C. T. Rwizi

'Scarlet Odyssey', a debut novel by C. T. Rwizi, scheduled for publication on 1st July, is an epic fantasy that twists the classic quest trope into something new and exciting. C. T Rwizi, who comes from Zimbabwe originally is another exciting writer adding to the growing body of African Science Fiction (think 'Rosewater' and 'Binti').

'Scarlet Odyssey' is an epic fantasy with world-building on a huge scale, spectacular new magic systems, warlords who use black magic that feeds off human show more sacrifice and complex political and tribal systems that are under covert attack from external forces who are fomenting division and violence.

C. T. Rwizi manages to keep all this spinning and still have a story that is mostly character-driven and which is fast-paced enough that the 559 pages flew by and left me wanting more.

The plot folds five main storylines together, each focused on a character who have in common only that they face challenges that require them to reshape themselves, often in painful ways. The paths of these fives stories spiral in towards one another as the plot unfolds.

The dominant story is about Salo who comes from a tribe where men are fierce warriors and women become magic-wielding mystics. As a chief's son, he should be a warrior but he has failed to pass the necessary tests of courage. He is also secretly practising magic and, when the tribe is in danger, risks becoming an outcast by going through a ritual to become a mystic. Salo is then immediately sent on a quest to the Kingdom of the Yontai, the political centre of their region, that provides the frame for the rest of the novel.

Then we get the story of Ilapara, a young woman from Salo's tribe who has left their land to pursue a career as a mercenary in the neighbouring, warlord-ridden Umadiland. Being a mercenary is not what she hoped it might be and she sometimes finds herself doing things she does not think are right so when she meets Salo in Umadiland she accepts a post as his 'muscle' for the rest of his journey.

The third story tells of The Maidservant a powerful mystic who is a lieutenant (known as Disciples) to the most powerful Warlord in Umadiland and who pursues and attacks Silo on his quest. The Maidservant's story is told in the current timeline, intercut with scenes that show why and how she came into her power and the heavy price she paid for it.

In the Kingdom of the Yontai, we follow the story of Isa Andaiye Saire, a young princess in the ruling clan who is about to have her life torn apart and find herself with responsibilities that she has not been trained for.

The external attempt to destabilise the tribes is being driven by the fifth character, a mysterious woman known as The Enchantress. We only get parts of her backstory but her view on the world is very different from any of the other characters.

Although 'Scarlet Odyssey' takes place on an alien world with two suns and seems to be in the far future, it has an distinctly African feel to it that distinguishes it from all those kinda-sorta Medieval Europe only with magic fantasy books that I've seen so many of. It's not just that all the clothes and names and some of the tribal systems and symbols are African, it's in the mindset that accepts that pain is inevitable, that we all fail, and the world is often cruel and or indifferent. All of the characters in the five main storylines carry scars and all are trying to force transformations that are likely to require sacrifice.

At one point Salo and The Maidservant clash and in the process learn a great deal about one another. In a more Anglo book, one of them would be good and the other would be evil. In this book, they both discover that they have done terrible things in their past, unforgivable things, to get them the power they now have. I liked that, instead of discussing guilt, or shame or atonement, Salo says that the only freedom they have is to choose a different future.

I also liked what happened when Salo is confronted with the reality of slavery. Ilapara, who has grown used to having the stench of slavery in her nostrils, initially thinks Salo's response is dangerous, naive and ulitmately futile. All of which is probably true. Yet Ilapara recognises that Salo has brought more change in a day than she has seen in years.

I don't know how many books there will be in this series but I hope they keep coming at a pace. By the end of the book, all five characters are in the Kingdom of the Yontai and the stage is set for major change. I'm engaged with the characters. I can't see a simple way forward. I know there are many things I don't yet understand about this world. So I need the next book as soon as possible please. show less

This is a great start to what will hopefully be an epic world. We start the story small, in a remote village of the main character Musalodi, but the world doesn't feel small. It already feels quite large, and as the story is told, the world grows with it, and all of the pieces start to fit together, much like the creation of the axioms in the book. The reader starts to realize just how large this world with two suns is, how many cultures exists, how these cultures get along or don't, and how show more much pain and cruelty exist in this world, where magic exists, but it comes with a large price tag. This book is about trauma, and learning to live with it, and about misfits trying to find their place. I loved that the fantasy elements were based on African cultures, which are rich and plentiful, and multi-faceted. The magic system, and the societal structures were all fresh and interesting, but also familiar, which is a testament to the author's worldbuilding skills. I want to learn more about this world, and I hope many more books are forthcoming. The writing is lyrical and interesting, and I was compelled by all of the characters stories. Overall, 4.5 stars. show less

Salo is an outsider in his tribe despite being the firstborn son to the chief. This is because he is more interested in magic (women’s domain) than becoming a warrior (men’s domain). But, when his people are attacked by a witch, he has no choice but to convince his queen to let him awaken as a mystic. She allows it, but only because she plans on using him and sending him as an emissary to the Jungle City. Along his journey, he befriends a fellow outcast, a female warrior who grew up not show more too far from Salo’s people; a mysterious wanderer who isn’t entirely human; and a ruthless killer sent to protect Salo. But the witch and others are after him, trying to keep him from reaching the Jungle City. In the Jungle City itself, a princess loses almost everything as unrest in the kingdom spreads and suggests massive changes to their society.

