The Notebook
Overall Rating: 2/5
Spoilers: Heavy
TL;DR: A mediocre first half leads into an intriguing second half, then sets itself on fire in the last five pages.
***
After finishing this book, I can confidently surmise two things about the author: First, she's never been in a serious relationship with a man; second, she's never worked a blue-collar job a day in her life and probably looks down on the trades in general.
The selling point of this book (to me) was that it was a retelling of the myth of Persephone, but in a medieval African setting (Yorubaland, c. 1471). After reviewing said myth, this book does follow that plot very well. Unfortunately, this book focuses far too much on what is happening to be able to explain why it is happening.
But, as they say, the devil is in the details. The MC is part of a women's blacksmith guild. The explanation is simple enough. These women are called witches. They're barren, they're widowed, they're social outcasts for whatever reason, no one wants them, and they chose blacksmithing as their means of making money. Even for their skill, they are still spit on and treated as a grudging necessity of life. I could believe this and sympathize with the MC if they were an anomaly. But, for some reason, all of the blacksmith guilds are female. If the norm is 99:1 male:female, then this setting is the exact opposite.
And this is the only thing that appears to be significantly changed. I did a quick read-through of Yoruba history and culture, just to be sure I wasn't going to make an ass of myself in this review. I'm not especially well-versed in West African history, maybe they did have predominantly female blacksmiths. Maybe they really didn't like blacksmiths and did consider them sorcerers of earth magic. Nothing that I could find suggested this. In fact, I found the opposite, that all of the trades were highly venerated and there were proper guilds and proto-unions, even among the farmers themselves. There was some ambiguity regarding the female role in these trades, but irrespective of that, why wouldn't men be involved in such a thing? Even giving the author the benefit of the doubt, that this is supposed to be a conglomerative semi-fantastical fiction, combining decades of history from multiple people groups into a single narrative (or just having to choose between conflicting sources), the armies are still comprised of men. The political arena is comprised of men. Why flip only this one thing on its head except as a contrived make-the-plot-happen device? This author wants to have her cake and eat it too, the stronk wahmen who are oppressed by men yet can't make their own way. Oh, and on that, the Ahosi warriors, the female warriors, were a single regiment and would not exist for another two hundred years.
So, with the myth of Persephone (and the book blurb itself), the MC, a blacksmith witch, is kidnapped by the Alaafin, the supreme godking of Yorubaland. Stop. Let us review a few facts established by the book:
1. MC's mother is also a witch and she has resigned herself to this fate. She does not believe things could ever get better, and she is verbally and physically abusive to MC in order to drive home this point.
2. MC still dreams of things getting better, but, at the opening scene, she is starting to take on some of her mother's bitterness.
3. At the opening, MC is illiterate and knows nothing of greater politics. In her own words, as long as the marketplace stayed open, whoever was in power mattered little.
MC is kidnapped, taken to be the bride of the godking. Kidnapping aside, he is very kind to her. He dotes on her. All the mushy stuff you'd find in a traditional romance. He kills for her. When he realizes he can't be in all places at once to protect her from bad men, he teaches her to defend herself. He respects her wishes to not get married until her mother can be brought to give her blessing. The Alaafin is not a perfect man by any means. He's called the Commander of Death for a reason, and he's already abandoned his first wife though he keeps her around just because she's a political union. MC correctly wonders what will happen to her once he has her; will he bore of her also and go out looking for a new conquest?
And I will pause here to mention that MC as a character is well done. She's not a girlboss. She is young and naive and overly trusting and she gets duped several times with terrible consequences, but she takes notes and keeps trying. (Think Sansa Stark, everyone in court is a better liar than her.) She doesn't just go around beating up men twice her size or whatever (although there is at least one instance where plot armor [the bad guy starts monologuing] saves her from certain death). She wrestles with her own hopes overshadowed by her mother's constant bitterness echoing in her head that things cannot get better. If this was where her character stopped, she would have been good for the story. If she had been able to shake off her mother's bitterness (and for one brilliant chapter, this looked very likely), she would have been great.
But, let us now look at the other part of the myth, the one where Demeter decides to stop working. In the case of this story, MC's mother and the other women of her guild leave their forges to search for MC. Perfectly expected as far as I'm concerned. But somehow this starts an entire revolution across Yorubaland, where all blacksmiths leave their forges. Classic union walkout. And this leads to a massive slave uprising. Again, the book never has a problem telling you what is happening, but the why of this is conspicuously absent. I do not understand this in the same way I do not understand why the guilds are treated so poorly in the first place or why they are 99% women. This is the definition of contrived.
Well, MC is in the godking's court, right? He dotes on her with chests full of gold and jewels, does anything she asks, grants her the utmost respect as a woman, even employs her as one of his court spies. She could have made something amazing. She could have done something wonderful here. But right at the end, MC is revealed to be a selfish, impulsive, demanding, short-term thinker who perfectly embodies her mother's bitterness. She turns out to be everything toxic social media hates about women. Rather than be grateful for this life that the Alaafin has given her, a life of luxury and respect and power, concern for her well-being with no expense spared for her recovery, awareness of other people and politics and the greater world. Rather than take her place as his queen and develop a long-term relationship and goals, rather than compliment her husband's ambitions and build on the foundation they've already started, she decides that she is the only one who matters. Her ideas are the only correct ones. Her life is the only one that matters. And she decides to recenter the universe around herself. The last five pages are also rather contrived and casts a certain character's death in a much more sinister light, that it is not the death of suffocating restraints but the execution of duty, limitation, and sacrifice.
If the last five pages had been different, I could have given this a 3.5 or even a 4. Because it was only the last five pages is it not a 1. Make of that what you will.
***
Overall Rating: 2/5
Spoilers: Heavy
TL;DR: A mediocre first half leads into an intriguing second half, then sets itself on fire in the last five pages.
