BOOK REVIEW | IN THE SHADOW OF THE FALL | TOBI OGUNDIRAN

 

In the Shadow of The Fall, the first in the billed Guardian of the Gods duology, is an African inspired fantasy based on Yoruba mythology.

Ashȃke is an acolyte in an undisclosed temple. Seemingly passed over by the orisha, the spirits/deities of the story, she decides to take matters into her own hands and attempts to bind one.

Now, you know that this is not going to go well. I mean does it ever?

With disastrous results, Ashȃke is subsequently punished for her over enthusiasm. Seeing this as a step too far, Ashȃke flees the temple and steps into the wide world where she meets the Griots and learns the truth about both herself and what she thought she knew.

Plotwise, the book is not terribly original. It uses general tropes that most fantasy readers have been familiar with since Tolkien was in short trousers. In addition to that, the story went pretty much as expected and didn’t really give too many shocks or surprises.

The characters on the whole were pretty thin, and in all honesty, the book could have done with some more pages to flesh them out a little bit. Ashȃke, comes across as a entitled and ignorant, which was fine, but then her arc becomes a little too quick with barely any exposition on her transformation.

However, what does save the book from being a normal run of the mill fantasy by numbers, is Tobi Ogundiran’s writing and the vibrant world that he paints with the use of the Yoruban mythology.  Ogundiran writes with a clipped tone that tells the reader exactly what they need to know without bogging them down in flowery, illustrative displays of prose, ultimately managing to convey the richness of the world that he has built. And the broader strokes of the Yoruban mythology adds colour and vibrancy.

In The Shadow of The Fall is an enjoyable read, but just don’t expect too much from it.