My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Nothing is more important than loyalty.
But what if you’ve sworn to protect the one you were born to destroy?
Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince’s Council of eleven. If she’s picked, she’ll be joined with the other Council members through the Ray, a bond deeper than blood. That closeness is irresistible to Tarisai, who has always wanted to belong somewhere. But The Lady has other ideas, including a magical wish that Tarisai is compelled to obey: Kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust. Tarisai won’t stand by and become someone’s pawn—but is she strong enough to choose a different path for herself? With extraordinary world-building and breathtaking prose, Raybearer is the story of loyalty, fate, and the lengths we’re willing to go for the ones we love.
I was made aware of Raybearer through Dominic Noble's YouTube channel and as I understand it Jordan Ifueko was inspired to write the book due to not seeing much, if any, fantasy fiction where the protagonist was like her and was intrigued to say the least and I can understand why a publisher jumped on it sadly for me though it didn't work. I think it's mainly to do with this being Ifueko's debut novel and what I found to be a bit of a "and then, and then, and then" style. I can see massive potential in both the story and Ifueko's writing so will probably at least check out the next stories in the series where I hope the writing style develops into something I can really get my teeth into.
Talking about the story I did find two aspects of it rather on the disturbing side: Tarisai's conception and the night time activities rules of the council (to put it delicately). I understand that having a protagonist conceived through coercion can be a powerful image and I've read stories where sexual assault has been used in this way (looking at you Stephen Donaldson) but it's a bit out of place in a YA novel to my mind. Likewise the you can only boink the Emperor rule for the council.
As I read the Audible edition I would like to heap a little praise on the narrator, Weruche Opia was sublime and really brought the book to life... even the singing bits... there's quite a few singing bits by the way and if you're like me reading Lord of the Rings you'll be tempted to skip them... don't
If you like fantasy give it a try, maybe get it from the library first though because I'm not going to be responsible for you spending cash on a book I didn't much enjoy personally
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