The Wolf of Oren-Yaro
by K. S. Villoso
496pp (Trade Paperback)
My Rating: 9/10
Amazon Rating: 4.1/5
LibraryThing Rating: 3.25/5
Goodreads Rating: 3.86/5
 

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“They called me the Bitch Queen, the she-wolf, because I murdered a man and exiled my king the night before they crowned me.”

Thus opens The Wolf of Oren-Yaro, the first installment in K. S. Villoso’s Chronicles of the Bitch Queen trilogy. Both this and the second book in this series, set in an epic fantasy world whose “worldbuilding is a love letter to the Philippines,” were originally self published, and the entire trilogy is now being traditionally published with this novel currently available, The Ikessar Falcon coming in September, and the brand new conclusion scheduled for release next year.

This relatively short wait between books makes me happy since The Wolf of Oren-Yaro hooked me from that very first sentence and ended up being exactly what I love to read: a character-driven novel with a vivid voice and suspense involving characters’ pasts and what shaped them. The main character has some secrets and learns of some, and much about her and the world are gradually revealed over the course of the novel.

The Wolf of Oren-Yaro is narrated from the first person perspective of Queen Talyien (Tali), a warlord’s daughter whose birth and near-immediate betrothal to the young son of her father’s enemy was instrumental in ending a civil war. The night before Tali and her husband were to be crowned, he fled, leaving her and their two-year-old son behind. Tali was crowned queen without her king, left to shoulder the responsibility of ruling and keeping the warlords from tearing her country asunder without him, hounded by guilt with her son wishing to know when his father will return. Though her people do not know what happened between their queen and her husband, rumors spread and Tali is blamed for his departure—for not being more feminine, more subtle, more pleasing, more in every way so her prince would never so much as dreamed of leaving her side.

Five years after becoming queen, Tali receives a message from her husband requesting that she meet him in a land across the sea. Her adviser suggests that she ignore his request: it must be a trap, and it’s hardly reasonable for her husband to ask her to travel so far to see him after abandoning her for five years. But Tali believes it’s worth considering, realizing that the warlords will see it as proof that it’s her fault he left and claim she wants the crown all to herself if they hear she refused to meet with him. She decides to go regardless of any potential danger when her son asks her to bring back his father.

After the sea voyage, everything seems to go wrong. Tali just barely makes it to the meeting with her husband—a rather uncomfortable dinner filled with barbed comments and accusations regarding whose father started a war and whose uncle released a mad dragon into their land—and things only get worse when assassins attack during their awkward reconciliation. Tali escapes, but she finds herself separated from her guards and traveling companions, all alone in a country with very different unspoken rules from her own, not knowing who attempted to take her life or why—or if her husband or anyone else made it out alive.

Voice can make or break a book for me. It’s usually voice that pulls me into a story and makes me want to keep reading, and I’m finding more and more that I rapidly lose interest in reading stories that don’t have strong voices. The number one reason I put down a book and pick up another in its stead is bland writing that lacks any sort of personality or style bringing its characters, world, and events vividly to life.

It’s difficult to put into words just what precisely makes a voice work, but The Wolf of Oren-Yaro has one that works—one of the best I’ve ever encountered. Tali’s expressive, often poetic, flowing narrative carried me into the story and her psyche, made the world and surroundings real, and were a big part of what made this novel so engaging. It contains quite a bit of telling and flashbacks, but I actually enjoyed those parts most of all: they made the story richer by showing glimpses into the culture and events that shaped Tali, and they never seemed overlong or dull because of her compelling voice and the way they tied into her characterization.

Tali is a complex, messy character who is in a difficult position after inheriting her father’s domain and problems. She’s had to be more ruthless to maintain a fearsome reputation and hold the realm together, but that’s not who she is at heart—that was her father’s nature, not hers, even if she ended up stuck with the consequences of his warmongering and ambitions. Most fascinating of all, Tali didn’t seem completely reliable as a narrator. Other than holding back the details of the murder and fallout with her husband until close to the end, she bares her heart through her narrative, yet I found myself questioning just how much of what she thinks and feels is true—and just how much she’s keeping hidden from herself in order to cope with the path laid out for her shortly after she was born. She often reflects on her love for Rayyel, her husband, but she also thinks of him as being “about as charismatic as the bottom of a chamber pot” in one of her earlier reflections. Of course, it’s possible she can love someone while recognizing they have flaws, but the more I read, the more I wondered: Does she love him? Or has she just convinced herself she loves him because she had to marry him whether she liked it or not? What else might she be lying to herself about? I found Tali all the more captivating because I felt like she thought she was being truthful, but I was unsure about just how self-aware and honest with herself she was being.

As a rash and reckless person, Tali makes some questionable (ok, fine, terrible) decisions, but I thought that her choices fit with her personality, how much she values duty and family, and all that she has to try to balance as a ruler, wife, mother, and the bearer of her father’s legacy. Plus, sometimes she doesn’t have a lot of great choices, having been attacked by mysterious assassins and left to fend for herself in a foreign country without any friends or money. Tali is resourceful and a total badass with a sword, and she proves to be good at getting herself out of trouble—and then getting herself right back into trouble, starting the cycle of disaster all over again. Her tendency to dive headfirst into things may be anxiety-inducing, but it does create excitement and drama that make for a riveting reading experience.

Although this is a character-driven novel, I did feel like Tali’s adventures moved too quickly sometimes and didn’t allow enough space to give the other characters much depth, despite them being well done for the amount we saw of them. This is true to Tali’s character since she’s not the type to sit back and wait for things to happen, but I think that’s part of why I was partial to stories from her past over the more recent timeline. Even though Rayyel rarely appears outside of Tali’s memories, he’s one of the better developed characters in the story, and the only other character who seemed particularly fleshed out was a man Tali met after being separated from her people: Khine, a self-confessed con man with a moral code who is actually the most innately kind person in the book.

The Wolf of Oren-Yaro is an excellent fantasy novel and a new favorite of mine, largely because of its protagonist and her superb voice—and the way the details of the world and events come to life through her perspective. I absolutely loved it, and I can hardly wait for The Ikessar Falcon later this year.

My Rating: 9/10

Where I got my reading copy: ARC from the publisher.

Read an Excerpt from The Wolf of Oren-Yaro

Read K. S. Villoso’s Women in SF&F Month Essay on Queen Talyien

The Leaning Pile of Books is a feature in which I highlight books I got over the last week that sound like they may be interesting—old or new, bought or received in the mail for review consideration (the latter of which are mainly unsolicited books from publishers). Since I hope you will find new books you’re interested in reading in these posts, I try to be as informative as possible. If I can find them, links to excerpts, author’s websites, and places where you can find more information on the book are included, along with series information and the publisher’s book description. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Last week brought two books I added to the TBR—one of my most anticipated 2020 releases and an ebook deal that I couldn’t resist!

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow Book Cover

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Alix E. Harrow’s sophomore novel, which is about three suffragette witch sisters in the late 1800s, will be released on October 13 (hardcover, ebook, audiobook).

The Orbit website has an excerpt from The Once and Future Witches.

I was incredibly excited when this book showed up since Alix E. Harrow’s debut novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, was my favorite book of last year. It’s an ode to stories and imagination, outsiders and dreamers, and daring to write one’s own story, and it’s a beautifully written, memorable novel that I cannot recommend highly enough. (And if you missed it during last year’s Women in SF&F Month, Alix E. Harrow wrote about the gift she was given by growing up with stories by and about women in “My Mother’s Sword.”)

 

In the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft to change the course of history in Alix E. Harrow’s powerful novel of magic and the suffragette movement.

In 1893, there’s no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

But when the Eastwood sisters — James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna — join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women’s movement into the witch’s movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote — and perhaps not even to live — the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.

There’s no such thing as witches. But there will be.

For more from Alix E. Harrow, check out The Ten Thousand Doors of January.

The Tiger at Midnight Cover

The Tiger at Midnight (The Tiger at Midnight #1) by Swati Teerdhala

This YA fantasy novel inspired by Indian history and Hindu mythology is now available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook—and the ebook version is currently $1.99 on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I couldn’t resist buying a copy!

Bustle has a text excerpt from The Tiger at Midnight, and Harper Collins has an excerpt from the audiobook. Swati Teerdhala also discussed “unlikable” heroines and writing Esha, the main character in The Tiger at Midnight, in her Women in SF&F Month guest post last year.

