Raybearer, by Jordan Ifueko
Sep. 27th, 2020 10:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkI looked forward to this, and the only disappointment was that the version with the gorgeous cover is not yet available as a paperback in the right size for my bookshelf. I loved the worldbuilding, the characters, the villains, and the tropes – canon soulbonds! Forced betrayals (and their aftermath)! Delicious.
I loved how colorful the world was: West-African inspired iirc, and both intriguing and a lot of fun.
The Lady was a great villain. In the very first chapter we learn that she enslaved a spirit and then raped him so she could become pregnant so she could have a half-ehru child she could command to kill her enemy, shiit. And she was smart about things, too! Pretty much the only mistake she made – apart from getting captured, but she could have gotten out of that – was writing a diary in a way/hiding it in a place where Woo In could find it, and tbh she had reasons to write it and to think it safe.
Emperor Olugbade was the other villain, and he was the more typical corrupt fearful ruler, easy to hate. His death was very poetic though, killed by his own councilor because of a love he would have forbidden.
This world's system is fucked up on multiple levels, some of them very obvious and addressed – the child sacrifices, the sexism which is even more clearly than normal just an excuse for powerful men not to share that power with women, the "unity"-focused imperialism, the councilors who consider themselves above the rules – and some less so, like the entire set-up of the children competing to become the Crown Prince's councilors, I'm curious if that will be addressed as well in the sequel.
At first I missed the fact that there is a sequel and thought it was a standalone, and was unsatisfied with how many plotlines were left unresolved, but now I just look forward to book 2 even more. Though even so, the pacing toward the end was quite rushed, and I would have loved to see another conversation between Tarisai and Dayo at the end. I loved the reveal that he knew all along!
I liked Tarisai a lot. Erasing her own memories so she didn't have to kill Dayo was smart, maybe obvious in hindsight but I didn't see it coming. (If she'd had more time to prepare she could have written herself a note…) And I really liked her relationships with Dayo and Kirah and Sanjeet. One of my favorite scenes was after Tarisai came back from her conversation with the imprisoned Lady doubting her own feelings about her childhood and Sanjeet pointed out how what the Lady had said was all bullshit.
One thing I found slightly disappointing was that nominally there were twelve people in the Ray, but we only really got to see Tarisai's relationships with three of them. I understand that it's very hard to introduce that many characters, but Tarisai lived with them for many years and they're all supposed to be best friends, I would have liked to see at least a little more of their relationships. And if not in person, then at least see Tarisai think about them when they're separated. Iirc she only or at least mostly thinks of them as a group, and that's a bit sad that she doesn't have closer ties to the other eight after several years together.
Especially since she's a Raybearer too! Which gives her a lot of natural charisma and means people are drawn to her, as Sanjeet and Kirah point out, so her not having more close friends is even more odd. I'll have to pay more attention on a reread if maybe I missed something.
I was surprised at first how naïve Dayo seemed to be, especially as Olugbade's son, but that's just another proof that this way of educating a Prince is stupid. (Also, does he have any siblings we never hear about?, because if not that's also odd.) I hope that in book 2 we'll get more of Tarisai and Dayo working together as equals.
I did enjoy Dayo being ace – and hey, with Tarisai as Empress, he doesn't even have to have biological kids ^^ Though now that I think about it, I can't recall seeing another queer character or a queer relationship, which is a bit disappointing.
By the way, do we know what Dayo's Hallow is? It would be strange if not, so I probably just missed it.
I'm really curious what Tarisai being a Raybearer who is also part of Dayo's council will mean in the second book! She'll have to assemble a council of all the rulers to fulfil her bargain with the abiku and stop the child sacrifices, but that's going to be really hard, especially with the council sickness – rulers especially won't want to have to move together. And that's just the practical aspect, they'll also have to love her to accept the Ray. Hm.
In any case, Empress Tarisai will be interesting. She's just, what, seventeen now? Only about a year ago that she almost risked the treaty with the Underworld just because of one child, she should have known better, but to be fair it is a hard thing to face.
(The longer I think about it, the more things come to mind that I was slightly less happy with – but that's normal, and mainly things that I wouldn't even mention if the entire book wasn't so great that such details stand out.)
