The premise and cover for this book drew me in but I honestly couldn't get past the first chapter. If a story doesn't have me wanting more at the end of chapter 1 I find it difficult to continue reading and this story falls into that category.

I loved the blend of African culture and how sound was used as a power in this novella. The story was wonderfully done and enjoyed that the concept worked overall. The characters felt like well rounded characters and how they worked in this universe. Cheryl S. Ntumy has a way with words and had me engaged from start to finish.

"Songs for the Shadows" is a stunning, poetic, beautifully imagined novella set in the collaborative Afrofuturist Sauútiverse world. I hadn't heard of the Sauútiverse before this novella came across my radar, but I will be eagerly anticipating other works in this universe moving forward!

Summary: In a world where sounds and song exist as powerful artifacts, Shad-Dari is the captain of a ship of excavators who find and capture rare, dangerous sounds. She is haunted by tangible echoes of her lost loved ones, and steals and listens to illicit sound fragments in order to forcefully suppress those echoes. We follow Shad-Dari's tragic past, rebellious present, and strange future as she navigates what these echoes mean to her, and if she'll ever find a way to escape them.

The prose is vivid, poetic, and engaging; there's a lot of worldbuilding to set up in order to understand Shad-Dari's context, and Ntumy does so masterfully. The supporting characters, especially Bed-Shek and the mysterious Mahu Mahadii, leap off the page, and the slow unfolding of Shad-Dari's story rewards your investment with the expansive imaginative palette of a true storyteller right in her element.

I read the novella in one sitting and wished there was more! Very much looking forward to checking out the other Sauútiverse works. If you're a fan of great writing and Afrofuturism, I can't recommend Songs for the Shadows enough.

Shad-Dari has escaped her past, her dreams now in reach. An excavator of the valuable old sounds of Órino-Rin, she steals tiny, unheard fragments of the sacred songs to erase the painful echo of her home planet, Ekwukwe. In one rebellion too far, she sets off a chain of events that severs her from time itself, forcing her, without another way forward, to face her past.

This was not at all what I expected, but I was really blown away by this emotional story. First off, I love sci-fi novellas and I am always excited to give a new author a try. Second, I was so drawn in by the concept of excavating old sounds and the power of oral histories and stories from the past. While this is an important part of the story, the greater plot is about learning to live with grief and one inability to outrun one's past.

I will admit I had a little trouble wrapping my head around the world and names at first, especially the importance of names. This is an amazing world, part of the larger "Sauutiverse" and I wanted to know more about the planets and the star systems and the species. Most of all, I would have loved to have a better understanding of the importance of the old sounds; their uses, the magic system, etc. But the story takes off at a break-neck pace and you just need to hold on for the ride. I did not find Shad-Dari particularly likeable in the first half of the story, but that is definitely the point. Her arc and character growth are what make this story so impactful and I was blown away by the ending.

Thank you NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op for a free copy of this eARC in return for an honest review.
#Sauútiverse #NetGalley