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tired_cicada's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
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
I enjoyed this book aplenty. It had good and bad to it.
For the good, Ifueko's writing style is so pretty and poetic. She writes characters who feel like real people. She handles sensitivite subjects with such grace and honor. Her takes in justice and personal accountability leave a flushed out story while also making a clear social comentary. Her use of mythology to enhance the story without turning it into a crutch is so masterful! All of her story lines get wrapped up, I don't like anything plot important was left with loose threads. Some relationships were left open ended, and not everything is "fixed" but it was a natural conclusion to the duology.
The Ace rep specifically was so dear to me! To have an emotional, loving, HUMAN character who is conically ace is so rare! Love my boy Dyao!!
As for the not so good--
There were definitely some pacing issues with this book. The magic system, particularly the bargain aspect of it, could have used a bit more time to flush it out.
The love triangle was entirely unnecessary, particularly when it amounted to nothing.
It was a little predictableWHAT?! you mean the vigilante (that has apparently been active for ages but only mentioned now) and the secondary love interest who acts a fool in public but is smart and articulate with the MC are the SAME PERSON?! WHAT? the Lady who spent the entire last book being sneaky and deceitful is STILL sneaky and deceitful in death? Shocker!! and I wish it would have surprised me a little more.
All in all, the good outweighed the bad, and I liked it.
For the good, Ifueko's writing style is so pretty and poetic. She writes characters who feel like real people. She handles sensitivite subjects with such grace and honor. Her takes in justice and personal accountability leave a flushed out story while also making a clear social comentary. Her use of mythology to enhance the story without turning it into a crutch is so masterful! All of her story lines get wrapped up, I don't like anything plot important was left with loose threads. Some relationships were left open ended, and not everything is "fixed" but it was a natural conclusion to the duology.
The Ace rep specifically was so dear to me! To have an emotional, loving, HUMAN character who is conically ace is so rare! Love my boy Dyao!!
As for the not so good--
There were definitely some pacing issues with this book. The magic system, particularly the bargain aspect of it, could have used a bit more time to flush it out.
The love triangle was entirely unnecessary, particularly when it amounted to nothing.
It was a little predictable
All in all, the good outweighed the bad, and I liked it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism, Child death, Violence, Gaslighting, War, Body horror, Bullying, Colonisation, Death, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders
theaceofpages'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
4.0
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, and Grief
Moderate: Mental illness, Child death, Drug use, and Classism
Minor: Suicide, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Blood, Genocide, and Murder
There are also some mentions of the events of the previous bookglitterdeww's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
Oh, did I love this book. ❤️ Redemptor shines as brightly as its predecessor, and for me those are big shoes to fill. I needed something to pull me out of a reading slump, and Ifueko's world building enveloped me completely. Her characters are fully grounded and sincere in their representation. This duology is filled with hopeful messaging and a brilliant story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism
Moderate: Death
eni_iilorak's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, War, Classism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content
Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Grief, Classism, Blood, Sexism, Slavery, Bullying, and Child abuse
Minor: Abandonment, Confinement, Drug use, and Sexual content
akvolcano's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.75
I cannot describe how much I loved this book. Truly beautiful. A fantastic read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
Moderate: Grief, Murder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Child death, Classism, and Death
bookaddictellagershon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Classism, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders
emily_mh's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Child abuse, Grief, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Blood
Minor: Body shaming, Suicide, Vomit, Ableism, Sexual content, Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexism, War, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal death
Moderate: capital punishment, loss of a loved one, neglect, volcano, Minor: flood, earthquake, mass deathashlikes's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Drug use, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War
Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
Minor: Trafficking, Vomit, Abandonment, Misogyny, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Sexual content
hollyk's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-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
3.0
I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by this book. I wanted to love it--I loved Raybearer and thought it was so unique and loved all of the diversity.
But this book lacked some of the charm of the first book--namely, Dayo's council, who barely make an appearance before going back to their home realms. And in their place we have Tarisai creating a whole new council of people that to be frank, I had no real interest or investment in with the exception of Min Ja.
It also seems like the empire still isn't really fair? Like sure,Nyamba underwent a revolution and became a more egalitarian state with no poverty, but Tarisai (and Dayo) didn't really keep that same energy when it came to Aritsar as a whole--sure, the Ray can now be passed to anyone at any time, but that doesn't really change the fact that other realms have poverty and the capital has the majority of the resources, which aren't being redistributed like Nyamba did . Nyamba also isn't a focal realm in the first book as far as I can remember, so it felt like this choice was less impactful than it could have been.
The Redemptor arc was only the fifth section, and the previous book seemed to imply that it would be a major part of this book--but at the end of the day, it was barely a factor and could have been a much larger portion with more significance, especially in regards tothe Redemptor children and the abiku's army. That plot line felt too easily wrapped up when it was a major point of contention in the first book.
I still enjoyed this book, the writing is beautiful and the characters are great, but there were just some elements that left me wanting more.
But this book lacked some of the charm of the first book--namely, Dayo's council, who barely make an appearance before going back to their home realms. And in their place we have Tarisai creating a whole new council of people that to be frank, I had no real interest or investment in with the exception of Min Ja.
It also seems like the empire still isn't really fair? Like sure,
The Redemptor arc was only the fifth section, and the previous book seemed to imply that it would be a major part of this book--but at the end of the day, it was barely a factor and could have been a much larger portion with more significance, especially in regards to
I still enjoyed this book, the writing is beautiful and the characters are great, but there were just some elements that left me wanting more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, and Death
Moderate: Sexism, Child abuse, Blood, Violence, Alcohol, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Bullying, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, War, and Alcoholism
fromjuliereads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
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
4.25
Fantastic sequel!
I love the characters in this duology and how their flaws and what they are going through in finding themselves is front and center. They are trying to stay true to themselves while making it a better world. And it is fantastic to read about.
I had thought the part with the Underworld might be longer or more integral to the book - it was pretty short for having worked up to it since book 1. But I still loved the story and of course the characters.
I love the characters in this duology and how their flaws and what they are going through in finding themselves is front and center. They are trying to stay true to themselves while making it a better world. And it is fantastic to read about.
I had thought the part with the Underworld might be longer or more integral to the book - it was pretty short for having worked up to it since book 1. But I still loved the story and of course the characters.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism, Mental illness, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Violence, and War