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afi_whatafireads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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
“Do not ask how many people you will save. Ask to what world will yous save them? What makes a world worth surviving in.”
Personal Ratings: 4🌟
That was one hella of a ride and also marks my first read for Black History Month.
I have to say, the ending of this duology, had left my feelings in a blunder. I loved the writing. Jordan Ifueko's writing was nothing short of good despite it being a YA. It was something that I appreciated and I really liked how she had incorporated a vast net of culture and the importance of love. The found family in this book had made my heart filled with warmth, and the winning point of this book was the fight for justice, and at the end, the people of the nation.
Short Summary
The final book to the duology Raybearer, from the events of the first book, Tarisai will need to annoint new siblings for her to defeat the abiku. New characters introduced and a new mission in which Tar needs to fight in order to keep her world safe again and free her people.
Personal Thoughts
One of the best things that I liked about the series was the Jordan Ifueko's Writing. Its not only eloquent but I liked how she incorporated cultures of the South African in the book which made it more interesting. The politics in this book is just top notch, and the magic system is one that its super interesting.
My thoughts after this paragraph would not be hating on the book but more on the potential that it had missed which can actually make it a 5 star duology if not for some of these drawbacks.
Firstly, the pacing. For the second book, we focus more on the Tarisai's mission, her inner conflicts and her dilemma in handling every single thing in the country. I can't say much because it will be a spoiler but I feel that the first POV in this book kinda did not do justice for this series. I really would have liked if the other characters were given a moment to shine through. Altho I understand where the author is going with the story and its on Tarisai's growth from a child to the Empress she is now, the Annointed Siblings had missed their chance, and I think this duology would be splendid if it was from a third POV. With that said, I still enjoyed being in Tar's head. Being a 16 year old girl with so many things to juggle and lives at stake is not exactly something that everyone can do, and I like Tar's inner conflict and how she tries to solve them as well.
“The only thing more powerful than a wish is a purpose.”
Tar's purpose in this book was something that had been highlighted which I liked. The Politics in here is exceptionally good, but the thing that I was scared would happen came true. The ending was rushed , and man it became so anti-climatic. I get that the preparation before the part is important, but I felt that if the author had made it a tad longer and showed how the war had been resolved will make a justified conclusion for the book. But, at the end of the day, we get an end to a series that concludes and wraps everything neatly.
“None of us are Gods. We are merely tools, wielded by the strongest system. I am giving you the chance to choose what that system is.”
I would say one of the strongest point of the book are the Characters. I liked almost everyone in here and there was a character that really remind me of Nikolai :') He is such a character and I liked his resolve with Tar. The romance in here was cute too. Its subtle but not overly done, and I like that all the couples are suited for each other.
“It was beautiful-his cause. It was selfless, unambiguously right. But he had given himself nothing else to live for. His world had gone adrift, and so… he had chosen to fall out of orbit”
All in all it was a great series for sure. One that is unique, with such a vast worldbuilding. There were a few things that I would liked it to be elevated, but all in all, I had enjoyed it very much.
Thank you to Pansing Distributions (@definitelybooks) for generously providing me a review copy of the book.
Disclaimers: All my reviews are my thoughts of the book and according to my personal preferences. Even though I had received a review copy, it does not affect my review and honest thoughts for the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, War, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, and Blood
paperbrownies's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
- lgbtqiap+, ya fantasy, magic, west african-inspired fantasy, DIVERSE, found family, friends to lovers trope, royalty, badass mc, curses and betrayal
- m|f, f|f, m|f
- black mc, ace sc, sapphic sc, and a diverse casting of queer and poc characters, disability rep
a terrific ending to an amazing duology!! ifueko did such a spectacular job with the sequel, i dont think i could have asked for more bc that conclusion was everything i had hoped for!! 😩🤌
it had all the elements that made me fall in love with raybearer, the found family aspects, the vivid descriptions, the characters and of course tarisai!! whom i somehow managed to care for even more??! she is such a beautifully written character, following along on her journey, seeing her go through the things she did, face the world and her own demons, tarisai is hands down one of my favourite ya heroines!!
also can we talk about the ace rep?? bc it was perfect and it made me SO SO happy!!
IF YOU HAVENT READ THE BOOKS YET, YOU ARE MISSING OUT!!
- m|f, f|f, m|f
- black mc, ace sc, sapphic sc, and a diverse casting of queer and poc characters, disability rep
a terrific ending to an amazing duology!! ifueko did such a spectacular job with the sequel, i dont think i could have asked for more bc that conclusion was everything i had hoped for!! 😩🤌
it had all the elements that made me fall in love with raybearer, the found family aspects, the vivid descriptions, the characters and of course tarisai!! whom i somehow managed to care for even more??! she is such a beautifully written character, following along on her journey, seeing her go through the things she did, face the world and her own demons, tarisai is hands down one of my favourite ya heroines!!
also can we talk about the ace rep?? bc it was perfect and it made me SO SO happy!!
