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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
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
Incredible 😶
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I enjoyed the aspect of the African gods and the writing was well done. But there was so much jumping around in time and different points of view. It got really confusing and the heist was such a small part of the
I don’t know how Wole Talabi is always able to build such interesting worlds and characters that provide such fantastic messages, but Shigidi does just this with such finesse and flair. I love how the different timelines weave together and feed more background and life into the main storyline. The powers of the gods are so interesting and I love how Talabi is able to take myths and gods and create an entire world and organization that links with other countries’ myths and gods also and in a very business-like way.
I found myself wowed by the sometimes surprising ways that morals and messages are weaved into the storytelling, while playing into the story. I enjoyed the pacing of both the main story and the flashbacks, leaving nothing feeling rushed or not fleshed out. It is a fun heist story set in a spiritual capitalist hellscape of Gods and other beings.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS
Thank you to DAW Books for the gifted copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.
I found myself wowed by the sometimes surprising ways that morals and messages are weaved into the storytelling, while playing into the story. I enjoyed the pacing of both the main story and the flashbacks, leaving nothing feeling rushed or not fleshed out. It is a fun heist story set in a spiritual capitalist hellscape of Gods and other beings.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS
Thank you to DAW Books for the gifted copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
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
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
...things like totems and relics and idols and masks and shrines were commonplace; just the background elements of existence, the rigorously religious tools of worship in the lives of men. They may have been made, charmed, used, broken, reclaimed, or forgotten, but they always mattered to someone. It was a certain kind of savagery to keep these once purposeful items for no other purpose than display, as trophies in memoriam of a colonizer’s self-given right to take. [p. 224]
A romantic tale of Shigidi (a former nightmare god, working for the Orisha Spirit Company) and Nneoma (a succubus, but also a fallen angel), who are recruited for a heist. The eponymous Brass Head is locked away with 50,000 other stolen treasures in a place protected by dark magicks. Why yes, it is the British Museum: and security is provided by Section Six, a special branch of the Royal British Spirit Bureau, who are rumoured to have ties to the very oldest spirits of the land.
This precis is scant preparation for the opening chapter, in which Shigidi and Nneoma in a London cab driven by an infamous old reprobate, pursued by a furious giant in a makeshift chariot drawn by the four bronze Horses of Helios: very much in media res. The narrative skips backwards and forwards in time, sketching out the histories of the characters and their alliances. There are cameos from other pantheons, cinematic fight scenes, a strong post-colonialist theme, and set-up for a potential sequel.
This was a great read, blending romance and mythology with a classic heist plot. Shigidi and Nneoma are fully-realised characters, emotionally credible and powerful within well-described limits. The spirit-world in which they exist is detailed and fascinating: I was especially interested by the Orisha Spirit Company's conflicts and alliances with other religions. Occasional clunky sentences could have done with another edit ('Her flowing red dress was loose and flowed over her body’s where it encountered her curves.'), and the ever-shifting timeline often cut away just as things were getting interesting: a cheap trick of pacing. But I liked this novel, and look forward to more by Talabi.
Fulfils the ‘West African author’ rubric of the Something Bookish Reading Challenge.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence