I was fortunate enough to receive the audiobook of this book and I could not have been more thrilled. I first learned of this book back when they did Ya'll West online this spring and I couldn't contain my excitement to read it after seeing and hearing all about it.

If you have read Tomi Adeyemi's books that is the closest thing I can thing to compare it to. Like those books, this one is a book filled with magic, maybe laced with magic is a better word. Right from the start the reader is thrown into this magic system and world and that's where I want to start.

Though I loved the magic system of this world, it took me a bit to understand what was going on. I was not sure if that was because of the audiobook (the speeds on mine weren't working properly) or because I just wasn't grasping it. Either way, it took me the good first hour of my listen to fully grasp the magic system and it's restraints and abilities.

One thing that I loved in regards to the audiobook though, were the rich accents. Like I said, the audiobook I received was having issues with the speeds, so I had to listen to it slowly. Usually I will listen to adiobooks at double the speed, but with this one, if I did the speech was nearly unrecognizable. So, I chose to slow it down and am I ever glad I did. The accents used the voice actor's reading was fantastic and made the story so much more enjoyable!

Overall, this was a solid 3 star read me. I really enjoyed the unique magic system as well as the attention to detail put into the characters and the voice actor for the audiobook, but in the end it wasn't a story I meshed with or related to as much as I would like. I would say this is a great fantasy book for anyone who has read Tomi Adeyemi's books and are wanting something more like that.

This review is for the audiobook, so please forgive the inevitable misspelling of names and places.

In this story, Tarisai is a young girl, raised in isolation with a revolving door of tutors and a cold and distant mother. When she turns eleven, her mother essentially puts a geas upon her to gain the love and anointment from a boy in a painting, and once she has those things, she must kill that boy. After this, Tarisai is sent to the capital city to join other children from around the continent in becoming candidates for the next Emperor's council. Of course, when she meets prince Dayo, it is the same boy her mother has tasked her to kill. Tarisai spends the next few years learning all she needs to know to become a council member, but refusing to accept the magical bond of The Ray from him, to avoid the task her mother set for her. What follows is a story of action, adventure, betrayal and redemption.

This story is complex, loaded with secondary characters, and their political machinations. There are many moving pieces to the plot that one can't quite piece together until another part snaps into place. The pacing sometimes felt like it dragged on a bit, but the story and the world are solidly built, and the end is wide open for a follow up.

The narrator, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, confidently handles character and place names with a natural sounding variety of African accents. The pace of the reading, mostly the pauses between some words or sentences, felt a little stuttered. The one fatal flaw to this narration was the inconsistent use of a lisp for one character-- it was jarring, distracting, and felt inauthentic.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this audiobook.

Most fantasy books feel like a trip to the middle ages. Not so with Raybearer by Jordan Ifeuko! Raybearer is a rich fantasy filled with African culture and folklore. I really enjoyed this book and will recommend it to students.

I received this audiobook from NetGalley exchanged for an honest review!

I usually listen to non fiction audiobooks and this is my first fiction and fantasy. I loved the voice actors . She made all gene characters distinguishable and it felt like I was listening to a movie. The authors words are lyrical and I the story is really engaging.

I do want to read the physical book because my mind drifts off sometimes and then I missed a chunk of the story. But overall I like the main characters and the story flows well.

I was soooooo bored listening to this audiobook. After about halfway, I really considered DNFing, but decided to stick it out.

The second half of the book was much more interesting than the first. I did not like the characters or always understand their motivations. I did however enjoy the asexual representation. I wish that was explored more.

The plot had so much going on, that I don’t think enough pagetime was spent on each part. Again, this made it to where the plot didn’t draw my interest.

The narrator of the audiobook did a decent job. All of the characters were distinguishable. There were a few things I didn’t like that were out of the narrators control. First, a cultural accent was described as a lisp. I have never heard of an entire region speaking with a lisp, so that was odd to me. Secondly, many stories were told through a griot, or storyteller. It makes sense when hearing this spoken in person that they use a lot of action words. Unfortunately they took me out of the story.

