including Swietoslawa, has a bias and shades of grey regarding what they believe in. Everything about this book is deep-set on emotion and using historical facts to paint a large picture for you to visualize it. Religion is part of that. Culture, and all the different ethnic minorities in Poland, are a part of that. The rulers’ intent on changing the scope of their land impacts its people, and that acknowledgment shows through. That’s what’s so interesting about this book.
Yet as I read, I found myself torn in half by how much more the first 70 percent of this novel is so much more interesting than its ending. It’s the ending that I am captivated by or should be. I’m left dry in many places, where the pacing drags, and I’m reaching for anything to drag me back into the ferociousness of its characters. The one warning of this book is that many spots could have used better editorial work, specifically in the pacing.
I also want to note something. Many places, particularly in sex scenes, use metaphors veering into the ridiculous. I don’t know if this is an issue with a translation, but sometimes when things are translated into English from a totally different language and culture, not everything has a tone that makes it sound well-written. I mention this because some English, especially American, readers might laugh at some metaphors that are supposed to sound beautiful and atmospheric as they probably are in Polish.
I would love to read more historical fiction by Elżbieta Cherezińska and hope to see more translations of her work in the future if they are anything as vibrant and brutal as The Widow Queen. I recommend reading this with something more fast-paced since the pacing issues can be a bit jarring. However, I would give this a read. There are not many books released by Eastern-European authors in the U.S. If you would like a taste of the rich history of Poland, this is definitely one to pick up.
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