I do love to genre hop! So back to Fantasy I go....
This one has been on my TBR for about a year and a half. I bought it during the Book Crawl in Charlotte. But it has been on my radar since its 2018 publication.
First off, this is a debut novel, and it debuted at #1 on the NYT bestseller list.
Read that again.
Adeyemi's background is impressive - Harvard educated, earning an honors degree in English lit, studied West African culture and mythology in Brazil, winner of the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award.
She uses this education and her innate talent to great effect in this sweeping rebellion story filled with magic, oppression, self-doubt and love. She brings the African, and the African-American, experience to the page and makes the reader FEEL the despair of not being heard, of being judged unfairly, of having family ripped away by authority. And she does it while making us cheer for the underdog, a young girl named Zelie.
Zelie was denied coming into her magic when her mother was killed by the (non-magic) King's army. None of the children who should have grown into maji can do so without an elder to guide and initiate them, and all the elders are gone. Zelie, her brother Tzain, and Princess Amari form an odd army of three when they discover there IS a way to bring the magic back, if only they can get there in time. But the King's army chases his traitorous daughter and sends his son, the Prince, after them.
Yeah, ok you can see where all this is going, but the EMOTION in this book, in these young hearts, the desire for more in life, and the struggle to get there is powerful. This is the first in a trilogy and yes indeed I went straight to the store to buy books 2 and 3. You will want to as well, as Book 1 ends in a cliffhanger!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment