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A review by laelyn
Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
3.0
"Son of the Storm" is a solid fantasy novel that kept me entertained and introduced me to a cultural context that I'm not used to in the fantasy literature I've consumed so far. The story is heavily inspired by West-African culture and mythology and is really intriguing. The world building is really well done, but at times I did feel a little overwhelmed. It's a vibrant, highly complex world that is so interesting to read about, but the complexity can become confusing at times. It admittedly took me a while to get into this book because there are so many explanations in the beginning, so many unknown words and names are used and introduced that it kept me from just diving right into this new world.
The characters are very distinct and I enjoyed reading their different perspectives. They have their unique voices in their respective pov chapters. They aren't entirely fleshed out though, in my opinion, which can at least partly be blamed on the fact that there are some pov characters that felt superfluous - personally, I think that the book would have benefitted from a clearer focus on the three biggest characters, Danso, Lilong and Esheme, instead of adding pov chapters for too many other, less important characters. Some of them get about one or two chapters only that really didn't add much, if anything, to the story overall. In the end, most of these characters don't leave a lasting impression at all and their chapters take away from the main three who could have used more time and space to live up to their potential. I don't really feel connected to them, neither to the big three nor to any of the other characters.
The writing and prose are accessible and lush, though sometimes a little rough. Characters constantly frown and kiss one's teeth, which got pretty repetitive at some point because surely all these different characters don't show the same kind of mannerisms all the time. There are also some pacing issues. There are bursts of action where a lot happens in a small amount of time, and then there are long stretches of nothing really happening at all that had me skim through whole pages because I got a little bored.
The cultural richness, the vivid world, the interesting magic system and the potential of the characters is really what makes "Son of the Storm" a recommendation. While this book has issues it is still an intriguing beginning of a new series and I will at least check out the sequel when it's released.
Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for the arc!
The characters are very distinct and I enjoyed reading their different perspectives. They have their unique voices in their respective pov chapters. They aren't entirely fleshed out though, in my opinion, which can at least partly be blamed on the fact that there are some pov characters that felt superfluous - personally, I think that the book would have benefitted from a clearer focus on the three biggest characters, Danso, Lilong and Esheme, instead of adding pov chapters for too many other, less important characters. Some of them get about one or two chapters only that really didn't add much, if anything, to the story overall. In the end, most of these characters don't leave a lasting impression at all and their chapters take away from the main three who could have used more time and space to live up to their potential. I don't really feel connected to them, neither to the big three nor to any of the other characters.
The writing and prose are accessible and lush, though sometimes a little rough. Characters constantly frown and kiss one's teeth, which got pretty repetitive at some point because surely all these different characters don't show the same kind of mannerisms all the time. There are also some pacing issues. There are bursts of action where a lot happens in a small amount of time, and then there are long stretches of nothing really happening at all that had me skim through whole pages because I got a little bored.
The cultural richness, the vivid world, the interesting magic system and the potential of the characters is really what makes "Son of the Storm" a recommendation. While this book has issues it is still an intriguing beginning of a new series and I will at least check out the sequel when it's released.
Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for the arc!