Book Review: Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko

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Raybearer was one of my absolute favourite books of 2020. Not just 2020, it was an all time favourite YA fantasy and I was eagerly anticipating as well as apprehensive about the sequel, Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko. What if it doesn’t live up to my expectations? What if it’s so bad that I somehow lose my love for the first book? These were some of the questions plaguing me but I needn’t have feared. Tarisai’s story was safe in the hands of Jordan Ifueko and what a story it was!!!

SYNOPSIS

For the first time, an Empress Redemptor sits on Aritsar’s throne. To appease the sinister spirits of the dead, Tarisai must now anoint a council of her own, coming into her full power as a Raybearer. She must then descend into the Underworld, a sacrifice to end all future atrocities.
Tarisai is determined to survive. Or at least, that’s what she tells her increasingly distant circle of friends. Months into her shaky reign as empress, child spirits haunt her, demanding that she pay for past sins of the empire.

With the lives of her loved ones on the line, assassination attempts from unknown quarters, and a handsome new stranger she can’t quite trust . . . Tarisai fears the pressure may consume her. But in this finale to the Raybearer duology, Tarisai must learn whether to die for justice . . . or to live for it.

Trigger and Content Warnings : Mental illness, Child abuse recalled, emotional abuse, death, alcohol use, drug use

In A Nutshell….

Excellent character development
Found Family Trope 2.0 with more characters to love and cherish
Rich world building expanded further to create something spectacular
Difficult themes of mental health, social injustices explored deft sensitivity.
The Perfect Sequel

MY REVIEW

“Your life should not be a means to an end. No human being should be reduced to a function. The day we do that—it’s the beginning of the end.”

Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko picks up right from where it left off in Raybearer. We follow Tarisai who is trying to juggle too many things while being plagued by her many ghosts. I related to her on a deep level with this book. The depiction of her drive for justice, of her need to make everything better and her frustration when nobody understands her were all hauntingly familiar to me. I could see myself in Tarisai, in her battles against her spiraling mental health and her growing isolation from everyone around her. Her character development was so adeptly handled by Ifueko, that I was in awe.

I loved how Ifueko expanded on the found family trope in this sequel and somehow made it even better. We get to meet a lot of new characters in this book as well as familiar, much loved characters from Raybearer. Every single one of them were so uniquely memorable. They each had something to add to the plot. I loved how every character learns and grows from each other.

“If the world didn’t care about injustice, then I would simply have to care enough for all of them.”

Ifueko builds upon the rich, beautiful world of Aritsar and immerses us further into its history, mythology and socio-politico-economic issues. The inequitable class system and the unjust divide between the wealthy and the needy could all be considered a mirror to our own society. I loved how the world building also added to the character development of Tarisai. I was fully transported to this imaginary world, exquisitely crafted by Ifueko and wished I could remain there forever.

I cannot find even one bad thing about this book. It was the perfect sequel, the perfect finale and this is one of the bestest YA fantasy duologies ever. It will be a crime to miss out on this series, so add them to your TBRs and fall in love with this beautiful story.

I was provided an e-arc by Netgalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

RATING : 5 PERFECT STARS

Add to : Goodreads || Storygraph

Buy on : Amazon*

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