Reviews

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

maryjessie's review against another edition

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4.0

7.5 rounded up - parts 1-3 were a 9.5/10 for me and part 4 brought me down to 7.5 overall!

what i liked -
-beautiful worldbuilding
-stellar prose
-enthralling themes of intergenerational trauma, confronting our past and our parents history to carve truth for our future
-great characters and characterization

what wasn’t for me -
-i didn’t mind the more surface level relationship building because i enjoyed following the plot and the themes over time, (i.e., they told us how close the council members were but i didn’t get to “see” it a lot) UNTIL the fourth part (starting after Tarasai bonded w the swarm of flies) where everyone was interacting w each more and the depth of their bonds was important for me to buy into each scene. i ended up skipping to the end and then skimming part four because i felt disconnected from the characters.

messy_mama_nat's review against another edition

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sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

crisscrossedshelves's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

5.0

cvandy34's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

gginnola's review against another edition

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5.0

Great book!!!! Once I started, I couldn't stop reading. Can't wait for the next book in the series to come out!

jpluff2334's review against another edition

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4.0

This African world was entrenched with beautiful storytelling and culture. There was an elaborate magical and political systems. Tarisai's ability to see memories and temporarily take painful ones away for a bit was really intriguing. I really loved how this book could have easily gone into some of the more typical tropes in YA fantasy like having a love triangle but it didn't. Tarisai was a great protagonist and her questioning her childhood with the Lady highlighted a theme of abuse. She was depicted as strong and the found family was even stronger. I'm eager to see what happens in the second book and to find more out about the underworld. 

holliejs95's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

bazayas's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful 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

4.5

lesliehirgelt's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

drblockbooks's review against another edition

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5.0

This was a very good book. It is a YA fantasy novel. Unlike a lot of YA, there is very spartan romance plot, which I appreciated, since I don't normally enjoy reading books with expansive romance subplots.

The world-building is wonderful: dense, striated, rich. The story is imaginative and interesting. The book itself is fast-paced, though it slowed a bit around the 60-70% mark. I was worried for a while it was going to be slow until the end, but I was so very wrong. The last 20% of this book is insane. I don't want to give any spoilers, but... wow! Lots of unexpected twists and turns with a satisfying ending which leads effortlessly into the next book.

If you like fantasy novels, give this one a try. RAYBEARER is book one of a duology. The second book is called REDEMPTOR, and I will be reading that next.