Son of the Storm
by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
Author's Description:
“From city streets where secrets are bartered for gold to forests teeming with fabled beasts, a sweeping epic of forgotten magic and violent conquests unfolds in this richly drawn fantasy inspired by the pre-colonial empires of West Africa.
IN THIS WORLD, THERE IS NO DESTINY BUT THE ONE YOU MAKE.
In the ancient city of Bassa, Danso is a clever scholar on the cusp of achieving greatness—except he doesn’t want it. Instead, he prefers to chase forbidden stories about what lies outside the city walls. The Bassai elite claim there is nothing of interest. The city’s immigrants are sworn to secrecy.
But when Danso stumbles across a warrior wielding magic that shouldn’t exist, he’s put on a collision course with Bassa’s darkest secrets. Drawn into the city’s hidden history, he sets out on a journey beyond its borders. And the chaos left in the wake of his discovery threatens to destroy the empire.”
IN THIS WORLD, THERE IS NO DESTINY BUT THE ONE YOU MAKE.
In the ancient city of Bassa, Danso is a clever scholar on the cusp of achieving greatness—except he doesn’t want it. Instead, he prefers to chase forbidden stories about what lies outside the city walls. The Bassai elite claim there is nothing of interest. The city’s immigrants are sworn to secrecy.
But when Danso stumbles across a warrior wielding magic that shouldn’t exist, he’s put on a collision course with Bassa’s darkest secrets. Drawn into the city’s hidden history, he sets out on a journey beyond its borders. And the chaos left in the wake of his discovery threatens to destroy the empire.”
My Review - Rating - 8.5/10
Son of the Storm was a good book, with one major issue that stopped it from being a great book, and four strengths which saved the book for me.
First, the strengths. The reason I read this book in the first place was because I felt like the fantasy books I’d been reading had been too stale. While I’ve found some great fantasy books with unique or unconventional settings (like The Poppy War, The Sword of Kaigen, Jade City, and Children of Blood and Bone, all of which are definitely worth a read), I still felt --and continue to feel-- like too many of the books I read are set in the basic fantasy setting: a world similar medieval-europe, with some slight twist to differentiate the book. Son of the Storm’s West-African inspired world is unique and teeming with interestings settings, peoples, and conflicts; from the forbidden Breathing Forest, to the intrigue-filled city of Bassa, to the arid province of Whudasha, Okungbowa does an excellent job of creating a diverse and interesting world. Beyond just a beautiful world, I think Okungbowa did an excellent job in creating nuanced characters. Every significant character in the book has some redeeming qualities, whether it is (quick note: I try to keep my reviews spoiler free, so these will be somewhat vague and not mention the character’s names) a sociopathic, power-hungry character committing horrific acts in response to several terrible events, or a ruthless assassin and schemer, whose callous actions are all done for the sake of giving her child a better life. There are some disturbing moments in The Son of the Storm, it can be gritty and dark at times, but it is balanced out with the characters’ wholesome or understandable intentions. In addition to a strong setting and complex characters, Okungbowa covers themes ranging from racism to colonialism to caste structures. Okungbowa is Nigerian and so these themes were not intended to address American problems and current relevant issues, to quote a post the author made on goodreads: “.. I would like to point out that I am neither American nor Asian, and my work neither references nor draws from America or Asia in any of the slightest possible ways--directly or analogously.” Despite this, I felt that the themes were still extremely powerful and relevant to American readers, in addition to their intended international and historical contexts. I would point to discussions between Lilong and Danso on freedom and oppression, the racism Danso faced in Bassa, and the discussions of the Bassai empire by subjugated people like the Shashi as excellent examples of how the three themes were discussed. While I cannot go into much detail on any of these without spoiling significant parts of the book, I can assure potential readers that the three themes are present at different points throughout the book, and portrayed in interesting and thought-provoking ways. I appreciated all three of the aspects above, the thing that really kept me reading was Okungbowa’s excellent writing. While I’m not only used to, but expect good writing in the books I read, Son of the Storm went far and above for the genre. The prose in the book was vivid, varied, and elegant; I have a hard time describing what about it was so appealing, but I can point potential readers to an excellent example of it. The Amazon page for Son of the Storm has a “look inside” feature. I would highly recommend potential readers to just read the prologue to get a sense of Okungbowa’s writing style.
Now, onto the negative aspect. The Son of the Storm is an incredibly dense book, since the author has to introduce the various parts of the world he created, and develop the nuanced characters he created. While I normally love books with interesting characters and a dense world, I think that Okungbowa went a bit too far, and in order to keep the book to a reasonable length and pace, had to make some compromises with the plot. The first issue which stems from this was that many aspects of the world were “told” to the reader, rather than “shown”. For example (spoilers for a small aspect of the book ahead, which should have minimal effect on reading), the reader was introduced to a group called the “Coalition for New Bassa” and told what the group was in a paragraph which read more like a summary in a textbook or article than inner dialogue. The author’s voice and explanations were repeatedly interjected into the story, which made it far less engaging for me. I would note that these interjections became less frequent as the story progressed, which leaves me eagerly anticipating the second book in the trilogy, as I think that the need to introduce so many elements really detracted from Okungbowa’s writing. A second issue which arose out of the extremely dense plot was that I thought Okungbowa inadequately set up events and shifts in the plot. While most of the book was excellent, parts of the main character’s journey seemed to come out of nowhere. Once again, the “Coalition for New Bassa” can be used to illustrate my point without spoiling too much. Beyond just being introduced in an engaging manner, the entire plot revolving around the group seemed poorly set up. One of the books' main characters won a coalition general's loyalty despite only interacting with him once before, through a reason that seems totally incongruous with the organization’s characterization and their previous interactions. I think that the way in which various plot points, scenes, and shifts were inserted into the novel without sufficient background or explanation really decreased the strength of the novel and my enjoyment of it. Despite this issue, I still enjoyed reading The Son of the Storm, and am both interested in and hopeful for book two of this series, apparently releasing in the summer of 2022.
Okungbowa, Suyi Davies. “Review of Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa.” Goodreads, 2 Apr. 2021, https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/50718369-son-of-the-storm. Find the book here
Okungbowa, Suyi Davies. “Review of Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa.” Goodreads, 2 Apr. 2021, https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/50718369-son-of-the-storm. Find the book here