Reviews

This is the second in the Nameless Republic series.
Love the fantastic world building and the multiple povs. Loved the fantasy and folklore inspired by West Africa. The first book was said to be more action packed so make sure to start there. But this one had a lot of political maneuvering and power struggles. A lot of factions traveling and unrest or struggles. So much happening to pay attention to.

✨Check the content warnings cause there are some

Thank you orbitbooks for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

krystallotuslang's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

cakt1991's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

While I had somewhat mixed feelings about the first book in the series, Son of the Storm, my impression leaned towards the favorable, so I was intrigued enough to pick up the sequel, Warrior of the Wind. And I more or less enjoyed this one, being more impressed with how most things developed overall.

I had forgotten that there had been a mini-controversy due to a review bringing up the way the term “yellowskin” could be seen as racist to Asian people. That was clearly not Okungbowa’s intent, and it did not register with me to take it that way, but I respect the grace with which he handled it, providing context both in a review response (one of the few times I’d say an author response to a review was warranted, and it remained more or less civil on both ends from what I could tell) and also providing fuller context on how albinism is stigmatized in Africa and how that creates its own form of discrimination, and is “not intended to be representative of real-world racism, especially not ‘reverse racism’ or ‘inverted oppression.’” Even without knowing this context, I felt the story stood well on its own, and now, with this knowledge, the story feels even richer and more unique in that regard.

The cast, particularly the POV characters, feels much larger, although at its core, the central focus is still on Danso and Lilong, as they are on a new adventure as fugitives. With them being on the run, it was interesting seeing how their tenuous alliance would shake out, given that while they had a reason to work together for the moment, their goals weren’t necessarily fully aligned.

I also enjoyed getting more of the scope of the world and its politics through other major characters, especially Esheme and Nem.

The plot was pretty interesting, and I liked that there was a heist element, adding more intrigue. There were still some pacing issues, with it being a little slow in places, but given that my investment flagged a lot more while reading book one, this one engaged me a lot more by comparison.

I’ve enjoyed this series so far, and I can’t wait to see how it ends! If you’re looking for an epic fantasy series with a unique, African-inspired setting and colorful cast of characters, I’d recommend checking this out!

laurareads87's review

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Absolutely fantastic. Having previously really enjoyed Son of the Storm, I was very happy to get a copy of Warrior of the Wind; I think I may like this sequel even more than the first book!

Warrior of the Wind offers everything I loved about its predecessor – more incredible immersive world-building and effective use of multiple POVs – and what felt like more political maneuvering and intrigue. Some may find this one less action packed – there is a lot of travelling from place to place – but I really enjoyed the pace of this installment; while it sets up book three nicely, it doesn’t feel like ‘middle book filler’ at all. I really love this series!

I appreciate the inclusion of a recap of the first book, a list of characters, a map, and a glossary – I finished the first book a year and a half before starting this one, and these were excellent for refamiliarizing myself with the series; that said, I wouldn’t suggest reading this book without having read the first book in the series.

Content warnings provided by the author at the beginning of the text (list copied verbatim): “albinism, animal death, artificial insemination, blood/gore, caste and class segregation, colourism and discrimination, death, pregnancy loss and miscarriages, murder, PTSD and anxiety, violence, and xenophobia”

Thank you to Orbit Books, NetGalley, & the author for providing an e-copy of this book to me for review.

sgennis34's review

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adventurous medium-paced

4.0

lktx's review

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adventurous tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Warrior of the Wind by Suyi Davies Okungbowa is a multi-POV fantasy novel billed as being mainly about Lilong and Danso, two people on the run. Lilong is from the Forgotten Islands and Danso is a jali, but I didn’t get much more than that when it opened. I didn’t realize it was the second in a trilogy and I was lost at the start. There are a lot of names of people and places that the author throws at the reader that I didn’t understand (ibor, Diwi, jali, etc), but I did appreciate that she started me in Lilong’s POV and kept me there for several chapters so I could have a small tether. It was hard for me to get into and took me quite a while to read.

Lilong and Danso didn’t always feel like the main characters a lot of the time. We get in the heads of many characters to see what’s happening around the world. It leads to a decent amount of mystery about what is happening in various places and the author connected them pretty well. I also found that I didn’t particularly like any of the characters except for Nem, until the very end, when Lilong’s (and Danso’s) motives became clearer. Maybe they would have if I’d read the first book, but I would have liked it to be clearer so I knew why I cared what happened to them.

