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A review by elzabetg
Daughters of Nri by Reni K. Amayo
3.0
I wanted so much to love this audiobook and series but unfortunately I came away with a rather"meh" feeling about it. That said, I AM going to read the next book. Amayo did not commit the cardinal sin of totally boring her reader (me) The story did made me want to find out what happens next. I'm hoping some of what pulled me out of the story are just first time author issues.
Most of these stars go to the narrator. Weruche Opia has a great voice. It's like butter; soothing and deep. She told the story well. She didn't "do voices" which was confusing at times but, in my opinion, that was due to the way the points of view jumped around more than any narratory failing on their part. 4 stars for narration.
As I mentioned above, points of view shifted randomly, sometimes within a paragraph, which made following the dialogue very difficult when there were more than two characters speaking.
Time and distance were confusing -- at one point the City of Nri was several days' journey away from the forest hiding place and at the same time people were able to get there (and back) in just a few hours. I'm still trying to figure out where the cave and waterfall were that Meekulu and Sinai could get there and back to the city in just a few moments it seemed.
There was a lot of "running" and "screaming" and arm waving when folks were supposed to be sneaky and secretive which made no sense to me. Some side characters made an entrance, basically just annoyed the main characters, and then fell off the face of the earth at the climax.
The Big Bad was...flat. He just kind of frothed at the mouth at the end and that was it. And please please please will someone explain the magic and the fact that no one noticed it. Or was it supposed to be so common that no one needed to explain it? Seriously how do you dismiss the fact that you and have it never be mentioned again until nearly the end????
The summary grabbed me -- as did the cover. I wanted to read about these twins separated at birth who were actually goddesses fighting against an evil emperor to bring peace back to the nation. Sadly, the execution fell short of my expectation.
4 stars for narration
3 stars for story
3.5 overall
Most of these stars go to the narrator. Weruche Opia has a great voice. It's like butter; soothing and deep. She told the story well. She didn't "do voices" which was confusing at times but, in my opinion, that was due to the way the points of view jumped around more than any narratory failing on their part. 4 stars for narration.
As I mentioned above, points of view shifted randomly, sometimes within a paragraph, which made following the dialogue very difficult when there were more than two characters speaking.
Time and distance were confusing -- at one point the City of Nri was several days' journey away from the forest hiding place and at the same time people were able to get there (and back) in just a few hours. I'm still trying to figure out where the cave and waterfall were that Meekulu and Sinai could get there and back to the city in just a few moments it seemed.
There was a lot of "running" and "screaming" and arm waving when folks were supposed to be sneaky and secretive which made no sense to me. Some side characters made an entrance, basically just annoyed the main characters, and then fell off the face of the earth at the climax.
The Big Bad was...flat. He just kind of frothed at the mouth at the end and that was it. And please please please will someone explain the magic and the fact that no one noticed it. Or was it supposed to be so common that no one needed to explain it? Seriously how do you dismiss the fact that you
Spoiler
ARE FLOATINGThe summary grabbed me -- as did the cover. I wanted to read about these twins separated at birth who were actually goddesses fighting against an evil emperor to bring peace back to the nation. Sadly, the execution fell short of my expectation.
4 stars for narration
3 stars for story
3.5 overall