I received this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I listened to Raybearer. The narrator was very good and gave distinct voices to the characters. The story was interesting but sort of repetitive. I loved how different the world is compared to many other fantasy books. I don't know if I will continue with the series because I didn't get attached to the characters but I would recommend it to teens so that they will see how many different fantasy worlds there can be.

I thought this was a very interesting book and the audio narration was great. The world and the magic but also the characters made me want to read on.
And I think for young adult who enjoyed "Children of Blood and Bone" this would an excellent pick.
I read a lot of YA even though I'm by no means an young adult anymore, and enjoy fantasy for ya readers a lot. But I do have a problem with this and it is that it is soooooo intense. The pace is so fast and in a couple of chapters our main character goes from a child to an young adult, moves around, drama, falls in love or at least lust and needs to learn who she is and what to do with her powers. And her heritage. There was no time to breath while listning to this, going from plot point to plot point, from twist to twist.
Maybe it is that I just enjoy a slower build up, especially since this is the first book in a series. So enjoyable but so intense. Will probably read on in the series but hoping the tempo is a bit slower.

(Sidenote: the app for listningen to this isn't that great. It stops, jumps backs and crashes. And since the audio book didn't have numbered chapters it was hard to find my place when the app stopped or jumped back or forward in the story. This might be because I listen at x2 but it shouldn't be a problem. That the app wasn't working great lessened my enjoyment of this book, I'm afraid. Always having to find my place and just getting irritated. I listen to other audio books through the app, which have had problems but not as much as I had while listning to this.)

I have read RAYBEARER as well as listening to the audiobook. The audiobook lives up to the paperback!!!!! I loved it so much! The narrator's voice was perfect. Great intonation. Great rhythm. She really brought the book to life!

Hello Gemmies! I have an exciting book review to share with you today. Please note: I received an audiobook ARC of this book (via NetGalley) from its publisher in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Raybearer is a debut YA fantasy by Jordan Ifueko. I was so excited to receive this one to review. I was expecting a sweeping African inspired epic fantasy full of magic and this did not disappoint! I cannot believe this is Jordan's first novel. I already need book two...stat! Raybearer pulls you in from the very first chapter. Let's start with the story. The plot was unexpected, fresh, and new. This is a YA novel but there are some very serious themes throughout like toppling patriarchal structures, child abuse, privilege, misogyny, and race and class inequality that take this novel to the next level. I found myself fully immersed in this vivid and impressive world. There are references to various races, creatures, religions, and magical belief systems but Jordan Ifueko managed to blend them all seamlessly. This is also an extremely well written character driven story with a diverse cast of characters that I found to be complex, dynamic, and relatable. I need more Tarisai and Sanjit stories in my life!

Raybearer is narrated by one person, Joniece Abbott-Pratt. Joniece is an absolute wonder! She does a great job keeping pace with the story, and making each character feel distinct and have their own personality. Joniece is also able to strike the right tone to make each scene feel appropriate. There are several main characters in this book and Joniece does a great job in differentiating her voice between each. If you are a fan of magic, epic fantasies, conspiracies, love and tragedy then go read this book! This gem published by Blackstone Publishing is set to release on August 18, 2020 and is available for pre-order from all major booksellers. I give Raybearer 5 out of 5 gems. I cannot wait for this story to be out in the world for all to read and enjoy. Happy Reading!

Huge thanks to Netgalley, Blackstone Publishing, and Jordan Ifueko for providing me with a free review copy of this audiobook in exchange for an unbiased and impartial review.

Immediately I saw the cover of this book, I knew I couldn't resist it. The blurb made it all the more irresistible. Once I got the approval email, I downloaded the audiobook immediately and got lost in the beautiful and sometimes dangerous world of Aritsar. How couldn't I? There was so much to love and get lost in. The narrator, Joneice Abbott-Pratt, did a wonderful job and I just want to hug her and shower her with kisses. She killed the voices, accents, pronunciations, stories, and songs. She was just all-round perfect in her narration and that made the story so much more better.

