Wednesday, February 9, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Psalm of Storms and Silence by Roseanne A. Brown

 


A Psalm of Storms and Silence is the second half of Roseanne A. Brown's YA fantasy duology which began with 2020's A Song of Wraiths and Ruin (Reviewed Here).  I very much enjoyed that book, a West-African folktale inspired YA fantasy, which took a pretty classic setup - dual protagonists of opposite genders and social statuses who will eventually be forced together - and takes it in some very different directions, with male protagonist Malik suffering from panic attacks and anxiety that make him struggle to move forward while female protagonist Karina is selfish and spoiled but grows throughout into something stronger and likable.  As you would expect from a duology, the story ends on a major cliffhanger that greatly altered the status quo, but it was a satisfying one that made me eager to find out what happened next.  

And I thought A Psalm of Storms and Silence did a pretty good job resolving everything, taking both of its two main characters in interesting new but logical directions, leading to a very well done conclusion that wraps things up fairly well.  The book continues to deal with some interesting themes - loving someone vs controlling them, standing silent vs doing something to help people, the recurring cycle of abuse, and more - and introduces new and develops old side characters in generally well done ways.  The duology never really hits that "you have to read this" level, but remains at the level just below that, and will definitely be a good choice for someone looking for YA works to read, especially one based on West African (or just non-Western) folklore.  

Spoilers for book 1 are inevitable below:

---------------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------------------
Everything has changed in the City of Ziran and the lands that it rules.  The magical barrier protecting the city, and keeping its ruling family from leaving has fallen, and that same ruling family has been overthrown - with adopted child Farid having raised his beloved 10-years-dead princess Hanane from the dead to rule with him in their place.  

There, Malik finds himself in the Palace, along with his older and younger sister, as Farid's apprentice - the only person who knows about his magical power of illusions.  Malik is grateful to have a mentor who can help him for once, who can make sure his sisters are taken care of, even if it does mean he has an ancient demon locked up in his head begging him to let him out.  But still, despite it all, Malik thinks something is wrong, and he still thinks of Karina.....

Karina herself is far from the Palace, having gone on the run with her few allies, all the while trying to understand her newly discovered magic - the power of wind and storms.  Outside the City for the first time in her life, she is desperate to find a way to get back, to clear her name and save her people, with her only hope being to find aid from foreign allies.  But as Karina flees from her home, she discovers the cruelties that have long been occurring in her people's lands, and can no longer avert her eyes and do nothing.  And then there's the way she still thinks of the boy who tried to kill her....Malik.....

Karina and Malik couldn't be father apart, but their connection is stronger than they realize, and it will be tested once the gods begin to wreak destruction upon the land, and require a Queen to possibly make the ultimate sacrifice.....
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As with the last book - and with the exception of a few moments telling flashback stories from an omniscient narrator (implied to be Hyena) - this book is told in chapters that alternate from Malik and Karina's points of view.  And from the setup at the end of the last book you might expect a few plot points to come up: you might expect the resurrected Hanane to be a monstrous soulless lich (as implied by Idir at the end of last book) bringing terror to those around her, and you might expect Idir to be causing constant problems in Malik's mind and threatening to get out, with Farid clearly being out control of everyone to great disaster.  But this book actually goes largely in very different directions, with Hanane, Idir and Farid featuring roles that make sense but aren't the typical ones.

But again, the main roles here are that of Karina and Malik, who are excellent leads.  For Karina, she's no longer the spoiled brat she was for the first half of last book, and now finds herself scared, on the run, and desperate to do right - to make up for her ancestor's horrible mistakes and what her people have done to Malik's and others.  And so she acts repeatedly to try and save people even when it takes her out of her way, and is desperate for some way to save everyone without repeating her ancestor's mistakes.  It helps that the cast around her - two old characters and two new ones - are very good and varied.  Still, she at times almost gives in to despair and needs help from others - especially Malik - to push through it and come out on the other side.  

For Malik, he may no longer be scared of the wraiths, and his panic attacks are less of a problem (although still there) and he thinks he has a mentor who cares about him in Farid.  But Malik is still scarred by the abuse he suffered from his elders as a child, and so it takes him a while to realize that Farid's harsh treatment of him (in between kindness) is not the actions of a good person and is instead one of a controlling monster - something his two sisters try to show him.  Especially as he sees Princess Hanane turn out to be a warm kind hearted girl, one who wants to help her city, but one who cowers under the control of Farid.  And yet, despite realizing this in his heart, and despite his love for Karina, his own scars from abuse make Malik still a powderkeg, and with magical power at his fingertips for the first time - well, Malik makes some very very bad and horrifying decisions with terrible consequences.  But they're always understandable, even if clearly wrong and evil, and it's clear he needs Karina to help him do better.  

I don't want to spoil how things go with the plot, but obviously our main duo will wind up together again at some point, and not just through their mental link.  But the plot that results does so in really well done and interesting ways, and deals with some very strong themes in the process - the difference between loving someone and controlling them, the cycles of abuse, knowing what one has to do to make up for a mistake and when one should to be exploited for one's guilt, etc.  And you of course have issues of privilege and of peoples who have been oppressed for years, and of the difficulties of making up for it to a lesser extent.  And it ends on a note that is happy, and yet doesn't make light on the actions taken by our protagonists and what they have done to get there.  

As usual, things are not perfect.  Malik has a subplot which is extremely frustrating, featuring a potential competing love interest, which gets resolved in a way that is just....well it's very tropey and you may see it coming way in advance.  I also thought there was a tease of a potential F-F romance between two characters that comes to nothing, although that may have been me reading too much into things (there is a M-M romantic pairing as well as a non-binary character, so the book is not lacking queer representation mind you).  

But other than that, this book works really well, and I enjoyed the duology quite a bit.  Definitely worth reading if you're looking for West African inspired YA Fantasy.  

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)