My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Over the last few years, fantasy has been moving in a very positive direction with more diverse authors writing from diverse perspectives and backgrounds, thus moving the genre away from the medieval European setting it has been stuck in since J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. In the last year, I have read fantasy books from both African and Middle Eastern traditions, but this one is special because Ms. Roanhorse draws on Pre-Colombian Central and South American mythologies (with a bit of Pacific Island folklore thrown in for good measure) to craft a wonderful start to what I believe will be a great fantasy trilogy.
Set in a fantasy world known as the Meridian, which very much echoes the Central American/Caribbean region, this book follows three primary characters. Xiala is a Teek, a human-mermaid hybrid. Banished from her homeland for some unknown reason, Xiala takes on a job to take the mysterious blind human named Serapio across the sea to the holy city of Tova. Meanwhile in Tova, the young religious leader Naranpa sits on a powder keg of a city divided by ancient wounds, discrimination, and political intrigue, which threatens the peace of Tova as well as her own life. These three characters soon find them on a collision course with destiny and an ancient prophecy.
This is an absolutely wonderful start to what I think will be a great fantasy trilogy. Each of her characters are unique, damaged, and nuanced in their own way, which makes it easy to invest in their stories. Though Ms. Roanhorse employs flashbacks throughout the novel to explain some key background, it never feels gimmicky, forced, or disruptive to the overall story. And the climax is incredible- and incredibly bloody. The fact that this is set in a fantasy world that is both familiar and different also helps to make this an engaging novel.
This is not a perfect story though. There are a few things that keep me from giving this a full five stars. First, there is a slight romance that develops between Xiala and Serapio that feels natural, but it also feels a little sudden at times. Though Ms. Roanhorse does take time later in the novel to develop their relationship, it does make me wonder how necessary it really was. Another issue I have is that a fourth POV character, Okoa, is introduced about halfway through the novel. Though he does play a significant part in events in both the second and third acts, his introduction does feel a little sudden and jammed in. I wish Ms. Roanhorse had introduced him a little earlier in the novel as his introduction would not have felt so disruptive had she done so.
My biggest gripe though is one that I am noticing in fantasy novels in general, which is that authors seem to be chickening out of killing key characters. The plot for at least two of the three main characters could have led naturally to their deaths. And yet both of them end up living by the end, though one is pretty badly injured. One character’s escape from death felt natural and I am sure will inform some of the plot of the next novel, but the other character’s escape felt a little too convenient. Perhaps I have been a little too spoiled by George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series and I can understand how authors might want to keep certain characters alive for future use or out of a sense of love, but it always runs the risk of being too convenient or tangling the narrative up in unnecessary explanations. Though I don’t want to give too much of the narrative away, I believe at least one of our main characters, and the most obvious one at that, should have died at the end of this novel.
That said, this is a truly wonderful start to what I believe will be a great fantasy series. The world building is great and the characters and plot are highly engaging. I look forward to reading the next book in this series and I highly recommend this book to fantasy novel fans looking for something new.
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