IF YOU HAVENT READ THE BOOKS YET, YOU ARE MISSING OUT!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content
3vannelsonrose's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Blood, Child death, and Panic attacks/disorders
skylerher's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Violence and Death
Minor: Sexual content and Panic attacks/disorders
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
5 ⭐ CW: murder, violence, suicide, descriptions of blood and gore, child sacrifice, child soldiers, anxiety attacks
"You don't get to choose why people love you. But what you do with the love you receive... that's a choice you make everyday."
Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko is the second book in the Raybearer duology. I fucking loved this book so so much. Yes, it was good enough for me to swear about it lol 😂. I just love love the way Ifueko weaves a story and suspense and the way she explores characters flaws without magically getting rid of those flaws.
We pick up where we left off with Tarasai after she dissolves the treaty with the Underworld and becomes a the last Redemptor, freeing Songlander and Arit children from being sacrificed. We follow Tar as she attempts to get the Vassal rulers of Aritsar to love her enough to be anointed with the Ray to her own council.
Surprisingly, the majority of the book doesn't take place in the Underworld. Instead we learn more about each of the Vassal rulers as Tar tries to get them to love her, even using her memory Hallow to share all of her memories to aid the process. She soon finds out that you can't hide the parts of yourself you don't like and expect people to love you. How can they love you if they don't have the full picture, warts and all?
We see Tarasai become consumed with the need to do something about the Redemptor children who died in the Underworld, to the point where she is now seeing visions of them, ojiji, who act as a metaphor for anxiety, imposter syndrome, burnout, and intrusive thoughts. The thing that ultimately helps Tar through this--like in the previous book--is love (and not romantic love). We see more themes on intimacy being more than just sexual or romantic, but a basic need.
As always I love our wise cinnamon bun, Dayo, always there to be helpful and hopeful, usually at the wrong time. Dayo learns he can have a nonsexual relationship and have it be just as fulfilling. We also get Tarasai not wanting to have children! The last female character I read that was up front and honest about that was Katsa in Graceling by Kristin Cashore. We also get some disability rep in this book with a character who is an amputee and a character with PTSD and a stutter.
As much as I loved this duology, I'm sad it's over! I can't wait to see what's next for Ifueko!
"You don't get to choose why people love you. But what you do with the love you receive... that's a choice you make everyday."
Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko is the second book in the Raybearer duology. I fucking loved this book so so much. Yes, it was good enough for me to swear about it lol 😂. I just love love the way Ifueko weaves a story and suspense and the way she explores characters flaws without magically getting rid of those flaws.
We pick up where we left off with Tarasai after she dissolves the treaty with the Underworld and becomes a the last Redemptor, freeing Songlander and Arit children from being sacrificed. We follow Tar as she attempts to get the Vassal rulers of Aritsar to love her enough to be anointed with the Ray to her own council.
Surprisingly, the majority of the book doesn't take place in the Underworld. Instead we learn more about each of the Vassal rulers as Tar tries to get them to love her, even using her memory Hallow to share all of her memories to aid the process. She soon finds out that you can't hide the parts of yourself you don't like and expect people to love you. How can they love you if they don't have the full picture, warts and all?
We see Tarasai become consumed with the need to do something about the Redemptor children who died in the Underworld, to the point where she is now seeing visions of them, ojiji, who act as a metaphor for anxiety, imposter syndrome, burnout, and intrusive thoughts. The thing that ultimately helps Tar through this--like in the previous book--is love (and not romantic love). We see more themes on intimacy being more than just sexual or romantic, but a basic need.
As always I love our wise cinnamon bun, Dayo, always there to be helpful and hopeful, usually at the wrong time. Dayo learns he can have a nonsexual relationship and have it be just as fulfilling. We also get Tarasai not wanting to have children! The last female character I read that was up front and honest about that was Katsa in Graceling by Kristin Cashore. We also get some disability rep in this book with a character who is an amputee and a character with PTSD and a stutter.
As much as I loved this duology, I'm sad it's over! I can't wait to see what's next for Ifueko!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Blood, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Murder
meaghanelizabook's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Grief, Gore, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: War
puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Genocide, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content
booksthatburn's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
REDEMPTOR is a story of love, friendship, promises, and exploitation as Tarisai strives to end, once and for all, the cycles of poverty and violence that have heretofore been the social and economic underpinnings of the Empire.