Set in the world of Aritsar and spanning over many realms and kingdoms, we see the story unfold through Tarisai's eyes. Tarisai is our protagonist, and we follow her from childhood to adulthood, travelling through Aritsar, and engaging in so many adventures, with many internal and external battles. We are introduced to so many main and secondary characters that we can't help but fall in love with, or hate - there's hardly any in-between. Dayo, Sanjeet, Kirah, Mbali, and The Lady were some of my absolutely favorites, and of course Tarisai. There are so many secrets and puzzles and mysteries and questions, and everything unravels at the most magnificent pace. Tons of praise to the author - and this is a debut! I can't wait to read more of her amazing writing in future.

One of the best parts of this book, for me, is the infusion of West African culture (most especially Yoruba). As a Yoruba girl myself, I was really glad to see so much of my culture - words, names, clothing - sprinkled generously all over the book. As a dark-skinned girl, it meant so much to me to be reading a fantasy novel with a dark-skinned heroine that's so amazing! I love Tarisai very much, for a host of reasons you'll all discover when you read the book. The two points highlighted in this paragraph are some of the reasons I loved Children of Blood and Bone so much, so the blurb isn't wrong about this book being perfect for fans of Tomi Adeyemi.

I mentioned this earlier, but the world-building in this book is amazing - the realms, the travel, the history, the mythology, the lineage and genealogy, the creatures, the stories, the songs (kudos to the narrator AGAIN for her performance of the songs in this book) the council of 11, the Ray, honestly everything! So much thought went into creating this and the execution didn't disappoint.

I wholeheartedly recommend this amazing work of art to everyone, so be sure to grab your copy or get the audiobook when this book is released on the 18th of August.

Jordan Ifueko's <em>Raybearer </em>is so much more than the book you initially expect it to be. The synopsis really leads you down a road that expects some very typical elements of a fantasy romance involving a character meant, in the beginning, to kill a target they fall in love with. In an astoundingly impressive way, <em>Raybearer </em>is an incredible story with many intermingling plot elements and commentaries that leaves you with one of the most poignant tales I've read in quite some time. This is the kind of novel that has you feeling changed in some ways. And I loved every minute of it.

<b>Threads of the story...</b>

Perhaps the most amazing thing about <em>Raybearer </em>is how it manages to realistically weave in a number of impressive commentaries without ever losing authenticity. By this, I mean that important life struggles and topics such as colonization, inequality of class and race, male-dominated power structures, racism, sexism, privilege, generational trauma, control through fear, and cultural genocide are all blended seamlessly into the work and never once does it feel contrived or preachy.

The complexities of the tale Ifueko is telling are brilliantly written in a way that precious few writers are capable of. She masterfully discusses each one through the eyes of a young woman, Tarisai, who enters the world naive and manipulated and leaves the novel a wisened and gallant legend. Tarisai's journey alone is brilliantly plotted. You learn alongside her as the events of her life lead to an adventure of truth-seeking and honor.

Put simply, <em>Raybearer</em> is not the fantasy love story I believed I was picking up, but instead an intricate and meaningful novel that fosters the development of knowledge and righteousness. The truth is that there is a lot to unpack from this novel and a great deal to learn from it all.

<b>What is an expert story without expert characters?</b>

Well, Ifueko has an impressively written story as far as plots go. And for a writer of her caliber, I find myself unsurprised to say that her characters were equally as impressive. I can't think of a single developed character in this novel who wasn't written brilliantly. No matter who it is you are introduced to, even side characters who barely spend any time in the story or exist as someone who is solely talked about, you are introduced to someone who feels so fleshed out that they could be a real person.

I'm honestly somewhat in awe of how impressed I am with the character development in this novel. And I could probably break down how wonderful I found Ekundayo, both his younger and older self. I could go on at length about the expert complexities of Sanjeet or the deeply fascinating Kirah. I could rave about the intricacies of The Lady, the Emperor, and the Council of 11.

But honestly?

Best you find out for yourself.