I was drawn to this book because it has magic and a journey. After reading this on the heels of three mysteries, I was ready to settle back in for a nice, long fantasy read. I thought this might be a fast-moving book because of the journey along with a great deal of excitement because of the magic. I was expecting this to be a bit on the intense side. It turned out to be something of a different animal, but what a beautiful animal it was.

The Characters: Gender Role Defying
The characters were probably my least favorite part of this book, but that isn’t saying too much since I still found them interesting and loved getting their backstories so I could better understand them. I did love that each major character was given the chance to tell the story from their perspective with their own lens of the world coloring their storytelling.

However, compared to the world building and the story, they felt a bit lackluster. They tended to fall into set gender roles and it isn’t until later in the book, when there are characters defying those, that they started to be interesting. They didn’t feel quite as bright as every other element of this book, but they did help move the story along.

I did feel like there might have been too many characters. This is a long book. There’s quite a bit of meat to it. Which means I felt like some characters were shoved aside for the sake of the story. It seemed every part of this book was introducing one or more characters. Not all of them were a major character, but the ones the chapter was about were. There were several of them and I couldn’t always tell if the story “forgot” about them for several chapters because they weren’t doing anything interesting or if there just wasn’t enough space for them. The good thing, though, was that they were different from each other and served different masters. It was fascinating to see the webs and designs they created to help drive the story forward.

The Setting: Beautifully African-Inspired
The world building is what really made me fall in love with this book. I adored the world. It was vivid and made complete sense, and had an insanely perfect blend of science fiction and fantasy that couldn’t have made better sense. It was extraordinarily well-crafted with distinct societies and regions that still shared many similarities. Clearly, it was an entire continent divided into individual regions or countries.

I had no expectations of what the world would have to offer when I started reading. I did expect the typical Eurocentric world, so I was insanely pleased to realize this is African-inspired. In a sense, I felt like I was transported to Africa, felt like it could have been Africa, but it was clearly a fantasy version of Africa. I have no idea if some of the terms, especially for the animals and clothing, were accurate or completely made up, but it really gave me an African feeling.

This world swept me away. It was gorgeous. It had details and was sweeping. It felt like a fully contained world. I couldn’t help but want to be immersed in it. It is, though, a very brutal world full of bloodshed, but it was so unapologetic and still full of beauty. I think the world building was my absolute favorite part of this book and I couldn’t wait to find time to continue reading it. I’m anxious for the next book just so I can immerse myself in this gorgeous world again.

The Plot: Surprisingly Slow
I went into this book expecting something fast-moving and exciting. Instead, I found myself so caught up in the world building that I was about 40% of the way through when I realized it was really almost molasses slow. Seriously, this book is long and moves at a crawl despite all the movement in it. But it unfolded so organically and the world was so compelling that it was so easy to forgive. Until I hit somewhere around 60% and finally found out what on earth was actually going on in this book. Still, I didn’t care because it really was that gorgeous.

There are so many webs, so many machinations. It’s a giant game with tons of moving pieces. Actually, it felt like there might have been too many pieces, too many puppet masters. I thought they were all interesting and I wanted to read more about them, but the story was so slow and massive that there didn’t seem to be any time for them to really be seen much. It was a little disappointing and made this book feel almost too big and too close to collapsing on itself, but it was still a delightful read.

I loved that it unfolded naturally. Events happened because of what the characters did and who they were. It made the entire story make sense, almost was though I were reading the adventures of actual people. It all flowed nicely and the pace was actually decent despite how slow it moved. Every scene felt necessary, every pain, every battle. It all played an important role and really opened up the story so it could hold, barely, everything. Still, I did sometimes feel it was a little too ambitious, a little too much, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy every second of it.

The one thing that bothered me was how brutal and bloody this book is. It is unapologetic and relentless. There was so much violence, so much pain, so much brutality and disregard for human life, but it all made sense. It all had its place. Usually, my eyes tend to skip over scenes like those the closer I get to the end, but there was something compelling about them that made me read almost every bloody word. Still, I could have done with less violence. On the other hand, it would have taken away from both the story and the world building and would have kept much of the characters and their development hidden. In this case, I would say the bloody violence was necessary.

Overall: The World Building is the Best Part
The world building is the high point of this book. It was amazing and unique without being too outlandish. It really drew me in, which helped me really get into the story. I wanted to explore this world along with the characters and watch how the story unfolded. It was a little too violent for my tastes and the characters weren’t quite as glittering as I would have liked, but this was still a fascinating and beautiful read, definitely not something to be missed if you love world building.

Thank you to Netgalley and 47North for a free e-copy. All opinions expressed are my own. show less

I really enjoyed the sci-fi world with black characters. The have and the have nots mixes with Cyberpunk and revolution. There's also backstabbing and manipulation galore.

One of the fun bits of worldbuilding was the body modification, which was a signal of class the same way having a premium membership in a kid's virtual world was.

The character interactions never went that deep for me, but I was interested by the Proxy and Prime relationships. More plot than character-driven. Jamal was such show more an agent of chaos haha!

3.5 show less