Jordan Ifueko

Raised in isolation, Tarisai yearns for the closeness she could have as one of the Crown Prince's Council of 11, but her mother, The Lady, has magically compelled Tarisai to kill the Crown Prince.

Raybearer

"A compelling, finely tuned fantasy with fantastic world building." –Shannon Hale, New York Times bestselling author "Immediately captivated me." –Buzzfeed “A bold new world.” –Seventeen “Dazzling . . . All hail Raybearer.” –Entertainment Weekly The epic debut YA fantasy from an incredible new talent—perfect for fans of Tomi Adeyemi and Sabaa Tahir Nothing is more important than loyalty. But what if you’ve sworn to protect the one you were born to destroy? Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince’s Council of 11. If she’s picked, she’ll be joined with the other Council members through the Ray, a bond deeper than blood. That closeness is irresistible to Tarisai, who has always wanted to belong somewhere. But The Lady has other ideas, including a magical wish that Tarisai is compelled to obey: Kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust. Tarisai won’t stand by and become someone’s pawn—but is she strong enough to choose a different path for herself? With extraordinary world-building and breathtaking prose, Raybearer is the story of loyalty, fate, and the lengths we’re willing to go for the ones we love.

Riley

I’m feeling very conflicted about this and might change my rating later after thinking more about it. A lot of people suggested this book, so I was really excited about it. I don’t think there was anything BAD about it, but I think this is the book that solidified I may need to abandon YA after the ones already on my tbr.

What I enjoyed about it was the world building. You can really tell Ifueko thought about the intricacies of it. I also love that it left room to explore platonic relationships, and I wish all the relationships stayed platonic.

Now, onto what didn’t really work for me. There was a lot of info dumping throughout the story. I’m not sure what could’ve been done to rectify it, but it was overwhelming at times. Additionally, I liked the role that Tarisai played in the story, but more as a tool to absorb the plot. She means nothing to me, and is kind of just a funnel for information.

Furthermore, the time jumps were needed but disorienting and could’ve been handled better. I feel like I missed key relationship developments, as well as explanation for the magic systems in place. There was a romance included that I thought was wholly unnecessary, and would’ve loved for it to remain platonic, but what’s a YA without a forced romance plot? Overall, I just didn’t connect to any of the characters, which made it hard to get through at certain points.

As I said before, I don’t think there’s anything necessarily bad with the book, and I can understand why it was so captivating to the people that suggested it. However, I just don’t think it was for me, as I’ve been separating myself from YA recently.

Nik ✨

I’m feeling very conflicted about this and might change my rating later after thinking more about it. A lot of people suggested this book, so I was really excited about it. I don’t think there was anything BAD about it, but I think this is the book that solidified I may need to abandon YA after the ones already on my tbr.

What I enjoyed about it was the world building. You can really tell Ifueko thought about the intricacies of it. I also love that it left room to explore platonic relationships, and I wish all the relationships stayed platonic.

Now, onto what didn’t really work for me. There was a lot of info dumping throughout the story. I’m not sure what could’ve been done to rectify it, but it was overwhelming at times. Additionally, I liked the role that Tarisai played in the story, but more as a tool to absorb the plot. She means nothing to me, and is kind of just a funnel for information.

Furthermore, the time jumps were needed but disorienting and could’ve been handled better. I feel like I missed key relationship developments, as well as explanation for the magic systems in place. There was a romance included that I thought was wholly unnecessary, and would’ve loved for it to remain platonic, but what’s a YA without a forced romance plot? Overall, I just didn’t connect to any of the characters, which made it hard to get through at certain points.

As I said before, I don’t think there’s anything necessarily bad with the book, and I can understand why it was so captivating to the people that suggested it. However, I just don’t think it was for me, as I’ve been separating myself from YA recently.

An epic West-African inspired YA fantasy from an incredible new talent.

This has really likable characters, found family and really intricate political intrigue. At times, this read like an upper MG book and other times it felt YA. Overall, this is pretty solid. I feel like I would have loved this more if I read this when I was younger.

Mel 

kitty 

this book ... wow. i will never love a book the way that i loved this one.

really great YA. i gasped out loud at one point which is just insane lmao

julia

Tatiana

Raybearer: 4.5/5

  “Uniformity is not unity. Silence is not peace.”

Premise:
Raybearer follows Tarisai who's always longed for family. She had an unusual upbringing in a large mansion surrounded by servants afraid to touch her, and an absent mother called The Lady. One day, The Lady sends Tarisai to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince’s Council of 11, a job that requires unrequited love and loyalty to the Crown Prince. The only problem is that The Lady has compelled Tarisai to kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust. Tarisai refuses to be a pawn in The Lady's game, but is she strong enough to forge her own path?

Writing & Plot:
It is extremely rare for me to pick up a fantasy and be intrigued straight from the start. Jordan Ifueko's writing is intriguing and effortless. Her world-building is like no other. I was never confused, yet the magic system is entirely new that I have never read before. I was interested in court politics as well as the main plotline. The text is rich in its exploration of the best and worst parts of humanity. This book feels like so much more than a YA Fantasy.

Raybearer is immersive and such great escapism. You can fall into this world and you'll never want to leave. One thing I didn't love was the ending just due to the fact I felt it ended rather abruptly without a cliffhanger necessarily, but just in the middle and it felt unfinished. That said, Redemptor is already out which I will be picking up promptly.

Characters:
This book belongs in the found family hall of fame. One of the best found family tropes I have ever read is within Raybearer. Tarisai herself is incredible and reading from her perspective was so lovely! Jordan Ifueko did not tread lightly when it came to side characters either. Dayo, Kirah, and SANJEET?!?! I'm obsessed. 

Conlusion:
If you're like me and have been meaning to read it forever but still haven't, this is your sign to read it ASAP. I am ashamed it took me this long to read, but it was totally worth it. Probably one of my favorite YA fantasy books I've ever read. With a unique world and exceptional characters, it will not disappoint.

Janice

I really liked the premise of the story. However, I did not like its execution. The story itself was pretty nice and original, but I felt like the book dwelt too long on irrelevant things and often skipped important parts, reduced them to a few sentences or lacked foreshadowing. Also there were some instances where it was not clear how the characters had gotten to that point. Furthermore, while I like that the book draws on folklore it really annoyed me that this folklore was often written out completely while it was not relevant to the story.

Lastly, I had a hard time connecting to most of the characters whereas I normally don't struggle with that at all. I did not consider them to be likeable, especially because most of them seemed to have no other purpose than protecting Dayo, thereby taking away their individualism. 

I read all of the positive reviews before buying this book but I really cannot relate to them.

All in all, while I enjoyed the idea of the story and would have loved it if it was written differently, I did not really like this version of it.

Nessa Luna

The epic and phenomenal West-African inspired New York Times bestselling YA fantasy from an incredible new talent. 'Only one thing is more powerful than a wish, and that is a purpose.' Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince's Council of Eleven. If she's picked, she'll be joined with the other Council members through the Ray, a bond deeper than blood. That closeness is irresistible to Tarisai, who has always wanted to belong somewhere. But The Lady has other ideas, including a magical wish that Tarisai is compelled to obey: kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust. Tarisai won't stand by and become someone's pawn - but is she strong enough to choose a different path for herself?

Maga P

Not only is the prose in Raybearer Incredible, so is the world building, the character development, the themes— I couldn't stop reading, and when I wasn't reading I was Itching to come back to it.

Would recommend it if political drama, found family, reclaimed personhood and magic bonds all wrapped up in a richly built world told in beautiful prose are your thing.

The only other comment I have is against the pacing. Although it didn't feel precisely rushed, the events in this installment could have probably been covered in two books and that way we would've been given more time to take in the (fantastic!) world and some of the plot points— specially the political intrigue, which I loved, for the record.

