Review by Booklist Review
A sand poison that kills off crops and animals has pushed the Arkhysian Empire to the breaking point, with food shortages, animal extinctions, and morale lowering by the day. The Master of Poisons, Djola, is meant to cure the land with a spell, but the book that contains it is missing, and when the emperor exiles him, his journey lands him on a pirate ship. Awa was raised with mystics from whom she learned about the Shadowlands, a place of dreams that only certain people can access, and she has a special relationship with the bees. Hairston pulls the reader into a mythical fantasyland based on Africa, and the tone, pace, and stories within the novel speak to the folkloric tradition, reminiscent of Marlon James' Black Leopard, Red Wolf (2019). Storytelling, maps, and narrative form the roots of the journeys of both Awa and Djola. Fans of Rachel Caine's Ink and Bone (2015) and S. A. Chakraborty's The City of Brass (2017) will enjoy this.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Hairston (Will Do Magic for Small Change) dazzles with this complex epic fantasy about a people struggling to survive in the world they've helped destroy. A poison desert is spreading across the Arkhysian Empire, killing everything in its path. Djola, Emperor Azizi's second in command, has tried to warn the population for years, urging them to save their homeland--but to no avail. Now that it's too late for any minor precaution to help, he sets out to find a solution. As Djola works to stop the world from burning, he discovers the darkness lurking within the empire and in his own heart. Meanwhile, garden sprite Awa, a young griot in training, struggles to find her own place in the uncertain future. In stirring prose ("As long as sweet water fell from the sky every afternoon and mist rolled in on a night wind, everybody promised to change--tomorrow or next week. Then crops failed and rivers turned to dust."), Hairston weaves a rich tapestry of folklore and adventure, inviting readers into a well-developed, non-Western fantasy world, while navigating pressing issues of climate change and personal responsibility. This is an urgent, gorgeous work. Agent: Kristopher O'Higgins, Scribe Agency. (Sept.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An epic fantasy set in an African-inspired world on the brink of ecological disaster. Djola, the Arkhysian Empire's Master of Poisons, has a plan to stop the spreading poison desert. Hezram, a powerful priest, offers to use dark blood magic. But Djola believes in his "map to tomorrow," which involves searching for a powerful spell to unravel the cause of the dangerous void-storms. Awa has an affinity with bees and a talent for traveling to Smokeland, the spirit realm. Sold to the Green Elders on her 12th birthday, Awa comes of age on the margins of empire, learning from Yari, the griot (storyteller) of griots. Along the way, she will learn to question much of what she's been taught: about the Elders, about people the Empire calls "savages," and about "vesons," who, like Yari, are neither man nor woman. Both Djola and Awa will be tested, and both will make enormous sacrifices to save the people--and the world--they love. This complex story spans years, travels to every corner of a richly imagined fantasy world, and even dips into the minds of elephants, bees, and rivers: "The Bees...dream of pools of nectar, clouds of pollen, and evening dew heavy with flower scent. Why dream of anything else?" This book's lyrical language and unsparing vision make it a mind-expanding must-read. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