<b>The Narration</b>

Okay, so I listened to the audiobook for this one. And I'm incredibly grateful for that. The truth is that <em>Raybearer</em> is the kind of book where, if you do not already have an understanding of African culture, you really need to read it twice. I say this for a number of reasons, but the fact of the matter is that there are some pieces of this book that just <em>need</em> to be <em>heard</em>.

You see, the way Ifueko blends music and <em>sound</em> into her novel is perhaps the most impressive I have seen since I read <em>The Enchanted Sonata.</em> And that is not to say that these two books are comparable or should be compared, but rather that it is <em>incredibly</em> rare of me to have felt that a book was giving me <em>sounds</em>. I guarantee, had I not listened to this audiobook, the sheer brilliance of Ifueko's use of sound would have been utterly lost on me due to my lack of knowledge and understanding of African culture.

That said, I do also feel like this book needs to be read. I spent a decent amount of time listening to this audiobook imagining how the songs, the <em>sounds</em>, and even the spelling of names would translate had I simply picked up the book. I imagine I still would have absolutely adored everything about this novel, but I would have been <em>greatly</em> missing out on a piece to Tarisai's story that I currently consider <em>integral</em> to my experience reading it as a whole.

Joniece Abbott-Pratt did such an excellent job narrating <em>Raybearer</em>. I truly cannot imagine a better voice. And, at the end of the day, if you've not planned to pick up this novel already, I would <em>highly</em> recommend that you do.

<em>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</em>

Raybearer
by Jordan Ifueko
Pub Date: 18 Aug 2020
listened to courtesy of http://netgalley.com

Full disclosure: DNF

More full disclosure: I'm not a fan of fantasy, but I was anxious to try out NetGalley's new audiobook offerings, and this was a YA title.

This was a DNF not only because I'm not a fantasy fan, but because I was trying to concentrate so hard to follow the story and backstory while driving that I missed my exit and had to drive out of my way to get to where I was going. If I had to concentrate that intensely, there was no enjoyment in it, just distraction from the story.

Plus this was listed as sci-fi and fantasy, and from what I could tell, it was pure fantasy.

The narrator was lyrical enough for a fairytale-type story, though almost too much so. She had a breathy quality that implied anticipation, but not everything need to be anticipated.

4.5 stars

It’s hard to put into words exactly how amazing this book was. Ifueko crafted such a diverse and interesting new fantasy world that was incredibly interesting to learn about and explore through Tarisai.

I have to applaud this story for constantly surprising me. When it began I thought I knew where it was going in the end and I was completely wrong. This story was complex and multi-faceted. It was a reminder that no person is completely good or evil, and it constantly challenged me to see beyond the surface to recognize the way that our pasts shape us, but how we are ultimately in charge of our destinies. I was very much taken on a journey through this book, and it was one wrought with surprises I couldn’t have anticipated at the beginning -largely because it was rich with characters that are -realistically- able to surprise us.

On that same note, I love that amidst this entire exciting story was an undercurrent of deep wisdom. There are numerous points in the book where I just wanted to pause and marinate over some of the wisdom Ifueko was communicating because it was truly full of thought-provoking material. The ideas this book communicated about destiny, leadership, love, and right and wrong were some of the best I’ve seen in YA literature. I really can’t express enough how well Ifueko blended a unique fantasy story with such deep truths that apply in our world today.

Because I can’t not include it, here are some of my favourite quotes:

“You want to follow your heart? ...Should a fool follow his heart? A thief? A murderer? Your heart is not your friend unless you know who you truly are.”

“Leadership isn’t good or evil, it’s what you choose to do with it.”

“Only one thing is more powerful than a wish, and that is a purpose.”

I will say however, the one things with this story that I had trouble with was the ending. While it said a great deal about Tarisai’s character, and set up the next book (which I am quite excited for) very well, the whole situation with Songland felt like too much of a secondary detail throughout the book for it to have been so pivotal by the end. It’s not that I didn’t like the ending, but I didn’t love it mostly because it felt a little like it came from left field. Outside of that though, amazing book all the way through!

Last but not least, I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten an audio copy of this book rather than a readable one. I am amazed that one narrator could do such justice to this story. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought there were multiple readers because she truly brought the story to life. Not only did each of the characters have their own unique voices, but the story itself had a quality I would have completely missed if I had just read it. From the songs that were sung to the drum beats, and all the little details in between, the audiobook helped me to feel like I was right there beside Tarisai the whole time. This is honestly one of those books that -I believe- are even better listened to than read because it brings an already great story to life.

While there were some things I loved about this book, the lyrical writing style especially, I found some of the events lacking in continuity and often had to backtrack so I could figure out how the story got from point A to point B and the transition was not always clear to me.

I already read the physical arc so it was nice to have a refresher and listen to the audiobook and see if it elicits the same feelings. I found the audiobook did a good job bringing this book to life. And I'm so glad that despite being African inspired the narrator didn't try to put on any weird fake accents like I've become so accustom to in audiobooks. Tarisa's tale is just the perfect pace and the right blend of magic to keep you entertained.

Everything about this story left me utterly entranced. I can usually guess the ending or where things will go next. It is rare that a story keeps me guessing in the way that this one did. The main characters are so fully fleshed out that I'm certain readers will each have personal favorites. There are side characters whose names we rarely get, but I trust Ifueko enough at this point to believe that they might be in the next book. The world is both familiar and new to me. The prevalence of magic on every page and in so many ways made it so immersive and visible!
Jordan Ifueko is a gift to the YA fantasy community, and I cannot wait to see what comes next for Tarisai and her friends.

*I received a digital copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review*

If able, I tend to jump back and forth between listening to and reading a book. With Raybearer, I found that I just wanted to listen to it more and more. Joniece Abbott-Pratt was such an incredible narrator. Due to a glitch with the app, I wasn't able to listen at my normal 1.25 speed. However, this was a blessing in disguise, since Abbott-Pratt's narration speed was perfect for the story. Her voice work was so incredible that I almost couldn't believe it was a single narrator.

As for the story, it was just as amazing. Raybearer follows Tarisai from youth to her teenage years as she learns more about the troubled past of both her land and her lineage. This book is filled with magic and takes inspiration from African folklore. I loved it to pieces and can't wait for the sequel.

I have seen a lot of hype already surrounding this book and I'm so glad I was able to snag the audiobook from NetGalley. Also, yay for audiobooks on NetGalley because I go through so many from my library and I'm glad it's now an opition.

In the beginning we are introduced to Tarisai who has had a very interesting upbrining. She has always been searching for love because she never received it from her mother.

I really liked Tarisai as a character. There is a lot of development from her throughout the book as she tries to battle between what she wants and what her mother has cursed her to do. Life isn't always easy for her and it made her feel authentic and just very real.

Another thing I loved about her, and the other characters, were the bonds she created with them. She cares deeply for them and sometimes you didn't know how much until another character brought something to light and then it just made you feel so many things!

The Lady, her mother, was such a fascinating character from the beginning. There is a backstory for her and I really enjoyed getting to know what makes her tick. Even though she has done some questionable things, I can't say that I don't like her. She definitely went through some things and it's what shaped her to be who she is.

A couple other characters that are at the top of my list are Dayo, Woo in, Kierah, and Sanjeet. Each one has their special qualities that I love and help Tarisai become who she wants to be. Even if they can't understand her reasoning and may get upset, they still don't walk away.

Honestly, there really wasn't any characters that I disliked in this book. Some got more page time than others but each one brought something to the table.

The plot of this book is unique, refreshing, and lives you needing to continue the story without long breaks. There are interesting abilities from healing to reading someone's memories. The drama involves politics and rivalries amongst family. The world that this author created is just mesmerizing! From the beginning I wasn't sure where exactly the plot would go which is good because each new plot twist had me surprised. That ending is really intense and I will definitely need to read the second book to find out what happens next.

As for the audiobook aspect, it was nicely done!

It is done by one narrator but she changes her voice for the different characters. It made it a bit easier to figure out which was talking if it didn't mention their name.

There are also lyrics for different songs and it was actually sung instead of just spoken. I really liked that!

Overall, I enjoyed this book! It was such an exciting experience and I know that many readers will love this story.