But as it is I adored it, I was blown away and left in tears more than once and I can't wait to read the next installment.

lisa roeling 

this was brilliant, the worldbuilding was incredible and these characters 🥺🥺💘 wow
also chapter chapter 29 and 30????? my jaw was on the floor

Tannins and Tales

Katie Vargo

Im so sad because i had such high hopes for this book after reading reviews. The plot and world building was all over the place and it kept introducing new things halfway through and never establish a set timeline. Definitely YA, which is fine but it got to the point where it was dull and boring, pretty much just to get to a page count. The writing is nicely done and i would love to see a more adult/concrete world from this author!

Anna Cashman

Reread: I’m still so in love with this book. I’m going to boldly say MY FAVORITE BOOK EVER, under Harry Potter but that’s only because of the nostalgia that HP holds. I love all the characters, there were so many highs and lows, and amazing world building. There’s nothing I don’t like about this book. SO EXCITED TO READ THE SEQUEL NOW

WHY ARE MORE PEOPLE NOT SCREAMING ABOUT HOW GOOD THIS BOOK IS?!!?!? 

- very well written and very well rounded 
- ethnic, magical, with a heathy dose of life lessons
- alsopleasemayihavethenextonenowthx

Sara

mevi

The world-building and culture were fantastic but the plot was weak (imo) for the majority of the book. Many turning points were predictable from a mile away until near the end. My rating for most of the book was at a low 3 but it rose to a 4 due to the events at the end.

Aditi

This was really interesting. My favorite part was definitely the setting. The world building and the magic system are well fleshed out and it really seems like a lived in world. The characters are well developed and I liked almost all of them for the most part. We follow these characters over several years and I didn't really feel as connected to the main characters as I would've liked. 

But, I was still invested in following the story because of the plot. There were some twists that I didn't expect in terms of the romance, which was refreshing to read about. The ending got a bit muddled and I haven't heard the best things about the sequel which makes me wary to pick it up but I hope I still enjoy it for what it is.

Lia Yuliana

Update 22/09/2021

Find my reviews on :  An Ode to Fiction
Official Release Date : 18th August 2020
Buy the book :
 Amazon |  Book Depository

4.5 rounded up to 5/5 ⭐️


  
    Me, mine, she’s me and she is mine.
  


Raybearer is the ray of sunshine in young adult fantasy that refreshed the genre with it’s fascinating and unique world building proving to be 2020’s strongest fantasy debuts.

Raybearer is a West African inspired fantasy by debut author Jordan Ifueko that made headlines upon it’s publishing during the Summer of 2020. I remember distinctly around that time I just started reading again, I saw Raybearer being mentioned by literally every BookTuber and mutual on Twitter. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this book! Everyone I know that has read it rated it 4-5 stars so I have slightly high expectations going into the book. For the longest time I’ve planned to read this book after I acquired a copy myself. Thankfully my local bookstore stocked the UK paperbacks of Raybearer which is also the version I wanted. Coincidentally, the sequel Redemptor is out now! It was released last month on August, 17th 2021. I found that this is good timing for me to read since both books are out so after I finish Raybearer I can just jump in to the sequel.

Before the review I would like to highlight the amazing covers both US and UK versions of the series. The US covers are done by the artist Charles Chaisson. The UK covers are done by Micaela Alcaino, the artist that has done covers for many well known books and series’ to name a few : The Daevabad Trilogy by S. A. Chakraborty, An Ember in the Ashes Quartet by Sabaa Tahir, The Iron Fey Series by Julie Kagawa, Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff and so many more. What makes the UK version my favorite is the optical illusion. You need to do a double take to be able to notice the face there which I found very clever! If you wanna know Mikaela’s process in making the cover for Raybearer and Redemptor check out the interview here.


  
    “It’s no use bringing up the past. You write your story, not the people who came before you.”
  


