Daughters Of Nri (The Return Of The Earth Mother): 1

Product Information

Ehret, Christopher (2002). The civilizations of Africa: a history to 1800. James Currey Publishers. ISBN 0-85255-475-3. However there is still a villain problem in this book. The author seems clear on where they are taking the girls but the villains thrown in their path feel very random and irrelevant to the arc of the trilogy. There was not enough room for some new characters to exist since they weren't given that space from the first book iirc. I also think the third act could have taken place in the same place as the second. To be entirely honest, I think a lot of the issues I had with this book mostly resulted from the fact that I'm currently editing a project of my own, so I've been coming at a lot of my recent reads with a very critical eye. That means that there were just a lot of odd choices I noticed that really took me out of the story and prevented me from being fully taken in. A lot of the dialogue feels a little clunky, and there were some scenes that I wasn't quite sure had to be there.

Characters - I feel that this is the same as book 1. It's a very character-centric book, but I don't feel like there was any character development. Book 1 was fairly short and mostly focused on 2 characters, but then book 2 was only slightly longer and had far more characters. I just feel that the book was too short to handle the character capacity it had so we only got a surface level view of them all. I really enjoyed reading Daughters of Nri! The cover art is stunning! It is based in the Kingdom of Nri which is now Nigeria. So in a way it is a historical fiction I think? The story involves a lot of political and religious elements along with some fantasy. The nature and people are described colorful, I loved Amayo's writing it made everything spring to life. The story follows Naala and Sinai, twins seperated at birth. They grow up thinking they are human. But in truth they are Goddesses and the ones left to defeat Eze Ochichiri, the ruler of Kingdom of Nri who is mighty and caused the Gods to leave. He does everything to keep his position safe, lives don't matter. This book was enjoyable, but it felt very debut-ish to me. There were a lot of times I just felt the writing didn't quite flow, and it was hard for me to become immersed in the story. The ending was pretty good though, and I think the sequel will be much better. The kingdom was a haven for all those who had been rejected in their communities and also a place where slaves were set free from their bondage. Nri expanded through converts gaining neighboring communities' allegiance, not by force. The magic of this world is small and I wanted more. Though the characters do discover their magic and potential I felt like for me it was a bit too little explanation and a bit low impact but I think this is probably going to be expanded in book #2.Meekulu Kaurandua was a cool character who plays the role of a kind of mentor for Sini. She is a tough older lady character who has more knowledge than she first lets on and I think she came into her own as the book progressed. I liked her odd detours in conversation to prove a point. In 1911, the names of 19 eze Nri were recorded, but the list is not easily converted into chronological terms because of long interregnums between installations. [2] Tradition held that at least seven years would pass upon the death of the eze Nri before a successor could be determined; the interregnum served as a period of divination of signs from the deceased eze Nri, who would communicate his choice of successor from beyond the grave in the seven or more years ensuing upon his death. The amount of time I’ve read „before pulling me or the world into darkness“. We need to find some new phrases or find another way to end / transition scenes because it was getting repetitive. The amount of times they fainted or got sedated was ridiculous lol.

Ugh I feel like this is one of those times where I’m speechless about a book. Like it just astounded and entertained me completely. I don’t even know how to describe it. I loved this story, I think it was beautifully done, and if you’re a fan of strong female-led fantasy rich in culture and history, this one's for you. It’s a dream. I didn't really like book 1, but I decided to give book 2 a try because sometimes you just have to trust an author's process. However, I still was not interested at all. I wanted to love it because I thought the premise of the book was so interesting, but I just don't feel like the execution was really for me. The Igu Aro festival (counting of the year) [24] was a royal festival the eze Nri used to maintain his influence over the communities under his authority. Each of these communities sent representatives to pay tribute during the ceremony to show their loyalty. At the end the Eze Nri would give the representatives a yam medicine and a blessing of fertility for their communities. [25] The festival was seen as a day of peace and certain activities were prohibited such as the planting of crops before the day of the ceremony, the splitting of wood and unnecessary noise. [24] Igu Aro was a regular event that gave an opportunity for the eze to speak directly to all the communities under him. The setting is incredibly engrossing, and since I'm not very familiar with the part of history the world was based on (medieval Nigeria I believe), it was fascinating to learn about. The god system hasn't been heavily developed in this first book, but it's interesting and unique so far- I always love mythology in fantasy. I think the world was by far the best aspect of this book. World-building isn't always the most important element to me personally, but when you do the research and put effort into your world, it shows.I devoured the first half of this book literally in one sitting, I didn’t wanna put it down, I was so intrigued and invested in the story from the get go. Considering it had quite small font well as being fantasy, my intimidation was completely irrational - it was really easy to read and get through in next to no time. The truth is we have no control ,everything we gain every morsel we grasp onto can be taken away from us in a snap second, that’s the illusion right that we’re safe because we have control, but there is no promise there is no guarantee, all we have are these moments”