Review copy provided by the publisher.
Okay, so: Persephone retelling, sort of, set in fifteenth century West Africa (that part not just “sort of”). Warriors and blacksmiths and court politics and horrifying mothers-in-law and yeah, even an elephant or two: definitely stuff that gives us a very different angle on a very familiar shape of story. Òdòdó’s abduction is her own, her reactions to royal life and its darkness all hers, though her complicated feelings for her mother and husband have a very familiar tinge.
Òdòdó knows some of her own strength to begin with–hard not to, when you’re a blacksmith. But there is so much strength in her yet to find–and so much that isn’t there at the beginning, so much she has to build. She is not the same person at the beginning of the book as at the ending, which is what we all want to see–especially when she carries the change out into the world.
As for that ending…that was the part I found the least satisfying. Another 3-4 chapters of development and denouement and I might have bought it more; as it was, it felt abrupt and unconvincing when the rest of the book felt very clear and real. Ah well; nothing is perfect, and this is being thoroughly itself while being imperfect.