Raybearer is a story that follow Tarisai, a young girl that has lived all her life within the compounds of her home in Swana, one of the realms that is ruled by the Aritsai Empire. Tarisai grew up isolated from the world. Her only family is her mother that she calls The Lady. Tarisai spends her days studying a variety of subjects with her tutors from languages, history, politics, literature, puzzle solving etc. Everyday Tarisai is desperate for her mother’s love as The Lady is mostly absent from her childhood. The people Tarisai sees daily are the guards, the servants, and her tutors. The Lady forbids anyone from touching Tarisai because of her powers that enables her to steal memories from people. During her rare and routine visits The Lady would check on Tarisai’s progress in her studies making sure to give critiques but she is never satisfied. Tarisai grew to be a child that is touch starved desperate for The Lady’s love and approval. One night when Tarisai manages to escape the prison that is her home she meet a mysterious being. That mysterious being is Melu, an ancient guardian of Swana that is enslaved by The Lady, he tells Tarisai everything about what she is, what her mother had done and her role in The Lady’s grand scheme. After Tarisai is deemed ready by The Lady she is sent away to the capital of the Empire to compete with other children from across the realms to be the Prince’s chosen council. During this competition The Lady hopes for Tarisai to get close to the Prince and fulfill her last wish.


  
    “Through you, my legacy lives.”

“You didn’t make me who I am. I am not the sequel of your story.”
  


Jordan Ifueko’s writing is one of the strongest points of the book for me. Ifueko’s writing style is precise and well versed with each sentence the story comes together magnificently. It is not hard for readers to get acquainted with Jordan Ifueko’s writing style. It is neither too flowery nor too simplistic, it is very accessible and well balanced making me sing praises for Jordan Ifueko because of how easily I adapted to the story overall. The pacing is also another reason for the well balanced story, it isn’t too slow nor too fast that it felt rushed. Jordan Ifueko’s tone hovers between young adult and adult for me which I found to my liking. The way Ifueko structured the whole story is well done from start to end the plot flows smoothly resulting in a strong cohesive story. Personally, the first few chapters of the book does a great job in introducing our main protagonist’s backstory and the over arching plot that fuels the story overall. With each new revelation and twists the build up for the climax grows even more intense keeping me at the edge of my seat the whole time.


  
    “Peace comes when stories are celebrated, not erased.”
  


The world building in Raybearer exceeded my expectations and probably raised my expectations for future young adult books I will read. The levels of complexity engrained within the world is epic in scale and expansive brimming with potential for exploration. The lore of the world itself is unique and interesting filled with folk songs that is used to describe the legends and prophecies. I regret not reading this book via audiobook because a friend of mine told me that the narrator actually sang the songs! Another factor about the world is the themes of sexism, discrimination, and the effects of imperialism on culture. The Aritsai Empire consist of twelve realms, each realm has their own language, songs, stories, religion, traditional clothing, and many more. The way Jordan Ifueko depicted the multi cultural world is one that is reminiscent to my own country of Indonesia. The magic of the world is simple and full of mystery that is yet to be uncovered that got me so invested in knowing everything about it because of it’s deep connection with the lore of the world. There is also faith based religion that worships multiple gods though the religion varies which god they worship from one realm to the next the core of it is more or less the similar. Honestly, I always lower my expectations world building wise for young adult books because characters hold a much higher significance. But with Raybearer, Jordan Ifueko blew away my preconceived notions and proved me wrong by creating a lush, vivid, and culturally charged world that I’m in awe with.


  
    “… people have many gifts,” Kirah continued, “But our greatest good is the one we can’t contain: compassion, loyalty, softness, fierceness. The ability to win hearts, or recognize beauty, or weather a storm… Our gift could be anything, really. And when we use our greatest good for something beyond ourselves, that’s our best desire. Our purpose.”
  


Another point about Raybearer that became the back bone of the story is the characters. The story is mostly told from Tarisai’s perspective but even without being written in multi POV readers can still get to know the other characters well. All of the characters are well fleshed out and believable. Tarisai is a strong main character that is consistent throughout the story. All her motivations and desires to write her own story to not be defied by the preconceived narrative that is written by her mother is inspiring. Her development as a character is gradual and complex as Tarisai develops to be a character with depth leaving a lasting impression on me as I follow her journey. The gripe I have about the characters is the found family aspect and relationship development. The relationships Tarisai has with the other council members are developed off page, even though it is written in the lore about the nature of the relationship of the council it’s seems slightly instant for my taste. This didn’t hinder me in enjoying the story and can be easily overlooked because the characters that matter from the council and contributes to the story is Sanjeet, Kirah, and Dayo. This trio are the very first few friends Tarisai has when she entered the palace. They are the anchor that keeps Tarisai rooted to the world and the key to unlocking her true potential. If it weren’t for their constant guidance and support Tarisai wouldn’t have been able to become the person that she is. I will not say anything more about the characters since it is full of spoilers so I’ll leave it here.


  
    I was Tarisai Kunleo, and this was my family.
  


Final thoughts, Raybearer is a well rounded young adult fantasy with unique and rich world building charged with culture and lore complete with well fleshed out note worthy characters that got me singing from start to finish. I loved every part of the Jordan Ifueko has created. Let me remind you that this is a debut book! Raybearer solidifies Jordan Ifueko as an author that I will surely keep my eye on. The hype is real y’all and this book is the proof! I highly recommend for everyone to read Raybearer, especially if you’re trying to find something to start your fantasy journey or if you’re looking for something fresh that is different do consider picking this book up. From this review it is an easy decision for me to definitely continue with the series and I’m excited to pick up Redemptor. Hopefully my local bookstore will have them in stock soon.

Vilde

Raybearer went straight to my favourite shelf.

Michelle García

This was so good!! The plot had me a little worried, it seemed to me like it was crescendoing non-stop but it really just set the stage for what's to come. Loveable characters, beautiful culture. Simply wonderful

Cloey Yerger

I cannot even put into words how much I enjoyed this book! Jordan did an absolutely amazing job! There was not a single point in this book that I was bored or even, that I could predict what would happen next! This book definitely kept me entertained the entire time. I’m usually pretty picky with my fantasy books, so I started this not sure if I was going to enjoy it, but by maybe a quarter of the way through, I knew I was already in love with the world and characters. I would absolutely recommend this to everyone. I can’t wait to get the second book!

Natalie Sypeck 

This was a quick easy read. I found myself able to sit for hours reading this. The pacing was great, something was always happening that kept you enthralled in the narrative. I enjoyed all the characters and the scenery. I felt the story was interesting, though I wish we had a bit more world building, this book is relatively small.

I enjoyed the discussion of imperialism. "Saviors" ruling over groups of people and slowly but surely stripping the others of their own culture in a hope of fully assimilating them to their ways (it was a good back drop crisis for this story).

I liked the aspect of found family, though I wish we had seen more of it.

Overall, I found the story to be a wonderful concept, I thought the writing was simple yet descriptive enough not to be sterile, and for our character to have had an interesting arc. I would enjoy more world building and more time spent with our MC "siblings" 

priya

This book was really engaging and inspiring, without being overwhelmed with detail and being cheesy at all. I think all of the characters’ growth is the best feature of Raybearer 
because it’s just so enjoyable to read. Tarisia feels so real and I truly cared for her wellbeing and all the hard decisions she needed to make about her friends and the empire of Arit (it’s young adult okay).

Tarisia genuinely changes her mind about things when she is given new information of some form. Ifueko shows us how hard it is for Tarisia to understand the impacts of politics and tradition. I found it interesting to see how Tarisia’s change in views differed from how Kirah and Sanjeet reacted when they learn of the truth behind tradition. Ahh this is super vague but I don’t want to spoil anything but also it’s not super surprising either,,,

Ifueko’s portrayal of The Lady is incredible! I love how much we get to know about The Lady. She’s such a nuanced character and quite hard to pin down, which makes every new thing we learn about her so fascinating. Villain or not, The Lady has a personality, motives apart from revenge and genuine relationships with friends and family. I don’t know if this is because I just spent an hour teaching Macbeth, but The Lady kind of reminds me of Lady Macbeth. They are both strong, ambitious ‘villains’ who manipulate their family for personal gain. Still, The Lady is a much more interesting character because she doesn’t let her guilt stop her plans.

