Daughters Of Nri (The Return Of The Earth Mother): 1

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Once I familiarized myself with all the characters I found that I actually enjoyed the book and the couple of plot twists. As for characters, I particularly really loved Sinai and her plotline; I wished Naala had a little bit more development as I felt I didn’t know her as deeply as I knew Sinai. The writing was immaculate, the world building was really gradual and well paced, the magic system was also really gentle and easy to understand. I don't know what is going to happen after that ending since it seemed to finish so smoothly, I am slightly intrigued but also confused on what could end up taking place in book 2. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

Being Igbo, this book was profound; seeing our culture written so beautifully in text in the genre of fantasy meant everything to me for black representation in books. I definitely think the sequel will work a lot better because now the stage is set, and the last few scenes were really ramping up to some good action. The overall concept and plotline is great, and although it isn't the most out-of-the-box storyline I've ever read, it definitely hits on some unique ideas. I have a feeling, though, once they learn about their magic (which I’m dying to see more of) this will fix itself.We only find out how important the crystal is in the middle of the book, which isn't a great technique. But the only similarities is that the lead characters are black girls, they have magic, and the king is out to get them. The way she handled that entire situation left me speechless because I know for a fact, I would have been so mad. I don’t want to reveal too much of the plot so I’ll leave it there but it did make me change my mind-set. It is important for me, as an African lover of fantasy and sci-fi, to have books about African characters that aren't rooted in colonialism or slavery.

Her pronunciation of the words and the names were so good, and the Nigerian accent she did was also very amazing. At times, the main characters fall into the "special snowflake"/chosen one trope pretty heavily, but I guess doesn't bother me as much as it would other times. The actress, Weruche Opia who narrators the audiobook has a great voice which makes for a smooth listening experience. The dual narrative/perspectives really worked well here and we got enough time with each character to fall in love with them both as individuals. i liked Sinai as a character, I felt like she had such great growth in the book going from being scared of everyone and everything to sticking up for herself and the people around her?About half of this book was world building, I didn’t feel overwhelmed by that at all but sometimes I did want the pace of the plot to pick up slightly. Though miles apart, both girls share an indestructible bond: they share the same blood, the same face, and possess the same unspoken magic, thought to have vanished with the lost gods.

She should be considered lucky in that sense because she had the education and wealth, some, including Naala, would dream of having.

Sure, there are some points that could use a little polish but the story is absolutely worth reading and I am counting down the months until the sequel is published. There does seem to be a budding romance between Naala and another character, though there are many other types of relationships present — familial (not necessarily via blood), friendship, even frenemies.

We get reports on what people do on his behalf, we're told how "scary" he is, but we're not actually shown him doing all of these horrible things.Other thing that bothered me, was the end with the Villain Monologue and the combat scene that wasn't satisfying.