The world was fascinating. I loved that it was inspired by West Africa. However, my biggest issue with this is that not a whole lot happened in the story. There’s a heist, but it mostly felt like a lot of moving pieces around the playing board and even the end, which should have been a big moment, felt a little anticlimactic. There’s a big cliffhanger and there’s a third book coming, but I can’t find it in myself to want to know how it ends.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for allowing me to read this book as an ARC so I could share my honest review.

suyidavies's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

UPDATE: 18 JAN 2023

Dear Reader,

If you’re the kind of person who has “keep fighting” and “never give up” tattooed on their arm, this is the book for you. If you love heists, harsh deserts, or fashion week—and a heist in the desert during a fashion pageant—this is the book for you. Maybe you were recently blown away by Andor as I was, or enamored by the Agojie warriors in The Woman King, because the thrill of rebellion and empire-wide trouble excites you—this book is for you.

Perhaps you love dragons, and perhaps you’ve read a ton of fantasy novels with dragons, and now you yearn to see some fearsome beasts of other lore. Or maybe you love quests, a mismatched gang traveling and surviving through the toughest odds. Perhaps you love yourself some Indiana-Jones-esque mythical buried city with the promise of jewels and power. Or maybe you enjoy found families, or long-lost loves reunited, or throuples, or throuples with a baby.

Welcome. This book is for you.

I am excited to announce that Warrior of the Wind, Book #2 of The Nameless Republic trilogy, finally has a RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 21, 2023.

If you are an established reader of this series, I can quickly tell you this: it is everything you loved about Son of the Storm, and then so much more. If you’re a reader new to this series, I say: welcome to epic fantasy steeped in West African lore and precepts, in its diversity and queerness. This is epic fantasy that wears its heart on its sleeve, bubbling with all the elements you love about this subgenre: heroes, sacrifices, revolutions, and magic that will delight and surprise you.

And yet, this is a book that takes everything you know about epic fantasy and rips it apart, turns it on its head. Here, heroes come from all corners, wield swords and styluses and tongues and magic in equal measure. Here, heroes are as ruthless as they are nurturing, as slippery and sly as they are thoughtful and honest. Scholar, warrior, emperor, consul, chief, bandit, vigilante, all ready to break what they need to in order to get what they desire. This is a tale with tributaries, taking you on multiple journeys at once, cutting you in ways that leave you unsure if to cry or bleed. This is a tale told the way this genre deserves: all of the old, all of the new, all in the way only this author can tell. It is an open embrace to epic fantasy, and an open embrace to the African storytelling aesthetic, voice, fashion, swagger. This is not your dad’s average doorstopper tome. This is a rallying cry in 400-some pages.

I am also proud to announce that all the wonderful CHARACTER ART you see above and below (brought to life by the excellent Diana Dworak) will be available IN PRINT as a PREORDER REWARD, and IN SELECT BOOKSTORES after release. Preorder dates and chosen bookstores will be announced via my social media, blog and newsletter. Stay tuned!

I am immensely proud of Warrior of the Wind. As an author, you sometimes get to tell a specific story that manages to answer the little questions you’ve always wondered about in private. What if Burning Man or Coachella met Leverage, and both smashed into Paris Fashion Week? What if the world became irreparably changed each time Lara Croft raided a tomb? What if humans made bad choices for the world, and the land, the seas and the winds responded? I hope that my sometimes hopeful, sometimes brutal yet truthful answers to these questions may strike and excite you, as well as lead you to introspection.

Lastly, I am proud to announce that you can get access to A SECRET, EXCLUSIVE ONE-CHAPTER EXCERPT right now! This is only available to subscribers to my author newsletter. SIGN UP NOW to receive exclusive access to this one-chapter excerpt (it’s free).

I wish I could experience this book for the first time again. But now, that opportunity belongs only to you, dear reader. I enjoin you not to pass it up, to not be repelled by this book’s size. Rather, I dare you to read and enjoy this book, and then, like every good jali, take these stories to the world. Tell it to a stranger at the bar. Tell it to a coworker. Tell it at school, at worship, at the gym, at the play date. Pass on the story of unlikely heroes fighting against forces too big to conquer, and against themselves at the same time, yet hoping to conquer anyway. Pass on their courage, their fortitude, their strength. Keep reading. Keep fighting. Never give up.

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Author,

Suyi.

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