A wonderful insight into the events of Warri, something which I had no prior knowledge of. It was fascinating to read about how this violence affected all of these characters, and how their paths crossed, but I had some issues with the prose. I think some further editing would be beneficial, and the way some of the male characters talked about the women in their life made me uncomfortable. Overall, this is a decent read, for sure.

Bonfires of the Gods is about two warring tribes in the Warri region and the people’s lives affected by it. The idea that a group of strangers belonging to various economic and social backgrounds in the same region could have inadvertently crossed each other’s path or influenced each other’s lives especially during times of conflict is always interesting to read.

Although it was a great story, I had difficulty with the prose. Probably cause there were way too many descriptive paragraphs, most of which I felt like glossing over. Mostly though the characters could have been developed a bit more. I know the author gave a lot of background information but sometimes I struggled with understanding some of their actions. And many of them seem to blend together sometimes or change their personalities drastically before going back to the war they were. And lastly, the voice of many of the male characters was grating to me sometimes especially when they encounter their romantic interests or maybe this last bit is just me. I did however like how the author, in parts, dealt with stereotyping, classism and politics.

Despite everything, I enjoyed how the different characters eventually go through loss and find themselves again, while on the other side some people’s lives were irreversibly damaged by the violence and yet history always seems to repeat itself.

Bonfires of the Gods is a fictitious account of a real event, told from the viewpoints of several characters caught up in the violence. I knew nothing of this clash before reading, so in that respect it was interesting and informative. I also liked the various characters, and how they offered us a glimpse at what was happening from some very different angles. Unfortunately, though, I had trouble with the prose. It was full of errors, including typos, grammatical mistakes, and misused words and phrases. To be fair, I was reading this as an ARC, so it may not have been a final copy; however, there were more problems than I would expect to see in a book simply awaiting a final proofread. That spoilt the piece for me, because the issues in the text kept pulling me out of the story. As such, I am giving it three stars. It was an interesting read, and it had great potential, but it was let down by its prose. A solid round of edits and I might have been at the four-star mark.