Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okunbowa

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I'm back with another epic fantasy review. Orbit is bringing us some great Black epic fantasy lately. And I must say they were so nice when I reached out to them interested in reviewing Son of the Storm. I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I've already pre-ordered my copy. I suggest you do the same! 

Son of the Storm is a journey of different that followed povs from characters from multiple castes and ethnicities in world where one nation tries to over power all. The content is separated into different areas with different terrains. In the land of Bassa everyone has their place dependent upon their ethnic background and how their physical features present. Being from the mainland vs desert land in addition to caste and skin tone determine your worth. Anything non Bassai is considered inferior with the Idu caste, identified usually by their dark skin being the most favored.

Danso should be among the most favored and in many ways he is but he's also treated as an outsider due to his mixed heritage and lighter skin tone. He is referred to as Shashi which has a negative connotation in Bassa. Despite being a scholar with more knowledge than his peers he is pushed out of university due to his background. His intended Eshame is similarly faces issues being looked down upon as her mother comes from a lesser caste and having an unknown father, though she appears to be better off than Danso. Although while Danso wants to act as he pleases in spite of the system Esheme wants to spite the system and take over power.

Esheme and Danso both find their lives upheaved when a woman from the lowest caste, the yellowskins of the Nameless Islands, appears in their city. She is looking for a family heirloom which Esheme's mother Nem has taken. A fight for said heirloom results in murder which leads to the yellowskin Lilong fleeing with Danso and his second Zaq by her side.

The caste system and treatment of immigrants play a heavy role in this story. From the beginning of the story Bassa goes on lockdown restricting immigrants from entering. Some of the characters we come across in this story are seconds or indentured servants to Danso and Esheme. Bassa's caste system is reverse of most caste systems in that darker skin is highly favored. So despite immigrants being unfavored their is a hierarchy among them that takes skillset and skin color into account. Zaq is desperate to be a "good" immigrant and is determined to move to the higher caste of Potokin so he refuses to speak in his native tongue outside of meetings with his lover. 

Danso is constantly questioning himself because he doesn't know where he fits in.  It's ingrained into him that people like him are bad.  As a scholar in the jali guild he is taught the ideals which Lilong causes him to question as she reveals her people's side of the stories he grew up listening to. He's having an internal struggle letting the lies go. 

Esheme's journey is fascinating as she pushes back against the rules that say she must marry Danso in order to move up in society. A smart and independent woman she quickly learns to make deals and compromises on her own to benefit her and her house. She refuses to let the actions of her mother and Danso bring her down and her goal is to accumulate power to advance her position. Her growth is one I found myself very invested in once she hits her stride.

The book was for the most part written in easy to read language though it was very dense and some passages required rereading. Part 1 was definitely more hefty than the rest of the story. The writing style is unique in that at some points it felt more like a story being told around a fire. But sometimes along the journey it felt like we were being given a lot of information. While I thought some of the side POVs offered great insights they can at times slow down the pace.

The book does best when it mostly focuses on the POVs of Eshame, Danso, and Lilong. Each are people who don't fit into this world but choose different paths. From part 2 onward the pace picks up and I was much more invested. The magic in the world is channeled through stones called ibor and using magic takes a lot out of it's users. It wears the body down, causes temporary memory loss, can causes sickness, and requires a lot of recovery time.  I like a magic system where there's give and take and magic doesn't just come easily. I'm not exactly sure where this trilogy is going next but now that the foundation has been set I'm invested.