Princess Jamila remains in Amarea, navigating her way through an uneasy marriage to the Amarean Crown Prince, Gambo, with only her wits to aid her. Queen Idioba journeys deep into the mythical Agbon forest in search of a cure for the cursed Prince, Kamunde, facing many mysterious creatures and this was a great book to read. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.

I was initially thrilled with the idea of this book, and the storyline itself is worth investing time in, for both the author and the audience. However, instead of sharing with the reader the songs of the priests, we are told that the priests sang a song. Instead of showing us the details that would allow us to conclude that the Queen was "despondent" we are just told that she is. Instead of giving us the comforting words of a woman to a boy who is afraid, trepidations, and nervous, we are just told that she comforted him with words. I read several other reviews of this book that indicated that a significant issue was with telling, and not showing. I set these aside when I began reading, knowing I would see it for myself if it was a problem. And it is. Within the first two chapters, I found myself frustrated by the many examples of telling/not showing that I had to move on to something else. This story is well-imagined, but the execution of the writing of the novel needs a good editor to improve on what is here.

I assumed this was a standalone novel or the first book in the series, but I was surprised to see that this is the second book already.
I wished that the publisher would have stated it beforehand, so I could give this book a fair chance for a review.
Giving it a neutral rating for now.

DNF
Now before yall come at me because I'm the only one who couldn't make it through this book, let me say that I'm in a reading slump and this just wasn't what I wanted and needed. Plus it just wasn't doing it for me. (the one star is because NetGalley doesn't allow any rating/DNF)

I am not a black review so I cannot speak on the rep, but from own-voices reviewers, they did find it was done very-extremely well. The writing was amazing and gripping. E. O. Odiase can really write a novel. THE WORLD BUILDING WAS AMAZING, I could really grasp everything from the very beginning. HOWEVER, the characters were not totally engaging and interesting, I was not here for them and I could not continue because I am a character person (as much as I love world building) so this was just not the book for me. I don't not recommend this book, but I also don't recommend this book, you know?

A Dance for the Gods

A Dance for the Gods is the second book in the Last Warrior King series. The plot thickens as the Gods continue to exact vengeance and royalty is overthrown. Greed and ignorance causes many of the main characters to fall further into chaos.

I found this book to be quite jarring in a way. It constant switching back a forth between so many POV that at some points it was difficult to keep up. I absolutely loved Kalao, Esigie and Kamunde’s POV the most with their gradual redemption and conviction to go good.
I did feel that the language used in this book was somewhat choppy. Some of the descriptions included so much detail it somewhat overshadowed the point of the story at times.
Overall I would give this book 4 ⭐️ because I loved the plot line and fell in love with the characters! I can’t wait until the third installment.

DNF
Very bland writing, all telling and no showing, needs to be seriously edited.
Extremely predictable
I might try reading again later in the year if I’m bored