Jordan Ifueko

Hot Key Books

The hotly anticipated epic and phenomenal West-African inspired finale to the New York Times bestselling YA fantasy Raybearer. For the first time, an Empress Redemptor sits on Aritsar's throne. To appease the sinister spirits of the dead, Tarisai must now anoint a council of her own, coming into her full power as a Raybearer. She must then descend into the Underworld, a sacrifice to end all future atrocities. Tarisai is determined to survive. Or at least, that's what she tells her increasingly distant circle of friends. Months into her shaky reign as empress, child spirits haunt her, demanding that she pay for past sins of the empire. With the lives of her loved ones on the line, assassination attempts from unknown quarters, and a handsome new stranger she can't quite trust, Tarisai fears the pressure may consume her. In this finale to the RAYBEARER duology, Tarisai must learn whether to die for justice . . . or to live for it.

the sequel to Raybearer

Redemptor

Wow wow wow this is EVERYTHING I wanted out of a sequel & more!!! Tarisai continued to be a powerful, endearing, dynamic, sympathetic heroine, & many of her companions were just as dynamic as her — especially Min Ja, who stole my heart from the very first moment 🥹. The world continues to be utterly S T U N N I N G — especially the original mythology woven into the story. I was completely awestruck! The plot was FASCINATING, a mixture of political upheaval & mythological storytelling. & of course, the romance was 😍. My only complaint is that I still find “council-siblings” to be a weird name for Tarisai’s group of friends, one of whom she’s kissing a lot. It doesn’t feel weird or creepy in the story, bc nobody actually believes or really treats them like siblings. But pls, can we call it ANYTHING ELSE? And, truth be told, dismantling the empire was HELLA FUN but…I also wanted to abolish this council nonsense.

Ah well, maybe in the next series, which should be coming out soon!

Sharanya Sharma

Wow wow wow this is EVERYTHING I wanted out of a sequel & more!!! Tarisai continued to be a powerful, endearing, dynamic, sympathetic heroine, & many of her companions were just as dynamic as her — especially Min Ja, who stole my heart from the very first moment 🥹. The world continues to be utterly S T U N N I N G — especially the original mythology woven into the story. I was completely awestruck! The plot was FASCINATING, a mixture of political upheaval & mythological storytelling. & of course, the romance was 😍. My only complaint is that I still find “council-siblings” to be a weird name for Tarisai’s group of friends, one of whom she’s kissing a lot. It doesn’t feel weird or creepy in the story, bc nobody actually believes or really treats them like siblings. But pls, can we call it ANYTHING ELSE? And, truth be told, dismantling the empire was HELLA FUN but…I also wanted to abolish this council nonsense.

Ah well, maybe in the next series, which should be coming out soon!

I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by this book. I wanted to love it--I loved Raybearer and thought it was so unique and loved all of the diversity.

But this book lacked some of the charm of the first book--namely, Dayo's council, who barely make an appearance before going back to their home realms. And in their place we have Tarisai creating a whole new council of people that to be frank, I had no real interest or investment in with the exception of Min Ja. 

It also seems like the empire still isn't really fair? Like sure, Nyamba underwent a revolution and became a more egalitarian state with no poverty, but Tarisai (and Dayo) didn't really keep that same energy when it came to Aritsar as a whole--sure, the Ray can now be passed to anyone at any time, but that doesn't really change the fact that other realms have poverty and the capital has the majority of the resources, which aren't being redistributed like Nyamba did. Nyamba also isn't a focal realm in the first book as far as I can remember, so it felt like this choice was less impactful than it could have been. 

The Redemptor arc was only the fifth section, and the previous book seemed to imply that it would be a major part of this book--but at the end of the day, it was barely a factor and could have been a much larger portion with more significance, especially in regards to the Redemptor children and the abiku's army. That plot line felt too easily wrapped up when it was a major point of contention in the first book. 

I still enjoyed this book, the writing is beautiful and the characters are great, but there were just some elements that left me wanting more.

Holly

I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by this book. I wanted to love it--I loved Raybearer and thought it was so unique and loved all of the diversity.

But this book lacked some of the charm of the first book--namely, Dayo's council, who barely make an appearance before going back to their home realms. And in their place we have Tarisai creating a whole new council of people that to be frank, I had no real interest or investment in with the exception of Min Ja. 

It also seems like the empire still isn't really fair? Like sure, Nyamba underwent a revolution and became a more egalitarian state with no poverty, but Tarisai (and Dayo) didn't really keep that same energy when it came to Aritsar as a whole--sure, the Ray can now be passed to anyone at any time, but that doesn't really change the fact that other realms have poverty and the capital has the majority of the resources, which aren't being redistributed like Nyamba did. Nyamba also isn't a focal realm in the first book as far as I can remember, so it felt like this choice was less impactful than it could have been. 

The Redemptor arc was only the fifth section, and the previous book seemed to imply that it would be a major part of this book--but at the end of the day, it was barely a factor and could have been a much larger portion with more significance, especially in regards to the Redemptor children and the abiku's army. That plot line felt too easily wrapped up when it was a major point of contention in the first book. 

I still enjoyed this book, the writing is beautiful and the characters are great, but there were just some elements that left me wanting more.

Redemptor the sequel to Raybearer

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