Prompt – A book written by a woman of colour.
Medium – Audiobook
About the Book – Set in the mythical kingdom of Orisha, this book tells the story of Zelie Adebola, a young woman who is a Diviner – a magical person who has had their magic removed by the evil King, Saran. At the beginning of the book, she is an angry young woman trying to get by with her brother Tzain and Father Baba. However, one day at the market, she meets the mysterious Amari, who turns out to be the princess of Orisha, and who is carrying a magical scroll, which brings the magic back of any Diviner who touches it. Zelie, Tzain and Amari travel to temples and other sacred sites on a mission to bring magic back to the kingdom and defeat Saran. They are pursued by Amari’s brother, Inan, who is determined to stop magic but who has his own connection to magic and to Zelie.
My Rating – 8/10. I love the premise of this book. So often fantasy stories are very white – white heroes, white supporting actors, white villains – or characters are undescribed, but convention demands that imaginings of them are again, white. In this book, African mythology and stories are intertwined with the main narrative. All the characters are people of colour, and have their own rounded heritages and backstories. Yoruba, the official language of Nigeria, is used as the language of magic, and the story is loosely set in and around Lagos as the capital city. The magical people (Maji) are organised into Clans, each of them possessing a different type of magic, adding to the fantastic sense of ’roundness’ in the story. The world-building feels full and complete, which is brilliant in a fantasy novel.
The characters are all really interesting in different ways. The most likeable and relatable, I would argue, were the characters of Princess Amari, and Zelie’s brother Tzain. One of the reasons I have marked this book down a bit is out of personal preference – the book is a little bloodthirsty in places, there’s a lot of death, and it is quite long! The main love interest for this book Inan, is one of those characters that you really want to like, but I found myself hoping Zelie wouldn’t end up with him in the story. He’s a bit of a wimp in places and I really just wanted him to pull himself together and make a decision about his allegiances. Overall though – excellent, well told storyline, good characters and something that hasn’t been done before!
Would I listen to it again? Yes – it’s really long though so probably on a roadtrip or something!
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