Kessy U

I’m going to be as blunt as possible. THIS WAS A BAD BOOK. How in the world do you introduce a new villain and new land in the finale without fleshing out the characters, their motives, their history and why we should be scared or even aware of them??! And you make a book half the size of the first—with all of the above considered—when it’s the finale??! Our main characters are a shell of what they once were, Orisha is barely significant in the later half of the book now that we have a new villain and kingdom, and the finale felt so rushed. I don’t want to criticize Adeyemi because her only redeeming point is the first book in the series. That book changed fantasy for me with its portrayal of a full black cast. There was a lot of pressure on her to write a book that didn’t reduce black characters to comedic roles or be killed off halfway through. She achieved that with the first book and I know I’ll always be thankful for that. But this book had almost 5 years to be good, but it feels like she dragged herself to the finish line and said, “Here you go!” And ran away to film her movie. I wish it could have been better because it had so much potential, but as much as I’m disappointed, I’m sad that this epic story will always feel unfinished. AND WHERE IS RÖEN??!?