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A review by ohmage_resistance
The Royal Trials by Kwame Mbalia
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
This was a good sequel to the first book in the series!
The worldbuilding in this one was much better imo. The sci fi worldbuilding felt way clearer and less confusing than book 1, which was a huge improvement (that was my only real issue with book 1). On the other hand, the Ethiopian cultural details (like the MC eating injera and tibs, mentioning Ge'ez script, etc) were still present, although there was a little less referencing Ethiopian history (besides the Aksum Empire references). Also, I really liked hearing Ethiopian accents for the audiobook.
It was as nice to see Yared develop as a character a bit more. He's still somewhat arrogant (in a way that comes across as funny rather than annoying), but in this book he learns to be more responsible, especially with his privileges that come with being recognized as a prince. This did require him to make some mistakes first (I always get secondhand embarrassment with that sort of thing), but luckily, once I got past the beginning and the plot started in earnest that didn't happen again. The side characters also played well off Yared.
The plot is once again pretty fast paced, with a few twists later on. I'm an adult, so not the target audience for this book, but I can see it working well for a middle grade audience.
The worldbuilding in this one was much better imo. The sci fi worldbuilding felt way clearer and less confusing than book 1, which was a huge improvement (that was my only real issue with book 1). On the other hand, the Ethiopian cultural details (like the MC eating injera and tibs, mentioning Ge'ez script, etc) were still present, although there was a little less referencing Ethiopian history (besides the Aksum Empire references). Also, I really liked hearing Ethiopian accents for the audiobook.
It was as nice to see Yared develop as a character a bit more. He's still somewhat arrogant (in a way that comes across as funny rather than annoying), but in this book he learns to be more responsible, especially with his privileges that come with being recognized as a prince. This did require him to make some mistakes first (I always get secondhand embarrassment with that sort of thing), but luckily, once I got past the beginning and the plot started in earnest that didn't happen again. The side characters also played well off Yared.
The plot is once again pretty fast paced, with a few twists later on. I'm an adult, so not the target audience for this book, but I can see it working well for a middle grade audience.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Just as a heads up, side characters (the MC's best friend and his pet robotic lioness) playfully punch/swat the MC a lot. I'm including this under violence because I don't think there's a more specific tag for it.
Violence and injuries are still middle grade appropriate.