The second book in this trilogy, The Archer at Dawn, is coming out in a couple of days (May 26!) and will be available in hardcover, ebook, and paperback. Hypable has an excerpt from The Archer at Dawn.

 

The first book in an epic heart-pounding fantasy trilogy inspired by ancient Indian history and Hindu mythology, perfect for fans of Sabaa Tahir and Renée Ahdieh.

* A Book Riot Most Anticipated Novel of 2019 * B&N Top 50 Most Anticipated Novels *

A broken bond. A dying land. A cat-and-mouse game that can only end in bloodshed.

Esha lost everything in the royal coup—and as the legendary rebel known as the Viper, she’s made the guilty pay. Now she’s been tasked with her most important mission to date: taking down the ruthless General Hotha.

Kunal has been a soldier since childhood. His uncle, the general, has ensured that Kunal never strays from the path—even as a part of Kunal longs to join the outside world, which has only been growing more volatile.

When Esha and Kunal’s paths cross one fated night, an impossible chain of events unfolds. Both the Viper and the soldier think they’re calling the shots, but they’re not the only players moving the pieces.

As the bonds that hold their land in order break down and the sins of the past meet the promise of a new future, both the soldier and the rebel must decide where their loyalties lie: with the lives they’ve killed to hold on to or with the love that’s made them dream of something more.

The Leaning Pile of Books is a feature in which I highlight books I got over the last week that sound like they may be interesting—old or new, bought or received in the mail for review consideration (the latter of which are mainly unsolicited books from publishers). Since I hope you will find new books you’re interested in reading in these posts, I try to be as informative as possible. If I can find them, links to excerpts, author’s websites, and places where you can find more information on the book are included, along with series information and the publisher’s book description. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

This is the first week that’s brought new book arrivals since April ended (both because a book came in the mail and because I bought a new one!). But first, here’s the latest review in case you missed it last week:

On to the latest books!

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart Book Cover

The Bone Shard Daughter (The Drowning Empire #1) by Andrea Stewart

Andrea Stewart’s epic fantasy debut novel, the first book in a new series, will be released on September 8 (hardcover, ebook, audiobook).

I’ve been excited to read The Bone Shard Daughter ever since I first heard about it, and everything I’ve heard about it since then has just made me want to read it even more. When the ARC showed up a few days ago, I read the first page and was immediately intrigued.

If you want to read a sample, io9 has an excerpt from The Bone Shard Daughter as part of the cover reveal. Andrea Stewart also wrote an essay for this year’s Women in SF&F Month titled “Happily Ever Aftermath,” in which she discussed fiction and fairy tales, exploring what happens after a couple gets together, and writing an established relationship between two of the women in her novel.

 

In an empire controlled by bone shard magic, Lin, the former heir to the emperor will fight to reclaim her magic and her place on the throne. The Bone Shard Daughter marks the debut of a major new voice in epic fantasy.

The emperor’s reign has lasted for decades, his mastery of bone shard magic powering the animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. But now his rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire’s many islands.

Lin is the emperor’s daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.

Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright – and save her people.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells Book Cover

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells

The ebook edition of the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning first novella in The Murderbot Diaries is currently $1.99 on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble so I bought a copy to read (and am enjoying it!).

Tor.com has an excerpt from All Systems Red, which was followed by three more novellas (Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy). Network Effect, the first full length novel about Murderbot, was also released earlier this month (read an excerpt).

 

Winner: 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella
Winner: 2018 Nebula Award for Best Novella
Winner: 2018 Alex Award
Winner: 2018 Locus Award
One of the Verge’s Best Books of 2017
New York Times and USA Today Bestseller

A murderous android discovers itself in All Systems Red, a tense science fiction adventure by Martha Wells that interrogates the roots of consciousness through Artificial Intelligence.

“As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure.”

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Book Description (from the Penguin Random House website):

A young pilot risks everything to save his best friend—the man he trusts most and might even love—only to learn that his friend is secretly the heir to a brutal galactic empire.
 
“Riveting, wildly fun, and incredibly smart.”—Emily A. Duncan, New York Times bestselling author of Wicked Saints

Ettian’s life was shattered when the merciless Umber Empire invaded his world. He’s spent seven years putting himself back together under its rule, joining an Umber military academy and becoming the best pilot in his class. Even better, he’s met Gal—his exasperating and infuriatingly enticing roommate who’s made the academy feel like a new home.

