Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko

6 reviews

theaceofpages's review against another edition

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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

4.0

I was hesitating between 3.75 and 4 stars for this book. Raybearer set the bar incredibly high and, while still incredibly enjoyable, Redemptor wasn't quite as good. The plot was absolutely delightful and I loved seeing more of Dayo and his asexuality (yay representation!) He's such an incredble character and I am happy that we didn't lose his presence in this book (as we could so easily have as Tarisai has a whole lot of daunting tasks coming up). I also loved seeing Tarisai grow now that she is no longer trapped by her mother, although she definitely faces whole new kind of cruel and manipulative presence in this book. I also enjoyed her stress-induced spiralling. I think many people ill be able to relate to it to some degree even if they haven't experienced it to the same extent she is. I'm glad that she had people who stuck by her and looked out for her through it all.

I was, however, a little disappointed by all the new characters. There are A LOT of them and I feel like less care is given to them than those in the first book. And yet a good portion of the pages is dedicated to this. It means that other important plot points probably aren't given as much space and time as they should have. I really think this book could have benefitted from more pages to accomplish all the many things it as trying to do. Maybe even a whole other book, but I suspect that that would have just resulted in the story dragging so just expanding this (although already not short) would have been a noticeable improvement. Like I would have loved to have seen more of the Underworld as the author clearly put so much effort into making it. (And of course it's also what the duology has been building up to for hundreds of pages) as well as the resolution.

While this book might not quite have lived up to Raybearer for me, I did still enjoy it and would still recommend it. It provides a good conclusion to all the conflict and the story that were started in the previous book. And of course it is always nice to read about a unique fantasy world that is so unlike the more typical western-centric ones that one comes across so often. I hope that the author writes more about the world in the future. It is definitely one I would love to spend more time exploring.

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emily_mh's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective 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

This book took everything I loved about Raybearer and made it better. It was once again SO original and so refreshing. I cold never tell where it was going next, but not in a directionless plot kind of way - in a subverting the YA fantasy genre kind of way. I loved Tarisai even more in this instalment: how deeply she loved others, and the way she struggled to make sense of the world yet still tried her utmost to do right by it. This book also improved on something I didn’t like in Raybearer: the time jumps. In this there were far less, so the narrative flowed cohesively. 

Redemptor as a book says so much, and I loved each and every theme it delved into. The narrative explores the evils of capitalism. It shows how justice is a marathon and not a sprint; that there must be self-care so that you can continue to contribute. It even illustrates that guilt is not an adequate motive for fighting for justice. This quote on this subject was my favourite from the book: 

“Don’t confuse guilt with conviction. Guilt is self-centred, and leads only to destructive obsession. But conviction brings balance - a sense of purpose beyond oneself.” 

Redemptor also examines the paradox of sacrificing your values to create a society BASED on your values. It questions what power should look like, and what must be done to achieve that. Overall, I loved that the book challenged the systems that are part-and-parcel of “traditional” (usually white and Western) YA fantasy world-building, namely monarchy and capitalism. 

I was initially going to give this book 4.5 stars, not 5. This was because I thought the love triangle was unnecessary and also that I wish Dayo had had more of an active role. But after reading that ending… I knew that nothing less than 5 stars would suffice. It was so satisfying and so well suited. It made me sob MULTIPLE times. It was perfect. Needless to say I can’t wait to see what Ifueko puts out next. 

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aharper's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5


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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

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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! 

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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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. 

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julesadventurezone's review

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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


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