A review by daniellestarredpages
Descendants of Fire and Water by Didi Anofienem

adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

If I had to use one word to describe my experience reading this book as well as my final thoughts on the book itself, it would be "okay". The book was ultimately just okay.

My first issue was that the author should probably have picked one stage of the MC's life and focused on that. Instead, the author went into a handful of detail about her life at home before she signed up for the military, while she was in military school and finally when she joined the military and joined an uber-important squad. Each segment of her life only began to stir excitement before we moved on. 

The synopsis says Essien became the first woman to enlist in the military, which isn’t true. She was in the second or third group of women to enlist to be accepted in the military school. The author never mentioned whether she was the only woman to pass the academy. Also stated in the synopsis is that Essien returned from the river with powers but it took a while for Essien to discover her powers. I always have an issue when the synopsis differs from the actual events in the story. 

Another issue I have was the relationship between Essien and The President. There was a developing romantic relationship between Essien and The President throughout the book and I grew quite uncomfortable with it as there were quite a few times in the book when Essien mentioned growing up and watching the President on broadcast. So The President was already an adult when Essien was a child. While I understand that authors can write negative things, in fact, I enjoy it when authors tackle difficult topics. However, in this book, the only character who had a problem with the developing relationship was an acquaintance of Essien even then, he only had a problem with it not because of the relationship dynamic itself but of something else entirely.

I do have to say that I enjoyed the glimpses we got into this world’s magic system and mythology and I quite enjoyed Essien as a character.

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