But when dozens of classmates spring an assassination plot on Gal, a devastating secret comes to light: Gal is the heir to the Umber Empire. Ettian barely manages to save his best friend and flee the compromised academy unscathed, rattled that Gal stands to inherit the empire that broke him, and that there are still people willing to fight back against Umber rule.

As they piece together a way to deliver Gal safely to his throne, Ettian finds himself torn in half by an impossible choice. Does he save the man who’s won his heart and trust that Gal’s goodness could transform the empire? Or does he throw his lot in with the brewing rebellion and fight to take back what’s rightfully theirs?

Bonds of Brass, the first book in Emily Skrutskie’s Bloodright Trilogy, piqued my interest when I learned it was a space opera with a prince in disguise from the book description and saw a graphic on Twitter stating that you might like it if you like forbidden romance, fake dating between PINING best friends, scary empress moms, galactic-level bisexual disasters, and the inherent DRAMA of empire, among various other components. It sounded like a recipe for a fun story with angst and secrets galore, and I was thrilled when a copy of the book unexpectedly showed up in the mail one day.

And it is an entertaining, fast-paced novel. It doesn’t take long to jump into the action with the attack on Gal and the revelation that he’s the heir to the Empire occurring within the first 20 pages, resulting in a rescue sequence showing that Ettian is indeed “one hell of a pilot” (another feature listed on the aforementioned Twitter graphic). There are a lot more exciting scenes throughout its pages and it does have a lot of fun parts, yet I only found myself truly immersed in it during the last few chapters and didn’t find it all that memorable once I finished reading it—mainly because I just wasn’t all that invested in the characters or their stories.

Bonds of Brass does make some time for character moments, but they didn’t end up entirely working for me, especially those between Ettian and Gal. At first, the palpable tension due to their feelings for each other was delightful, but the more I read, the less I understood why Ettian remained so fiercely loyal to Gal after learning he’s the heir to the Empire that destroyed his life. Certainly, Ettian is loyal to his friends and Gal won’t necessarily be the same type of ruler as his scary empress mom, but I didn’t feel that we were shown the better parts of him that Ettian reflected on: his best qualities and charisma mainly seemed to be in Ettian’s memories, not in the present. In fact, Gal often came across as a jerk—and not the type who has characterization and layers making him engaging to read about anyway—especially considering his jealousy and treatment of Wen, a character I found far more compelling and likable. I just kept thinking that Ettian seemed far too good for Gal and could find someone far worthier of his devotion.

Although I thought the romantic connection ultimately fell flat, I did like the platonic relationship that developed between Ettian and Wen, a girl he met when looking for a spaceship to buy and ended up befriending after everything exploded and went horribly wrong. Wen is a survivor—clever and “chaos incarnate,” as Ettian says of her—who makes everything more interesting when she shows up. Her friendship with Ettian largely builds from the shared experience of being children who have to scrape by on the streets all alone. They can understand each other in ways many others do not, and they look out for each other and have each other’s backs.

While Bonds of Brass is generally a quickly paced book, it’s also a bit of an oddly paced book: a lot happens, but there’s a lot of exposition and introspection that seems to drag because it just doesn’t have the narrative voice to carry it. The last chapters move at a breakneck pace as it reveals the big twist, which I not only predicted long before it happened but thought was too orchestrated (in ways I can’t discuss without spoilers, of course). Although I did enjoy reading how it unfolded, I also felt like it wasn’t especially gratifying compared to other books I’ve read that do similar things—I tend to love that sort of revelation even when I suspect it’s coming, but I didn’t find myself thinking about this one after closing the book.

Despite the issues I had with Bonds of Brass, some fun scenes, a great friendship, and curiosity about how it would end did keep me interested enough to read the entire book, even though it never got me terribly invested in the characters or made me want to stay up late reading “just one more chapter.” However, although the last few chapters did actually keep me glued to the pages, it didn’t end up being a novel that stuck with me enough to want to continue the series given the many other books I have yet to read.

My Rating: 6/10

Where I got my reading copy: Finished copy from the publisher.

