Book two time! Let's have a look. Spoilers ahead.
Koffi, now containing a lot of splendor within herself, is taken to a secret palace known as Thornkeep by the evil god Fedu, who intends to use her powers for evil. There, she befriends a lot of other darajas, and they only have one goal: to escape. Meanwhile, Ekon and Koffi's grandmother Themba are looking for a way to find and rescue Koffi, which proves to be a perilous journey.
A strong second installment. I like it pretty much the same as the first. It has strong world-building, neat fantastical elements, good and three-dimensional characters and a neat plot I was thoroughly invested in. Maybe even more so than in the first book.
I still think the characters really steal the show in this book. Not just Koffi and Ekon, our likable protagonists, but also characters like Zain, Makena, Themba, Binti/Rashida, Nyah and Safiyah, they all get their time to shine and they're defined characters who just feel like real people. Heck, I really like how Gray managed to give Binti/Rashida (Koffi's mother) her own story in this book while she technically isn't even a part of the main plot this time around. Instead her chapters are flashbacks building her character, like they did with Adiah last book. And it also adds more context to Koffi and Themba, of course.
My only main gripe about this book is that Fedu is kind of a weak antagonist. I don't mean that in how strong he is, he's quite powerful, being a god. But he doesn't feel all that interesting to me and I especially didn't like how he was pretty late with suspecting Koffi and the other darajas were trying to escape. Like, he's keeping them at Thornkeep against their will. Them wanting to escape should be blatantly obvious even if they try to go about it subtly. Especially Koffi who is headstrong as hell and hates Fedu.
I get that he's a god and probably a bit short-sighted because he's full of himself, but at the same time you'll want your main antagonist to come across as very competent. In the end Fedu does manage to catch them and that was well-written, but throughout most of the book it feels like he's not even really suspecting Koffi and her friends plotting to escape when to me that would literally be the first thing to occur. Especially since he just allows her and the other darajas to move about Thornkeep freely and practice together alone without any watchers or guards present, that would give ample opportunity for plotting escape plans.
Still, the rest of the book was rather good. I also just gotta say I love how Gray includes a lot of animals (fantastical and non-fantastical alike) in her works so far. As an animal lover and lover of fantasy creatures, I very much approve. Book three has a lion on the cover, so I can only assume this animal theme will continue. Excited to start the next one!
Rating: 4/5
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