Rating: ★★★★★
This book was an emotional roller coaster. I hated characters, I loved characters, I loved characters I hated, and hated characters I love. The author really knows how to write character development. There were a lot of tropes in here that have been so poorly executed by many (most) YA fantasy books (enemies-to-lovers, enemies-to-friends, the chosen one, evil overlord, powerful artifact, the quest. Like really guys, there's a lot.) But! I didn't even really notice these plot points as tropes until after I finished the book and was reflecting on it because they fit so well into the story.
Let's talk about the characters:
Zélie:
I was worried about this one in the beginning. When she's in Mama Agba's school learning to fight, and is just so eager and ferocious, I was kinda like hmmmm this is cliche and cringey. However, this initial reaction to Zélie is really a testament to the author's ability to develop the characters throughout the story. Zélie starts out jaded and feisty, but she learns how to also love and still be strong. The author opens the book with the scene of Zélie's mother dying, so that's not a spoiler, but despite the viciousness and brutality of her mother's death, I still didn't really empathize. I thought it was just another trope (dead mother), but as the story progressed we saw how Zélie's history affected her everyday choices and emotions. By the end of the book, I was really emotional over Zélie and everything she went through both as a child and on the journey. I definitely think she was an improved character in this story (if also a little naive). I think I came to connect more with Zélie (and think she's naive) through her relationship with Inan.
Inan:
I was surprised by the first Inan chapter. I thought he was just going to be a nameless, faceless evil pursuer of the main trio, but I actually like what the author did with him. Part of the excitement of the story is not knowing if Inan really has changed or if he's about the betray everything to and for the throne. Part of that mystery is uncovered because we read his perspective, so his inner monologue was pretty telling, but I actually liked that because it kept me from being so anxious while reading. I think Inan and Zélie's relationship was complicated and sweet, and I had mixed feelings about whether or not I liked it throughout my reading journey. By the end of the final scene, I decided that I liked it. If there's one part of Inan's story I could've had more of, it's his relationship with Amari. They had one reconciliation, but the author ends that chapter by saying "But when his hands wrap around my back, all I can think of are how his fingers are resting just above my scars." And then that's the last we really hear about Amari and Inan.
Amari:
I was kind of with Zélie in the beginning of the novel, meaning that I thought Amari was a foolish, sheltered girl who was trying to be the savior of something she didn't even really understand. Again, the character development floored me. Amari is so strong and fierce, and I wish we had gotten even more of that fierceness. Her motives don't make a ton of sense to me; she decided to hate her father and the whole throne because he killed her friend, even though she'd grown up being told why magic is so horrible. I guess I would've been more empathetic if we'd seen more of Amari and Binta's relationship before everything happened with Binta, but I still think it's hard to believe that in just a couple days Amari goes from timid princess to [SPOILER: killing her father.] We didn't really see the extent of her hatred for Saran or her love for Binta in the exposition, but other than that I thought Amari was great.
Tzain:
[SPOILER: So, I knew that obviously either Tzain or Inan was going to die in the book because we couldn't have Tzain and Amari in love AND Inan and Zélie in love, that's weird and borderline incest. But I really thought it would be Tzain! Mainly because he didn't have a POV like Inan did, but I also thought it would make more of an impact on Zélie in terms of developing more the sequel. That being said, I thought Inan's death was fitting and cruel and honorable, and the more I think about it the more I liked the way that he died.] I started out really liking Tzain. I thought he was the perfect overprotective older brother figure. It started going downhill for me when he was getting so controlling over Zélie about Inan. On one hand, yeah she was being kind of naive, but since the reader knew Inan's thoughts and knew that he had good intentions, it was hard to see Tzain so rigid in his hate for Inan. I really hope they take Tzain's character arc to the next level in the sequel, and I would love to see more other Tzain and Amari's relationship because I thought it was so cute in this book (if sparse).
The plot is not the most original in the world, like there aren't any shocking plot twists, but I think the journey really worked for the story. I was intrigued by every new land and culture the characters were exposed to, and I am really excited to see more parts of Orisha in the next novel. Also - I highly recommend the audiobook; I thought the narration was fantastic!
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