"What if you were sworn to protect the one you were born to destroy?"
An intricately woven YA fantasy, inspired by African folklore and written by an extremely talented debut author. That's you really need to know before diving into it, to be honest, but if you're still not compelled yet, keep reading!
The concept of mixing folklore with fantasy was phenomenal, but the execution was even better. It follows a heart-warming yet adventurous story of 3 of our main characters from an early age of 5 all the way to 16 years of age. Tarisai longs to be near her mother, The Lady, and have a loving family, but all The Lady does is shun her.
She is forbidden to touch any of her caretakers, so she doesn't steal their memories, as that's her Hollow - her birth gift, which makes her even more hungry of affection. Due to the same reason, she is bound within the walls of Bhekina House, so she is forced to watched kids playing outside through her window.
All the while, Tarisai is also being trained by her cunning mother to get rid of the Crown Prince by killing him once the time is right. She is to join the prince's Council of Eleven, gain his love and trust and then finally finish him off.
The rich world-building and profound politics are the main focus of this tale. So, if you can handle that with a touch of betrayal, love and friendship, then think no further and go grab yourself a copy.The characters were instant favourites, by the way, Their weaknesses and imperfections made them all the more realistic and lovable.
There were unexpected twists and turns throughout the book as well that kept me glued to my seat and made me crave more of the story. It also reminded me a lot of 'Children of Blood and Bone' which I really liked too.
Raybearer is an over 450 page book and I finished it in less than 2 days, that should give you an indication of how addicting this book is!
Minor spoiler: The only issue I had was the relationship dynamics within the Council of Eleven; they were said to be siblings, yet they bore each other's children? This really disturbed me, hence the rating is 4.5 stars instead of 5.
An intricately woven YA fantasy, inspired by African folklore and written by an extremely talented debut author. That's you really need to know before diving into it, to be honest, but if you're still not compelled yet, keep reading!
The concept of mixing folklore with fantasy was phenomenal, but the execution was even better. It follows a heart-warming yet adventurous story of 3 of our main characters from an early age of 5 all the way to 16 years of age. Tarisai longs to be near her mother, The Lady, and have a loving family, but all The Lady does is shun her.
She is forbidden to touch any of her caretakers, so she doesn't steal their memories, as that's her Hollow - her birth gift, which makes her even more hungry of affection. Due to the same reason, she is bound within the walls of Bhekina House, so she is forced to watched kids playing outside through her window.
All the while, Tarisai is also being trained by her cunning mother to get rid of the Crown Prince by killing him once the time is right. She is to join the prince's Council of Eleven, gain his love and trust and then finally finish him off.
The rich world-building and profound politics are the main focus of this tale. So, if you can handle that with a touch of betrayal, love and friendship, then think no further and go grab yourself a copy.The characters were instant favourites, by the way, Their weaknesses and imperfections made them all the more realistic and lovable.
There were unexpected twists and turns throughout the book as well that kept me glued to my seat and made me crave more of the story. It also reminded me a lot of 'Children of Blood and Bone' which I really liked too.
Raybearer is an over 450 page book and I finished it in less than 2 days, that should give you an indication of how addicting this book is!
Minor spoiler: The only issue I had was the relationship dynamics within the Council of Eleven; they were said to be siblings, yet they bore each other's children? This really disturbed me, hence the rating is 4.5 stars instead of 5.