I'm thinking of nominating this for Yuletide. I'm not sure yet if I want to request it, but I think I'd like to offer it, and maybe between now and sign-ups more people will get a chance to read the book.
I loved how colorful the world was: West-African inspired iirc, and both intriguing and a lot of fun.
The Lady was a great villain. In the very first chapter we learn that she enslaved a spirit and then raped him so she could become pregnant so she could have a half-ehru child she could command to kill her enemy, shiit. And she was smart about things, too! Pretty much the only mistake she made – apart from getting captured, but she could have gotten out of that – was writing a diary in a way/hiding it in a place where Woo In could find it, and tbh she had reasons to write it and to think it safe.
Emperor Olugbade was the other villain, and he was the more typical corrupt fearful ruler, easy to hate. His death was very poetic though, killed by his own councilor because of a love he would have forbidden.
This world's system is fucked up on multiple levels, some of them very obvious and addressed – the child sacrifices, the sexism which is even more clearly than normal just an excuse for powerful men not to share that power with women, the "unity"-focused imperialism, the councilors who consider themselves above the rules – and some less so, like the entire set-up of the children competing to become the Crown Prince's councilors, I'm curious if that will be addressed as well in the sequel.
At first I missed the fact that there is a sequel and thought it was a standalone, and was unsatisfied with how many plotlines were left unresolved, but now I just look forward to book 2 even more. Though even so, the pacing toward the end was quite rushed, and I would have loved to see another conversation between Tarisai and Dayo at the end. I loved the reveal that he knew all along!
I liked Tarisai a lot. Erasing her own memories so she didn't have to kill Dayo was smart, maybe obvious in hindsight but I didn't see it coming. (If she'd had more time to prepare she could have written herself a note…) And I really liked her relationships with Dayo and Kirah and Sanjeet. One of my favorite scenes was after Tarisai came back from her conversation with the imprisoned Lady doubting her own feelings about her childhood and Sanjeet pointed out how what the Lady had said was all bullshit.
One thing I found slightly disappointing was that nominally there were twelve people in the Ray, but we only really got to see Tarisai's relationships with three of them. I understand that it's very hard to introduce that many characters, but Tarisai lived with them for many years and they're all supposed to be best friends, I would have liked to see at least a little more of their relationships. And if not in person, then at least see Tarisai think about them when they're separated. Iirc she only or at least mostly thinks of them as a group, and that's a bit sad that she doesn't have closer ties to the other eight after several years together.
Especially since she's a Raybearer too! Which gives her a lot of natural charisma and means people are drawn to her, as Sanjeet and Kirah point out, so her not having more close friends is even more odd. I'll have to pay more attention on a reread if maybe I missed something.
I was surprised at first how naïve Dayo seemed to be, especially as Olugbade's son, but that's just another proof that this way of educating a Prince is stupid. (Also, does he have any siblings we never hear about?, because if not that's also odd.) I hope that in book 2 we'll get more of Tarisai and Dayo working together as equals.
I did enjoy Dayo being ace – and hey, with Tarisai as Empress, he doesn't even have to have biological kids ^^ Though now that I think about it, I can't recall seeing another queer character or a queer relationship, which is a bit disappointing.
By the way, do we know what Dayo's Hallow is? It would be strange if not, so I probably just missed it.
I'm really curious what Tarisai being a Raybearer who is also part of Dayo's council will mean in the second book! She'll have to assemble a council of all the rulers to fulfil her bargain with the abiku and stop the child sacrifices, but that's going to be really hard, especially with the council sickness – rulers especially won't want to have to move together. And that's just the practical aspect, they'll also have to love her to accept the Ray. Hm.
In any case, Empress Tarisai will be interesting. She's just, what, seventeen now? Only about a year ago that she almost risked the treaty with the Underworld just because of one child, she should have known better, but to be fair it is a hard thing to face.
(The longer I think about it, the more things come to mind that I was slightly less happy with – but that's normal, and mainly things that I wouldn't even mention if the entire book wasn't so great that such details stand out.)
I'm thinking of nominating this for Yuletide. I'm not sure yet if I want to request it, but I think I'd like to offer it, and maybe between now and sign-ups more people will get a chance to read the book.