Read an Excerpt from Bonds of Brass

Women in SF&F Month Banner

Thank you so much to all of this year’s guests for your fantastic essays and making the ninth annual Women in SF&F Month wonderful! And thank you also to everyone who shared about this month’s series—I really appreciate it!

For those of you have may have missed any guest posts from earlier this month, you can browse through all of the Women in SF&F Month 2020 guest posts here, or you can find the individual links below. More information on the ongoing recommendation list project is also below.

2020 Women in SF&F Month Guest Posts

Amayo, Reni K — “Why We Should All Know More About African Mythology”
Onwe Press co-founder and Daughters of Nri author Reni K Amayo wrote about the importance of myths and what we can learn from them.

Brissett, Jennifer Marie — “The Sophomore Book”
Elysium author Jennifer Marie Brissett discussed working on her second novel, Destroyer of Light, and the experience and pressures of writing the sophomore book.

CW from The Quiet Pond
CW shared about her journey as an artist and how it tied into her journey with mental health in the story of how her fantasy-themed book blog, The Quiet Pond, and its first animal caretaker(s) came to be.

Estep, Jennifer
Crown of Shards author Jennifer Estep discussed early influences on her writing, particularly how Leia not becoming a Jedi in the original Star Wars movie trilogy prompted her to write the fantasy stories she wanted to tell.

Ibañez, Isabel
Woven in Moonlight author Isabel Ibañez wrote about her love for the badass warrior girl trend in YA fantasy but also wondered if depictions of other types of strength and multi-talented characters are getting left behind.

Kennedy, Jeffe
Forgotten Empires author Jeffe Kennedy discussed being a writer whose cross-genre work was accepted and published as romance before also being recognized as fantasy—and what surprised her when she started attending SFF conventions.

Kerr, Katharine — “What is Good Prose, Anyway?”
Deverry author Katharine Kerr proposed definitions for what constitutes “good” prose and “bad” prose.

Kirk, Robin — “Science Fiction and Human Rights”
The Bond author Robin Kirk discussed the power science fiction has to inspire and teaching a course on human rights with fiction, interviews, and/or talks by Ursula K. Le Guin, N. K. Jemisin, Octavia E. Butler, Nnedi Okorafor, and more.

Larkwood, A.K.
The Unspoken Name author A.K. Larkwood delved into why she wrote about a non-human protagonist in her debut novel.

Madson, Devin — “Perfectly Shallow Characters”
We Ride the Storm author Devin Madson discussed characters—including what can make them seem to lack depth, Messy Characters who do not conform to social ideals, and what the amazing characters she’s read lately have in common.

Mandanna, Sangu — “Creativity in the Time of Corona”
Celestial Trilogy author Sangu Mandanna shared about the difficulty of holding on to creativity in the midst of a global pandemic and discussed a few things that have helped get her creativity flowing again.

Skrutskie, Emily — “The Badass Mothers of SFF”
Bonds of Brass author Emily Skrutskie wrote about her fondness for badass moms as characters and some of her favorites in science fiction and fantasy.

Stewart, Andrea — “Happily Ever Aftermath”
The Bone Shard Daughter author Andrea Stewart discussed fairy tales and fiction, exploring what happens after a couple gets together, and writing an established relationship between two of the women in her debut epic fantasy novel.

Suvada, Emily — “On Heroes, Horror, and Hope”
This Mortal Coil author Emily Suvada explored the coronavirus pandemic—and the one thing that surprised her about it having authored a series that feels uncomfortably familiar at the moment—stories, community, and hope.

Thakrar, Shveta
Star Daughter author Shveta Thakrar discussed messages in fiction and examining internalized ideas about the path a story must take—and how and why the female friendship in her fantasy debut novel changed after early drafts.

Villoso, K.S.
The Wolf of Oren-Yaro author K.S. Villoso shared how her Chronicles of the Bitch Queen series sprung from the concept that Queen Talyien was a badass—and how being a badass went beyond her skill with a sword.

 

The Reader-Recommended SFF Books by Women Project

Although there are no more guest posts for this year’s series and April is nearly over (how did that happen?!), the recommendations list will remain open for new submissions for at least a little while.

