Review: Raybearer

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

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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Review: Descent of Angels

Descent of Angels by Mitchel Scanlon

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Well here we are volume six of the Horus Heresy and the introduction of the Dark Angels Legio Astartes (or Space Marines to the rest of us). Descent of Angels deals with the childhood of Lion El'Johnson the genetically engineered Primarch of the Dark Angels Legion from his finding, lost, on the medival style planet of Caliban to the first signs of cracks in the Legion's loyalty.

What can I say that others haven't already said about this (at time of writing) thirteen year old novel. Well firstly I think I'm going to be forced to echo the complaint laid by so many at its door. This novel is poor... really poor... Where we should have a swashbuckling, rip-roaring, sci-fi adventure featuring warrior monks fighting eldritch horrors from the darkest recesses of the human mind we get... exposition followed by some more exposition only interrupted by a little exposition and dialogue an eight year old would call "a bit forced". Even Gareth Armstrong's narration feels sleepy and uninterested. I'm really not sure how you can take a story from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe and make it so dammed boring, in fact this is the first time I've almost nodded off while listening to a story since I was a toddler. Luckily for you, dear reader, this adds nothing to the story so far, and if I recall my 40k lore, nothing to the continuing tale.

Do yourself a favour and just *skip this novel

*Skip in this case means miss out but the option to throw in a skip is still there...

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Review: What Abigail Did That Summer

What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ghost hunter, fox whisperer, troublemaker.

 It is the summer of 2013, and Abigail Kamara has been left to her own devices. This might, by those who know her, be considered a mistake. While her cousin, police constable and apprentice wizard Peter Grant, is off in the sticks chasing unicorns Abigail is chasing her own mystery. Teenagers around Hampstead Heath have been going missing but before the police can get fully engaged the teens return home—unharmed but vague about where they've been. Aided only by her friend Simon, her knowledge that magic is real and a posse of talking foxes that think they're spies, Abigail must venture into the wilds of Hampstead to discover who is luring the teenagers and importantly—why?

Set during Peter's sojourn to Herefordshire (see Foxglove Summer) we find that while the furore of the missing children there is ongoing there's a lesser mystery occurring in Hampstead. Children are going missing only to return with no memory of where they've been... Abigail is intrigued to say the least.

I found What Abigail Did That Summer to be a lovely if a little short jump into the life of one of the more interesting side characters of the series. Abigail is presented as a smart, caring and, most of all, capable protagonist. Possibly a little too capable for a very inexperienced teenager... mind you the arrogance of youth and all that. Abigail is aided in this adventure by Simon, who I think won't be much of a recurring character and one of the wonderful talking foxes first seen in the graphic novel Cry Fox. I really enjoyed this Audible version of the story although I found Shvorne Marks' the tiniest bit off-putting with her not using Abigail's dialect (know what I mean bruv innit) as written by Aaronovitch, not a deal breaker by any means but a touch off.

The story is, as you'd expect, much less police procedural and more Famous Five meets Sapphire and Steel which i found to be very refreshing.

I think we'll be seeing Abigail and her foxy friends a lot more in the future and that's no bad thing.

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