The world building wasn’t great, but I didn’t mind so much. Raybearer is a character focused and coming of age kind of fantasy, rather than a travel and adventure based one. Eleven regions were just too much for me to remember and I didn’t even try to keep track of where each character was from. Despite that, all the flashbacks made sense and were very atmospheric. The flashbacks were pretty cliche and maybe unnecessary, but at the same time I think not including them would’ve left too much unanswered.

In my opinion, the major flaw in  is Sanjeet. He was too cliche to care about. We’ve all read so many books with this SAME character. You know the strong guy who’s exploited to kill people for others, except inside he’s just a softboi. There’s nothing original about Sanjeet. His abusive father forced him to use his Hallow to kill people instead of healing people, he feels guilty for leaving his mother behind and not standing up for his younger brother. I would’ve been fine with all this, but he just takes up so much booktime especially since Sanjeet is the love interest (not a spoiler, you can see it coming if you read YA). To be fair, romance doesn’t take over the plot or 
Tarisia’s thoughts at any time, so I managed to ignore Sanjeet’s boringness.

My opinion of Sanjeet is kind of similar to my reaction towards Matthias when I first read  Six of Crows. Essentially a boring dude who has no originality or talents other than his physical strength.

I haven’t talked much about the magic system or the empire of Arit, but I think it’s good to go into the book with a fresh mind. That way you can appreciate how original it is compared to a lot of American fantasy novels. It’s clearly a West African inspired fantasy world and (I might be wrong) but a lot of the spirits and mythology is based on Nigerian culture.

Also, one of the important characters is asexual. It’s not a focus at all since it only comes up 
once and everyone who knows (just the kids, but we can hope) is accepting!

I found the feminist theme quite weak because Ifueko didn’t really set up the patriarchy well. Actually at first, I thought the society was quite equal in terms of gender, since the Emperor’s council had an equalish number of male and female members. It’s only halfway through the book where we see how patriarchal the ruling system is and obviously Tarisia challenges this (with a lot 
of help from different people).

Another character that I really liked was Thaddace. He doesn’t have a very important role, but without him I would’ve had quite a different view of the empire. I’m glad Ifueko decided to work on Thaddace and his relationship with Tarisia.

Monae Reads

This is top tier YA fantasy. Will definitely be finishing the series as they release

Tori Marroquin

I reaaaaally liked this book! It was a slow start for me, but once I got into it I was hooked. Super glad to find out that the sequel comes out next week because I’m itching for more!

Sahi K

I will be very honest, I was mesmerized by the cover of this book and the premise seemed very fascinating, but it wasn’t really at the top of my tbr or anything. I just thought I’ll keep it on the list and read someday. But when I got the opportunity to listen to the audiobook in advance, I thought why not and now I can’t believe that I wanted to put this book on a back burner. Because this book... it’s just wow 🤩🤩🤩

The world building and magic system in this is amazing. The history of how Aritsar came to be, how the multiple realms were united, the mythology of the gods, the Storyteller and the underworld is told to us slowly in bits and pieces through the narrative, and I really enjoyed the process of discovering it all. We also get to know more about the traditions and cultures of each of the realms, and how they are all different from each other but still very much a part of the empire. I also thought that the whole idea of the Ray, the link between the Raybearer and his council, and how it almost grants the bearer immortality was such a fascinating concept. 