In the first half, because Tarisai needs to get her own council it felt like she was doing again something we already saw the first time around. Much of the early book is figuring out what she needs to do, accepting that it's really the same thing that happened in book one and then doing it, which made it the pacing drag for me. Also by adding a second council of equal number to the first, it made the character list feel enormous and meant I had trouble feeling like I got to know more than a handful. I'm not new to large casts in fantasy, but normally there's more stratification in how important they are to the main character(s). In this, there was text telling me how important they all were, but not enough room to show scenes of all of them being very important in a way that showed that connection rather than just telling.
The second half is where it really shines, with answers to what was plaguing her in the first half, events moving more quickly, and a really fantastic ending to the duology. It proposes to answer immensely complicated questions in a very small space and finds a resolution to them which fits this context and characters. In a world where the Ray exists, it's a good answer.
The Underworld is interesting and well-described, the worldbuilding really shines there even though it's a relatively short section. The rest of the worldbuilding is very robust, with special care given to the descriptions of clothing from various parts of the Empire. It feels like a lived-in world, even in the small part of it that the story has time to cover directly.
This wraps up a very major thing left hanging from RAYBEARER. It has a storyline which starts here and wasn't present before, with several major things that are both introduced and resolved in this volume. It is the last book of the duology and it wraps up pretty much everything left hanging while also giving a vision of what the basic trajectory is for these characters after the book is over. It feels finished, which is good since there aren't any more planned in the series. The main character is the same as before, Tarisai, and her voice is consistent in this book. This wouldn't make a lot of sense if someone started here without reading RAYBEARER. This is book two of a two-part series, so please start with RAYBEARER. There's enough explanation that someone could probably get settled enough to enjoy the ride after the first 20%, but really it needs the first book to be whole.
In the first half, because Tarisai needs to get her own council it felt like she was doing again something we already saw the first time around. Much of the early book is figuring out what she needs to do, accepting that it's really the same thing that happened in book one and then doing it, which made it the pacing drag for me. Also by adding a second council of equal number to the first, it made the character list feel enormous and meant I had trouble feeling like I got to know more than a handful. I'm not new to large casts in fantasy, but normally there's more stratification in how important they are to the main character(s). In this, there was text telling me how important they all were, but not enough room to show scenes of all of them being very important in a way that showed that connection rather than just telling.
The second half is where it really shines, with answers to what was plaguing her in the first half, events moving more quickly, and a really fantastic ending to the duology. It proposes to answer immensely complicated questions in a very small space and finds a resolution to them which fits this context and characters. In a world where the Ray exists, it's a good answer.
The Underworld is interesting and well-described, the worldbuilding really shines there even though it's a relatively short section. The rest of the worldbuilding is very robust, with special care given to the descriptions of clothing from various parts of the Empire. It feels like a lived-in world, even in the small part of it that the story has time to cover directly.
This wraps up a very major thing left hanging from RAYBEARER. It has a storyline which starts here and wasn't present before, with several major things that are both introduced and resolved in this volume. It is the last book of the duology and it wraps up pretty much everything left hanging while also giving a vision of what the basic trajectory is for these characters after the book is over. It feels finished, which is good since there aren't any more planned in the series. The main character is the same as before, Tarisai, and her voice is consistent in this book. This wouldn't make a lot of sense if someone started here without reading RAYBEARER. This is book two of a two-part series, so please start with RAYBEARER. There's enough explanation that someone could probably get settled enough to enjoy the ride after the first 20%, but really it needs the first book to be whole.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Death, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content and Vomit
betweentheshelves's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was definitely a worthy sequel to Raybearer, which I read last year and loved. This picks up pretty much where that story leaves off, and even though I don't remember a lot about how that book ended, I remembered enough that it wasn't difficult to jump into this one.
Overall, the pace in this book was faster than the first, probably because a lot of the world building happened in the first book. Not only did this sequel expand on what we already know from the first book, but it also gives us more characters to learn to love. Tarisai's arc works so well in this book, as she learns to acknowledge her privilege and work to make things better in the future. All in all, you can tell this is a well thoughout duology that has a home in YA fantasy.
Overall, the pace in this book was faster than the first, probably because a lot of the world building happened in the first book. Not only did this sequel expand on what we already know from the first book, but it also gives us more characters to learn to love. Tarisai's arc works so well in this book, as she learns to acknowledge her privilege and work to make things better in the future. All in all, you can tell this is a well thoughout duology that has a home in YA fantasy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, and Child death
Minor: Ableism, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts
julesadventurezone's review against another edition
emotional
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicide, and War