3.5 Stars

African inspired fantasy by C.T. Rwizi, an author from Zimbabwe. While well written, there were some times where the story is slightly confusing, but still interesting and worth reading to the finish. The characters and world building absolutely make this book worth the read.

I'm very interested to see what else this author publishes in the future.

i really enjoyed reading this book, the characters were great and I liked that this was a strong start to a series. I look forward to more from the author.

Scarlet Odyssey

Was the story a little confusing at first? Sure. Was it 1000% worth it? ABSOLUTELY.

Salo is drawn to magic, but in a tribe that considers sorcery a female art and war a man’s, he can’t practice it. However after his village is attacked, the need for a mystic becomes clearer than ever. When the queen finds out he could have the means to become one of the most powerful mystics, she allows him to awaken his talents, and sends him on a quest. Along the way Salo meets unexpected friends, enemies, and begins to unlock his past & powers.

I’m honestly a little speechless. I can understand why the story seems confusing at first, but when it all starts to come together it’s truly amazing. To anyone who DNFs books early I’m begging you not to with this one, you would truly be missing out.

I really loved all of the characters, from naive but well-meaning Salo, to mischievous Tuk, to fierce Ilapara. All of them were so intricate and unique, made even more impressive by the many different perspectives the story takes. They were incredibly real, and there wasn’t a single one that made me go “ughhh” when the perspective switched. All of their seemingly unconnected stories came together beautifully.

Then there’s the writing style. Have you ever read a book that makes you forget you’re reading because everything starts playing out before your eyes instead? That’s how I felt with Scarlet Odyssey. Although on the longer side, it never felt bogged down with unnecessary detail. Everything flowed so well, and the setting/culture was absolutely mesmerizing.

Really, this has everything you could ask for. A compelling fantasy world? Check. Diverse characters? Yep. Heartbreak? For sure. And the list goes on.

I do wish there were a glossary for some of the magical terms, locations, and their connections. I saw another reviewer post one which was really helpful in keeping all of the tribe’s relationships straight, and the different arcane talents each possesses. The list of characters at the beginning was super helpful, and if there were something like that to reference for the abilities/tribe relations I would’ve been all set!

This truly felt like just the beginning of the story, as it ends when Salo’s journey to the city is complete. I’m very curious to see what happens now that all of the characters are together, and can’t wait for the next book!

Rating: 4.5./5 stars
Intended audience: adult
Content warnings: murder, torture, rape, gore (definitely very graphic/grim at times)

Gender Roles
A pretty big thing in this book is gender roles, how if you’re born a certain sex you’re pushed to a certain job. In this case, women are trained in magic and hopefully one of them can become the tribe mystic, and the men train to become warriors. But Salo has always been more interested in becoming a mystic. However this leads to him being casted aside, and in the end sent on a mission to see if he is worthy of beoming a mystic.

Same case goes for Ila who dreams of joining higher ranks in security and fighting off enemies, but whenever she asks for the job, she gets rejected because she doesn’t seem menacing, even though everyone knows how she’s the best at fighting.

I think in every culture there’s a certain construct of how you should act depending on how you present yourself. And I love how the Rwizi managed to show how you can overcome those opinions and barriers. He was able to show how if you fight hard enough for it, you can reach your goals.

Characters
Listen when I see that a fantasy book has a list of characters at the beginning I get nervous, because fantasy is usually hard for me to read and just seeing how may characters have povs is well, concerning. But! I really liked how this book was structured, at the beginning of every part or section you would have a list of characters that appeared, and every chapter title was the character narrating, but I think what helped me the most was that it was told in 3rd person perspective. Yes we got to hear each voice, but these didn’t melt together.

I liked how each character was fleshed out, having their flaws, mysteries, and strategies. I also loved how the characters changed form the first chapter to the final, you can really see how they changed and it was gradual, little changes here and there but I loved it.

Plot and Pace
The plot was interesting, from the blurb I was hooked on what would happen next, but it took some time for things to actually settle. After 30% of explaining the context, roles, and Zulu mythology, the plot starts to kick in. However as always that first chunk was hard to get through, I think it’s that way for most fantasy novels, it’s a bit hard to get through it. One thing that I do think is important is that it wasn’t hard at all to understand new mythology. Rwizi did an amazing job at describing old legends and the basics of Zulu mythology, from magic systems, to creatures, to the kingdoms mentioned, I think it was done perfectly. I wasn’t confused at all, it was just slow.

The pacing went from slow, to medium paced and then back to slow. I would’ve liked for it to be a but more high stakes, I think that’s what made it hard for me to continue the story line. I did finish it, but it took me a while. Does it make it bad? No, of course not, some people enjoy slow paced detailed journeys. I did still really like the book, and I enjoyed the reading experience.

Final Thoughts
Scarlet Odyssey, is one of those books that you just have to take your time with, its a character driven novel that connects you with the characters and an rich culture. It’s a great fantasy book, I think it would be a great summer read the perfect for the cabin in the woods where things are quite and calm.

Thank you, Netgalley and 47th North for providing me with an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Scarlet Odyssey is an epic fantasy debut from the first-time author C.T.Rwizi. The book is an African inspired fantasy filled with a vibrant world and a rich magic system. The story follows young Salo who has learned magic deeply without his tribe's permission. Men of his trib are not supposed to be practicing magic. Their job is to be warriors and training should be what Salo should be spending his time on. A certain mystic attacks his tribe murdering fellow clans people urging Salo to come forward and request permission from the Queen to be a clan mystic for his tribe. While the Queen accepts his proposal he is sent away on a secret mission to a different city to gather information regarding the growing threats and tensions that are spreading gradually to the other tribes as well. We follow Salo, an extremely skilled female warrior, and a mysterious explorer on their journey. The story is filled with adventure and action taking the readers on an exquisite journey through a marvelous world with unique cultural identities. When I saw the number of pages, I was a little anxious, but once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. The story was captivating and engaging from beginning to end. I was blown away by the world-building that took us through the different tribes and cities with its own customs and traditions and unique magic system in place. The different tribes and places were beautifully portrayed. The culturally rich and vivid portrayal of the world and its inhabitants both human and non-human were exquisite. The story was original with its setting weaving mythology and African lore seamlessly to the plot. The magic system rooted in the land mainly was elemental magic with few additional threads of magic thrown in. The clever blend of sci-fi elements and the cipher programming of magic into a source was really awesome. The story is a strong debut and I had a lot of fun with it. I was fully invested in the book and couldn't put it down. I highly recommend checking it out if you love the African inspired setting of the world with an excellent blending of sci-fi and fantasy. I gave the book 5 stars and I really want to read the next book soon.

I enjoyed this. The many reviews already posted provide helpful info, probably better I could. I'll just recommend it to Fantasy and YA fans.

Thanks very much for the review copy!!

This book defied many expectations. When I started, I felt overwhelmed by the author attempting to build an entirely new world. It felt like there was too much information being laid out too quickly. I pushed through the initial struggle and was pleasantly surprised by the rest of the book. It became a book that I struggled to set down. I will say there were times I either forgot the details from earlier in the book, or it was information introduced without background, but it was still quite enjoyable.

Review will be available on my blog, The Reading Fairy on 7/17/2020

Disclaimer: I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion.

“There are hyenas out there, my child. When you see hyenas prowling outside your gates, you shut them out so they don’t come in and eat your children.”

Look I actually read a book that was an ARC. I have a bad habit of reading my endless library pile instead of my ARCs. Until I realized, I fell behind and I have a lot to read before they get released. And maybe NG will like me and let me raise my ratio.

This book was interesting and good, but at the same time-I am confused on everything. Like what are words with this book.

This book took me ages to get into even though this book is well over 600 pages. I was interested in it around page 250 because something exciting about it. Those first 250 pages was such a struggle that I was considering to DNF it because I did not care about this book at all, until something interesting happened.

I get that setting up the world, and characters is really important but honestly I don't know what happened-but I just did not care. The characters, the worldbuilding if stuff even existed was really bland that I simply didn't really care for it too much.

I think one of the my main problems I had with this book was that the world-building didn't clarify with any terms. This book kept introducing new terms up until near the end, but I only got a little more confused. I wanted some explanation of all these new terms, but like we're supposed to accpet it?

Maybe it's because I haven't been in a fantasy mood for a while or the fact that it seems that I have been in a small slump that I couldn't really fully enjoy this book. Or maybe it's a good book that wasn't for me, but honestly I really don't know. These are probably all the factors that I couldn't fully like this book.

The writing was really clunky. I didn't had problems for most of it, but there were some areas where it was harder to read. It didn't keep my attention in those places, and I got disinterested.

The characters were just so hard to connect. There was so many of them, but I never had that connection to like them or even care who they are. There was also like a need of importance with the characters, but they're was no introduction nor did I really care what happened to any of them.

I do hope they get developed more in the next book, and hopefully I'll care-but this was simply an okay read.

This book was simply an okay read, but it could have been better in my opinion. This book was really slow and didn't really capture my attention until after page 250. The plot was nonexistent, and nothing to where I really would care. I understand building the world and the characters, but it was really slow. I had issues with the writing, I mostly found it really uninteresting with some areas to where I found it hard to read because there wasn't things to capture me about this world. I didn't really care about the characters, and there were some ares where there was new characters and had importance, but I didn't care for them and was just randomly on page like that.

TW: Death, rituals, murder, blood, mention of genocide, mention of slavery (mentioned multiple times), slave trade (mentioned), poverty, mention of dismemberment
Rep: African Cast

Scarlet Odyssey is a really good epic fantasy that boasts some lush world building and really turns the idea of the traditional quest trope on its head (think LOTR or Game of Thrones). You've got a band of misfits, which I am always for. This story is told from several POVs, which takes a bit to get oriented to in the beginning but ends up working really well with the entire plot. Overall, it is a great debut, and I can't wait to see what the author does in the future.

I ended up dnfing this one. It made me lose my interest in it. I thought it was going to be promising.

An excellent African themed epic fantasy that I loved. It' well written, the world building is interesting and well thought, the characters rounded and the plot kept me hooked.
I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Salo is an outsider in his tribe despite being the firstborn son to the chief. This is because he is more interested in magic (women's domain) than becoming a warrior (men's domain). But, when his people are attacked by a witch, he has no choice but to convince his queen to let him awaken as a mystic. She allows it, but only because she plans on using him and sending him as an emissary to the Jungle City. Along his journey, he befriends a fellow outcast, a female warrior who grew up not too far from Salo's people; a mysterious wanderer who isn't entirely human; and a ruthless killer sent to protect Salo. But the witch and others are after him, trying to keep him from reaching the Jungle City. In the Jungle City itself, a princess loses almost everything as unrest in the kingdom spreads and suggests massive changes to their society.

I was drawn to this book because it has magic and a journey. After reading this on the heels of three mysteries, I was ready to settle back in for a nice, long fantasy read. I thought this might be a fast-moving book because of the journey along with a great deal of excitement because of the magic. I was expecting this to be a bit on the intense side. It turned out to be something of a different animal, but what a beautiful animal it was.

The Characters: Gender Role Defying

The characters were probably my least favorite part of this book, but that isn't saying too much since I still found them interesting and loved getting their backstories so I could better understand them. I did love that each major character was given the chance to tell the story from their perspective with their own lens of the world coloring their storytelling.

However, compared to the world building and the story, they felt a bit lackluster. They tended to fall into set gender roles and it isn't until later in the book, when there are characters defying those, that they started to be interesting. They didn't feel quite as bright as every other element of this book, but they did help move the story along.

I did feel like there might have been too many characters. This is a long book. There's quite a bit of meat to it. Which means I felt like some characters were shoved aside for the sake of the story. It seemed every part of this book was introducing one or more characters. Not all of them were a major character, but the ones the chapter was about were. There were several of them and I couldn't always tell if the story "forgot" about them for several chapters because they weren't doing anything interesting or if there just wasn't enough space for them. The good thing, though, was that they were different from each other and served different masters. It was fascinating to see the webs and designs they created to help drive the story forward.

The Setting: Beautifully African-Inspired

The world building is what really made me fall in love with this book. I adored the world. It was vivid and made complete sense, and had an insanely perfect blend of science fiction and fantasy that couldn't have made better sense. It was extraordinarily well-crafted with distinct societies and regions that still shared many similarities. Clearly, it was an entire continent divided into individual regions or countries.

I had no expectations of what the world would have to offer when I started reading. I did expect the typical Eurocentric world, so I was insanely pleased to realize this is African-inspired. In a sense, I felt like I was transported to Africa, felt like it could have been Africa, but it was clearly a fantasy version of Africa. I have no idea if some of the terms, especially for the animals and clothing, were accurate or completely made up, but it really gave me an African feeling.

This world swept me away. It was gorgeous. It had details and was sweeping. It felt like a fully contained world. I couldn't help but want to be immersed in it. It is, though, a very brutal world full of bloodshed, but it was so unapologetic and still full of beauty. I think the world building was my absolute favorite part of this book and I couldn't wait to find time to continue reading it. I'm anxious for the next book just so I can immerse myself in this gorgeous world again.

The Plot: Surprisingly Slow

I went into this book expecting something fast-moving and exciting. Instead, I found myself so caught up in the world building that I was about 40% of the way through when I realized it was really almost molasses slow. Seriously, this book is long and moves at a crawl despite all the movement in it. But it unfolded so organically and the world was so compelling that it was so easy to forgive. Until I hit somewhere around 60% and finally found out what on earth was actually going on in this book. Still, I didn't care because it really was that gorgeous.

There are so many webs, so many machinations. It's a giant game with tons of moving pieces. Actually, it felt like there might have been too many pieces, too many puppet masters. I thought they were all interesting and I wanted to read more about them, but the story was so slow and massive that there didn't seem to be any time for them to really be seen much. It was a little disappointing and made this book feel almost too big and too close to collapsing on itself, but it was still a delightful read.

I loved that it unfolded naturally. Events happened because of what the characters did and who they were. It made the entire story make sense, almost was though I were reading the adventures of actual people. It all flowed nicely and the pace was actually decent despite how slow it moved. Every scene felt necessary, every pain, every battle. It all played an important role and really opened up the story so it could hold, barely, everything. Still, I did sometimes feel it was a little too ambitious, a little too much, but I can't say I didn't enjoy every second of it.

The one thing that bothered me was how brutal and bloody this book is. It is unapologetic and relentless. There was so much violence, so much pain, so much brutality and disregard for human life, but it all made sense. It all had its place. Usually, my eyes tend to skip over scenes like those the closer I get to the end, but there was something compelling about them that made me read almost every bloody word. Still, I could have done with less violence. On the other hand, it would have taken away from both the story and the world building and would have kept much of the characters and their development hidden. In this case, I would say the bloody violence was necessary.

Overall: The World Building is the Best Part

The world building is the high point of this book. It was amazing and unique without being too outlandish. It really drew me in, which helped me really get into the story. I wanted to explore this world along with the characters and watch how the story unfolded. It was a little too violent for my tastes and the characters weren't quite as glittering as I would have liked, but this was still a fascinating and beautiful read, definitely not something to be missed if you love world building.


Thank you to Netgalley and 47North for a free e-copy. All opinions expressed are my own.
Blog: The Lily Cafe
Post date: June 25, 2020
Link to post: https://thelilycafe.com/book-review-scarlet-odyssey-by-c-t-rwizi/

Thank you so much to net galley for sending me a copy of this book. I was so excited to read this book and I was definitely not disappointed. I would definitely recommend

So I was really interested in this book because of the synopsis and the mythology aspect. I was SCARED to read this book because it’s like a whopping 600 pages which is pretty intimidating to be honest.

I think the world building of this book was really well done, though a little confusing because it was so unique and different from what I have ever read. I think the integration between science and magic was so cool!

I really loved Salo’s chapters and getting to know his character. The first part of the book where he was introduced and the main conflict was really interesting. However, what had me confused were the other chapters with other POVs. Near the end, one of the POVs made a whole lot more sense and it all started to come together.

The one thing that wasn’t really for me was that there were so many POVs to the point where I didn’t connect with them all. Salo was by far the superior character and I wish that he got more page time and that he was the only POV other than the Maidservant. Personally, it would have been really interesting to see his story more instead of traveling between POVs.

What made this an enjoyable read was that brilliant incorporation of science and magic and how it played into the politics as well as the journey. It was definitely an interesting twist and I loved reading about that.

I think I would definitely recommend this book because the world building was interesting. I enjoyed the magic and unlikely friendships. I think I would pick up the sequel if the book was a bit shorter because it did get to a point where I was left with more questions than answers and I do want to know more about what will happen to the characters and how it will all come together. However, I don’t regret reading this and it definitely introduced me to this new sort of mixed SFF genre.

If you enjoy mixing genres, a new kind of magic, interesting mythology, and self discovery journeys and actual physical journeys you would enjoy this! Check this out if you love characters that must be protected at all costs, intriguing politics and war, and having a story come together near the end just when you think you don’t have an answer!

I received this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity for review this book.

I'll be giving this book 4/5 stars because I really enjoyed it, just not enough for 5 stars. This book is super interesting and has a ton of magical beings, warriors and everything in between.The story is very intricate and definitely not a light read.

This is a very impressive debut that doesn't feel like a debut. The story is sophisticated and really well thought out and executed. It is told from several points of view, but the characters are introduced slowly so that you get to know each one and it doesn't become confusing. There are also several different story arcs happening and again it is done so well that it is easy to keep track of them. My only criticism is that I wish I had known going in that it is the first in a series. I like to be prepared, but this is not a criticism of the book in any way and I enjoyed it so much that I will be looking out for the next one to be released.

I recieved this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I rate this books with 4 stars. Really love it and I need to read the next book!!

Ths is a very interesting story about mystics, warriors, thief's, kingdoms, steam punk animals and wooooow I really loved this book.

First of all, thank you so much to Netgalley for give me this early advanced copy, to happy for that.

Salo is a guy who has a very big power but he didn´t want it, he only wants to be unseen, alone and normal, but most important is in all the history of his town the mystic always been a woman, and obviously he is a man and that is very dangerous because all the people know men are very vicious with such a power.

This is no a simple story, if you read this book you are going to find: too many characters, magic, creatures, very dificult situations, grey characters (nobody is 100% pure or bad and that is awesome), myths, war, dead, etc...

Very recomended.

Thanks to NetGalley and 47North Publishing for letting me read and review this interesting story. This is a book by a debut author so I've never heard of him before, but this story was quite a bit different and intriguing than the ones I'm used to reading in this vein of fantasy/epic fantasy.
This story had a lot of tribal and Africa/south Africa heavy influences and settings in it - It really gave me a good feel for the type of folklore, stories and such that I imagine would be told in Africa/South Africa and gave me a good idea of tribes, tribal nature, and customs. It was all very interesting and so very unique and there's a lot to keep track of with the various characters and such going on in the story.
This is about a few different characters, connected in various ways, but it starts with following and getting to know the story of one of the main characters, Salo, who is an 18 yr old man who has the talent and an interest in magic and becoming a mystic as his mother was before him, but in his tribe, it's the women who are meant to be the mystics with learning and using magic and the men who are meant to become warriors to defend and protect their village and tribe and such. Salo is, of course, not the norm and chooses to pursue using magic and wishes to be a mystic and after there's an enchantress who attacks his village and people, he decides he's going to become a mystic to better help protect and aid in defending his people and village from threats.
Salo is looked down on for his choice to become a mystic and treated as less than a man, but their Queen is supportive of Salo becoming a mystic and chooses to use him and send him on a quest. She sends Salo to go and be a spy and gather intel on a threat to their village and on the way he's joined by some of the other characters that have to travel with him to protect and help him on his quest.
This group of companions goes on the quest to go and gather intel on the threat to Salo's village and are being hunted as they travel by the evil enchantress and others.
There's political intrigue, love, finding and figuring out yourself, your identity, and how to follow your dreams as well as an intriguing array of types of magics and spells and such that are displayed, used, and explained in this story.
There's a lot to unpack and a lot in this story and if you like fantasy/epic fantasy with a bit of a new/different feel to it along with new and different magics and everything then you should put this on your list to check it out. It's not like anything I've ever read because of the unique story, magics, and background influences with the tribe politics and aspects and such.