The writing is so vibrant and stunning and once I started, I just couldn’t put it down. It’s also steeped in Nigerian folklore and culture, and these elements only made the story more immersive and utterly captivating. The pacing of the story can feel slow and steady at times, but there is always a dreadful feeling looming in the back of our head, and we keep waiting for the unthinkable to happen - and it made for some very edge of the seat moments. 

A very special mention about the narrator of the audiobook Joniece Abbott-Pratt - she brings so much life to this book that you are immersed in it right from the word go. The way she gave different accents for characters from different regions, changing her tone to evoke emotions, and sang the many songs which are a part of the story beautifully, is all just amazing and now I can’t even imagine just reading this book again without her telling it.

There are so many characters here and it’s impossible not to fall in love. We only follow the POV of our MC, Tarisai who is a sheltered young girl sent to the capital to become a part of the crown prince’s council. She may have been educated on a lot of things since childhood with the intention of making it onto the council, which makes her very smart and strategic and capable - but all she wants in life in love. She wants to be loved and touched and comforted and that’s what she longs for, and it’s heartbreaking at times to read. But she also has a great sense of justice and compassion, and tries her best to do the right things even when she is being compelled not to do so.

What she finds in the capital is what she seeks - unconditional love. And all the characters who form the council are such a powerful example of the beauty of found family that I can’t describe it in words. Crown Prince Ekundayo (or just Dayo) is the best friend we all wish we have. He may be the next emperor but he has the purest heart, wears his love and emotions on the sleeve, and is just a gem of person whom you wanna protect with all your heart. His relationship with Tarisai is precious and while many on the outside mistake their closeness for a romantic entanglement, they are best friends and soulmates rolled into one and I loved them. 

Sanjeet is another council member who is expected to be the general because of his strength and his magical abilities but all he wants to do is protect Dayo, if possible without having to resort to violence. His relationship with Tar goes through so many trials but it’s a bond forged through fire and I could totally feel why they were so inseparable. And then comes the most amazing female friendship I could have asked for - Kirah and Tar. They are a delight as children, sharing all their hopes and dreams and as they grow old, trust each other completely even when circumstances try to tear them apart. 

We don’t really get to feel that emotional connect with every other member of the council but their love for each other is palpable through the pages. And there are so many more who play the roles of mentors, father/mother figures, the mysterious Lady who has her own intentions - we can never guess who is being truthful and who is acting in bad faith, and it’s all just so much fun to discover as the story goes on. There wasn’t a single character who I thought didn’t have an impact on the story, despite it being a huge ensemble.

There are so many themes the author sheds a light on in this book, I don’t think I can even get to most of them. As I’ve mentioned above, found family is the major backbone of this story and while I absolutely adored, there were also moments where we question if the bonds would be the same if they weren’t all bound by the Ray. There’s immense trust and vulnerability that they are share with each other, but would they all be so open without the scare of council sickness. And this also ties in to their desire to find their own identity - wanting to do something that they believe in rather than what they are destined for and expected to - and learning to navigate this thin line while ensuring the greater good of the empire.

We also get to see the perils of patriarchy and lust for power taken to the extreme, and how they can change the victims and take them on paths that they would have otherwise not chosen; and also how the powers to be keep making grave mistakes after another to hold onto their power. One thing that really resonated with me was the idea of how colonization tries to erase indigenous cultures and traditions, and tries to homogenize everything in the name of assimilation, only resulting in people being forcibly disconnected from their roots, ultimately breeding resentment and rebellion. 

There is so much more I could talk about that I loved in this debut fantasy novel but I think I’ll stop now. In the end, all I want to say is that if you want to read a YA fantasy that will make you feel a part of the world and it’s characters, a story that is gripping, evocative, thought provoking and thoroughly unputdownable - then this is the perfect recommendation for you. The audiobook is an extra level of spectacular and I would highly suggest anyone to go for the format to experience the beauty of this story to the fullest. This West-African inspired ownvoices fantasy is truly one of the best and most magnificent stories I’ve read this year, and I’m so glad that we are being blessed with many such amazing books these days.

Raybearer

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