Wednesday, September 23, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Daughters of Nri by Reni K Amayo


Daughters of Nri is the first novel in a fantasy series by Nigerian-British author Reni K Amayo (also her debut novel).  It's a fantasy novel that takes place in a fantasy version of Africa, specifically a fantasy version of the Kingdom of Nri, with its setting heavily inspired by Igbo Mythology.  It's the first in a series, and this book is available on Kindle Unlimited, so I was very willing to give it a shot when someone brought it up on twitter.

And well, like a lot of works these days, Daughters of Nri has a really strong setup of its setting and some very interesting characters....but feels more like a prologue than the meat of an actual story.  I really liked the world created here - a world in which the gods have seemingly been slain for good reason - according to the man in power who did it of course - and a pair of twins separated at birth grow up and realize in very different ways that things need to change.  But events that the reader will be expecting for the entire book don't occur until the very end, and I mean the very end, which leaves the package feeling a bit unsatisfying.  Still, as a prologue, it's one that certainly kept me interested, and so I will try to be back for the sequel when it comes out.


-------------------------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------------------------------
The Eze of the Kingdom of Nri was said to have defeated the gods that rose up to kill humanity, slaying Ala, the Earth Mother, before she could kill her creations.  But years ago, an oracle found in a cave tells him a prophecy - that his time is coming to an end, thanks to the Daughters of Nri, twin daughters of Ala.  Determined to prevent the prophecy, the Eze orders the death of all twins born in the land.  But eventually a pair of twins are born, their mother dying in childbirth and their respected father heartbroken....and before anyone realizes it, the twins are gone.

Years later, young Naala is about to become a young woman through marriage in her quiet village, where she grew up with her grandmother.  But when the Eze's army comes to the village and its people fail to heed her warning, she discovers a strange power within herself, and a burning need for vengeance upon the one who killed all she knew.

Meanwhile, young Sinai was adopted into the palace of Nri, and has always felt out of place as a result, without the full recognized status of a noble.  But when a jealous bully pushes her off a window ledge, she has a vision as if the world isn't quite what it really seems to be.  Soon she finds herself spying on the Eze for a strange powerful woman and being forced to assert herself in a world that all too readily is willing to spit her out in favor of powerful cruel men.

Both Sinai and Naala share the same face, although their upbringings couldn't be more different.  But the fate of a kingdom - no the world - will fall to the two of them.....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daughters of Nri presents a fantasy version of Africa based upon Igbo mythology and the Kingdom of Nri (the book takes place entirely within the Kingdom and its controlled villages, but the book contains a map that shows the entire African continent showing the Kingdom's location within it, suggesting the series could expand to further parts of Africa, hence my using of both terms for the setting).  The book provides a glossary of terms in the back, but it's really not necessary - the writing does an excellent job conveying the meaning of all terms/words used that may be unfamiliar to readers....and really does an excellent job in general conveying the setting.  The story uses oddly enough a narration that's basically 3rd-person omni - so it'll bounce around and explain side characters' perspectives and thoughts without warning, rather than remaining entirely behind the perspectives of our two main leads: Naala, and Sinai.  And it's more than a bit jarring at times, but it mostly works.

That's due in large part to our very real and very interesting main characters, identical twins (though they don't know that) who differ immensely in how they grew up.  Both Naala and Sinai always felt like outsiders growing up, due to not being raised by any parents, and occasional moments of weirdness only they would notice.  But besides that the two were raised very differently.  Sinai for example, is a member of the noble class, even if not a fully recognized one, and is more than a bit privileged as a result.  She's not spoiled, but ignorant of realities outside the castle, and even of how others see her as a beautiful noble girl, and how they might desire her as a result.  She's bright, beautiful, and thus desirable, but she really doesn't think of herself as anything but an outsider even though she has never lacked as a noble.  So when another young woman's attempt at a prank almost results in her death, her desire for revenge is molded by both her really clever mind thinking of a way to ensure her vengeance is truly felt and her fear of asserting herself so openly.  And when the cost of that revenge connects her to powers she could not have imagined, it takes her the longest time to realize that in order to survive in the world that's revealed to her, she needs to assert herself and not hide.

By contrast, Naala is never afraid of asserting herself, which often gets herself in trouble - first by causing her village to not trust her warnings that the army is coming and to think her mad and then by getting her new companions into dangerous situations as she tries to fight back against the evil ruler who slaughtered all that she knew.  Like her sister, she doesn't quite understand how others necessarily see her, but she's never afraid of asserting her beliefs and acting rather than reacting, and she uses her intelligence instantly towards that end.  The result is a character who is very different from her coprotagonist, always having to fight for everything just to survive and to have a chance for her revenge, rather than having it provided or needing something force fed to her.  Neither of these coprotagonists are necessarily better than the other - they're just different in circumstances and thus have very different stories, but they both work equally.

Which is good, because the overall story is a bit uneven, especially in how it never really gets to the point you know has to be coming.  Sinai's story is a lot less action packed, as she has to deal with court politics in a patriarchal world, but it feels more down to earth as a result and has some far better characters, particularly her rival Ina and her mentor Meekulu, whereas the side characters in Naala's story, particularly a love interest, never really clicked for me as she blazed down the path towards trying to enact revenge.  Moreover, you know from the beginning of the book that the two girls must reunite at some point, and there are obvious implications of it happening, but the actual reunion occurs only at the very end, guided by what's basically a coincidence and a deus ex machina to get them both in the same room at the exact time for something to happen....and then the book ends before the consequences of that action can ever be developed.

Hence my complaint before the jump, this feels like an origin story for the two girls before we get to the real story of the two having to deal with each other and who they each are and what that means - which is the story I was really starting to get interested in as the book went on and the girls developed their different personalities.  And yet we never get that story yet, it's saved for the sequel.  Which is a bit dissatisfying.  It's an origin story I liked a good bit mind you, and again this is currently a Kindle Unlimited book, so if you have KU, there's no additional cost to checking it out - and in that case I'd highly recommend it.

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)