Best Fantasy - Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron

Publisher – Harper Voyager

Published – Out Now (paperback 6/8)

Price - £12.99 hardcover £4.99 Kindle eBook

THERE’S MAGIC IN HER BLOOD.

Arrah is a young woman from a long line of the most powerful witch doctors in the land. But she fails at magic, fails to call upon the ancestors and can't even cast the simplest curse.

Shame and disappointment dog her.

When strange premonitions befall her family and children in the kingdom begin to disappear, Arrah undergoes the dangerous and scorned process of selling years of her life for magic. This borrowed power reveals a nightmarish betrayal and a danger beyond what she could have imagined. Now Arrah must find a way to master magic, or at least buy it, in order to save herself and everything she holds dear.

One of the hardest things I think to make a fantasy book really work is how the author explains the new world you’re creating. The more we tread away from 2020 modern earth the more the reader needs to understand in order to follow the story. What the rules of the magical universe? How are the countries aligned? What do they eat? Too much exposition though can kill a story; too little and it’s a tough learning curve that can more often leave a reader confused and lost. But when an author gets that mix of plotting, character development and storytelling right – you’ve got me spellbound and I was absolutely bowled over by Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron.

The story focuses on Arrah who resides in the Kingdom of Tamar. Her mother is the powerful and respected ka-priestess of the realm; her father and is a well-respected magical healer. She is frustrated that as she matures into an adult despite her parent’s strong magical abilities, she continually shows no ability for magic. Increasingly it looks like she will be boringly normal. But then one of her closest and youngest friends disappears and she learns that more children are vanishing. Desperate to find the young boy Arrah takes a risk. There is a type of magic practised by a group known as charlatans – not based on their own natural magical ability but people who are willing to give up years of their life to cast a spell. Performing this rite, she identifies the kidnapper but finds that her family is now in great danger; thrust into court politics and also a wider supernatural battle involving ancient gods and demons that people had long thought gone away. Arrah finds herself in the middle of it all and more magic could soon kill her.

I loved this story. A consequence of reading a lot is you tend to accurately guess plots a lot. This story has components a and b so this means plotline x. Often, I don’t mind that as it is what the author does with the story that matters more to me but what I loved in this tale is nothing is quite what it seems and I found myself wonderfully surprised. Arrah initially seems to be just a young woman wanting magic, but Barron has an almost Hobb-like gift for outing a character in a bad istuation and making things worse. Arrah is then principle narrator and Barron has given us a wonderfully human lead – not confident inn herself; living in her parent’s shadow and yet trying to find her place in the world. But rather than a standard tale of secret abilities manifesting we see Arrah pushed to use darker magic to help someone and that drives a hard price physically and in terms of the wider plot. The antagonists once revealed really drive the personal stakes for Arrah who is trying to save her family when the stakes of the world are at stake. Her road isn’t easy or safe and I was tremendously invested in her battle to stay sane in some truly horrible situations. This often is not a comfortable tale at all and subjects such as abuse; and revenge are discussed but sensitively handled.

Making Arrah work so well is doubly important when it comes to the impressive worldbuilding Barron has put on display. Based around african mythologies we have various cultures worshipping twenty Oresha or gods. This pantheon once got into a mighty battle with The Demon King and at a high cost he was defeated, and peace followed for thousands of years…but nothing lasts forever. Barron smartly explains the world piece by piece – we understand the various tribes, religions and political structures/rivalries. Its an incredibly solid world I loved to explore but the genius is Barron regularly throws curveballs for both us AND Arrah where our understanding of the world is shown to be incorrect. This makes those reveals both jaw dripping and also means that rather than waiting for us to catch up on the world both Arrah and ourselves are finding out at the same time these revelations. Here we have a tale of demons, destructive magic, gods that can be on earth walking amongst us and so much more; all of that though finely balanced with a personal tale of families, love, betrayal and revenge. Barron has worked hard to give various points of view – no one is ever entirely innocent or guilty here. They are all taking responsibility for decisions that while they feel right at the time may have very dangerous consequences for those they love.

When I finished reading this stunning tale I need to sit back and just marvel at the journey I’d been on. A personal tale of a woman finding her place in the world finely balanced with an eons old epic battle of huge magical forces. Barron weaved these and the wider world they take place in intricately, so they feed off each other. By the end I sense a very different instalment awaits us in the next volumes (and I’m now so so there for that!) but this for me was a story that kept me enthralled, surprised and entertained. Reminds me strongly of the character development of Robin Hobb combined with the world-building of stories like N K Jemisin’s Hundred Thousand Kingdoms – similarities I rarely make lightly. A truly worthy nominee for our Fantasy round this year and a book I think all lovers of epic fantasy need to give some attention.