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A review by lesserjoke
Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron
4.0
The fantasy worldbuilding in this YA debut gets a bit off the rails in the end, but as a cliffhanger setup for the next book in the trilogy, it just about works. And the whole novel beforehand is definitely strong enough on a plot and character level to ease any concerns about that conclusion. The storyline goes in some unexpected directions that make it tough to summarize succinctly without spoilers, but I can say I've enjoyed the journey -- and I'll happily take complicated over conventional any day.
Our tale begins with a girl of magical lineage but no powers herself, and concerns the sacrifices required of her to still serve her people. It's an #ownvoices project with a dark-skinned cast that draws upon the same West African Orisha mythology as Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone (to a better result, in my opinion). And it features the sort of messy family dynamics that add great weight to the conflicts facing its heroine. I'm quite looking forward to the sequel.
[Content warning for rape]
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Our tale begins with a girl of magical lineage but no powers herself, and concerns the sacrifices required of her to still serve her people. It's an #ownvoices project with a dark-skinned cast that draws upon the same West African Orisha mythology as Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone (to a better result, in my opinion). And it features the sort of messy family dynamics that add great weight to the conflicts facing its heroine. I'm quite looking forward to the sequel.
[Content warning for rape]
Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter