Son of the Storm

Son of the Storm is an intriguing addition to the fantasy genre - it takes a closed, African influenced society, buckling under the weight of immigration with a distant elite, eco disaster and racism, but all from a very different bias and perspective. The challenge is combining these elements into an accessible and fun story - in some ways it achieves this and in other places it falls a bit flat.

The story is told through a series of POVs, but I struggled a bit with a lot of the characters. Everyone here is flawed, and even if that is a realistic proposition I failed to find myself engaging with most of them. The best character is probably the out and out sociopath that is Esheme - she will do what it takes to get power. Danso and Lilong who fulfill the more heroic characters are a bit flat to me.

The world building is impressive however - the Eco disaster bearing down upon the society here, its struggles with immigration and the racism that breeds and the aloofness of the elites are brilliantly realised, especially the way everything is taken through an African tinted lens.

African fantasy is a bit of an emerging subgenre these days. I am pleased to see it, after years of white european fantasy it is refreshing to see stories influenced by different cultures. I have dabbled a bit and there have been some truly excellent examples (Rage of Dragons for example). This one has some lovely ideas, the execution is not perfect but it is a fascinating glimpse of a very different world