The recommendations list began when Renay of Lady Business first asked for recommendations of favorite science fiction and fantasy books by women in 2013, and the list has continued to grow as new recommendations have been submitted every year since. It now has 2,710 titles with the most recommended book having been submitted 58 times.

If you would like to add some SFF books by women that you loved, you can add up to 10 here. Or, if you have already added some favorites in the past, you can limit your entries to 10 SFF books by women that you read in the last year.

 

For more background on the origins of Women in SF&F Month, my introduction post for this year’s series discusses how it began in 2012 and why it ended up being an April event.

Thank you for reading!

Women in SF&F Month Banner

Today’s guest is Onwe Press co-founder Reni K Amayo! She’s also the author of “Andromeda,” a short story about the titular Ethiopian goddess, and Daughters of Nri, the first book in the Return of the Earth Mother series. Daughters of Nri, a young adult fantasy novel set in an ancient kingdom located in present-day Nigeria, is an enchanting story about twin sisters unaware of each other’s existence—or the fact that they are goddesses!—with beautifully handled themes centering community and connection.

Daughters of Nri by Reni K Amayo Book Cover

Why We Should All Know More About African Mythology
By Reni K Amayo

Athena was the first deity that I remember learning about in school. I knew her to be the alluring goddess of wisdom, arts and strategic warfare, and I was completely enthralled. Frankly, I still get quite a bit excited when I come across her in literature and art. As a young, impressionable and (annoyingly) enthusiastic feminist, Athena with her wit and strength appealed greatly to me. She was evidence that even back in 900 B.C. someone viewed women as wise and strategic. I put aside her terrible treatment of Medusa, a woman punished for being sexually assaulted, and her general disregard for human life, and instead focused on her display of feminine strength and power.

It took a few years before my interest in Roman and Greek mythology sparked a question that I would later discover to be one of the most important that I have ever asked — where are the African myths? For a long time, I believed that they didn’t exist. Outside of the Egyptians, ancient African mythology seemed obscure and non-existent; it stood in my mind as a blank canvas to the exquisite masterpiece that was ancient western mythology. I was so very wrong. In due time I realised that every single continent was rich with colourful and intricate mythology of its own.

From India’s Parvati, a manifestation of the all-powerful divine feminine energy of the universe, Shakti, according to Hindu mythology. To China’s Wangmu Niangniang, the goddess of happiness and longevity who could boast of a magical peach tree that kept the people who ate its fruit perpetually young. And then, of course, there’s Ala, the Igbo earth goddess who completely embodied duality, ruling the underworld while also being credited for fertility, often depicted with a baby in one hand and a sword in another. Her nature, in part, inspired me to write Daughters of Nri, the first book in the Return of the Earth Mother series. Once I discovered African mythology, I became insatiable. I dug through various texts and pieces on the subject, and soon enough, I began to piece together a picture of African history that vastly exceeded the next-to-nothing I had learnt in school.

Stephen H. Furrer once said that myths are “a kind of poetry that helps us make sense of the world and our place in it”, and I think nothing is more true. Myths have given us a medium to understand and explore civilisation in ancient Rome and Greece; we can attribute them for giving us the Olympics, the water mill and the theatre. If we could only dive more in-depth into ancient Africa, we would also discover Mali’s pioneering university systems, the earliest development of Mathematics in Eswatini and incredible medical advances still being used today, with the first known surgery performed in ancient Egypt. We would uncover a history not narrowly focused on slavery and oppression, but filled with fascinating discoveries, compelling stories and heroic feats.

I genuinely believe that we are doing ourselves a disservice by limiting our “World history” to the West. The more we know of ancient histories, mythologies and people, the more we paint an accurate picture of our past, which will no doubt assist us as we shape what could be an exceptionally better future.

Reni K Amayo Photo Reni K Amayo is a British Nigerian author and co-founder of Onwe Press, an independent publisher focused on amplifying diverse voices and express under-represented ideologies across all creative industries. Reni was born and raised in London to two Nigerian immigrant parents. She has spent many years studying the intricacies of different African, specifically Nigerian, cultures, mythology & anthropology to unearth a rich history that has been obscured and forgotten across the globe. Reni’s debut novel Daughters of Nri is set in ancient Igbo land and follows two twin goddesses who have been separated at birth on their epic journey of self-discovery as they embark on a path back to one another.