Stories and Book Talk

Author: Elly in Nairobi

  • A Snippet of Fiction – The Price of Amber

    A Snippet of Fiction – The Price of Amber

    Happy May! I’m so excited to share snippets of the story Ram and Amber, which now has a tentative name ‘The Price of Amber’. Still not in love with the title, in any case, I’m excited to have a 10K word count on this project.  There is nothing like getting started and having something to work on, instead of only planning.  Here is a look at the first chapter.

    Chapter One

    “Kata right, kuja, kuja, sawa. Hapo! Hapo!”

    Ram Jelani hit the brakes, stopping the tipper truck.  He leaned out his window to see his friend and business partner talking to their client.

    “Amos,” Ram called out.

    Amos hurried to the back of the truck and spent a few minutes unlocking the tailgate.

    “Mwaga,” Amos called to him and hurried to the side, giving Ram a thumbs up.

    Ram nodded and engaged the controls to lift the tipper’s dump body.  The dump body of the truck lifted on hydraulics, letting out thirty tones of sand brought from the river.  Ram waited until it was all poured before he drove the truck forward to allow any excesses to pour out.

    Ram’s phone rang and answered it, hands-free. His attention stayed on Amos and the two young men working with them.

    “Ram, it’s Mom,” Candace Jelani’s voice filled the cabin.  “Where are you?”

    “At a construction site in Othaya delivering sand,” Ram said.  “What’s wrong?”

    “I don’t always call you because something is wrong,” Candace said.

    “I told you I would be far today.  You must have an issue to call me,” Ram said, giving Amos a thumbs up when Amos called out that they had emptied the truck.

    Ram lowered the dump body, drove forward, and brought the tipper to a full stop.  He parked and removed his phone from the hands-free mode.  He took it from its holder and brought it to his ear.

    “What’s wrong?” Ram asked.

    “Naria needs you,” Candace said with a sigh.  “She is stranded in Nyeri Town.  Her friends left her alone to pay for the table.”

    “Mpesa her,” Ram said, annoyed by his little sister’s consistent letdowns.

    “She doesn’t have her phone,” Candace said.  “She says she lost it last night.”

    Ram bit his bottom lip not wanting to curse for his mother to hear.

    “Sawa, I’ll deal with it,” Ram said.  “Where is she?”

    “White Rhino,” Candace said.

    “Her tastes are getting expensive, Mom.  One of these days, you’re going to need to use your mwiko on her.  Why is it I’m the only one who knows what that mwiko is used for?”

    “Keep complaining and I’ll give it to you when you get Naria home,” Candace said.  “You might be taller than me, but I can still smack you with a mwiko, Ram.  He, who are you joking with?”

    Ram chuckled.

    “Relax, Mom.  I’ll make sure Naria gets home after lunch,” Ram said. “Let me call when I have news.”

    “Thank you, Ram,” Candace said and ended the call.

    Ram started the truck and drove it out of the tight path leading to the construction site.  He drove it out to the exit of the access road and parked on the side of the main road.  Taking the keys, he jumped out of the cabin and stretched his arms over his head.

    Amos hurried to meet him.

    “Have they paid?” Ram asked.

    “Yes, thirty thousand,” Amos said, waving their business phone. “Thank you for maneuvering the tipper.  The driver would not have made it.”

    “I have to head out,” Ram said.  “Let’s meet in Karatina this evening.”

    “Where to?” Amos asked, reaching into his pocket for car keys.  He handed them to Ram in exchange for the truck keys.

    “To rescue Naria,” Ram said.  “I don’t know what to do with her.  Her friends are not friends.  She won’t believe it.”

    “What happened now?” Amos asked.

    Ram scratched his chin and shook his head.

    “The story she gave mom sounds incomplete,” Ram said.  “I’ll need to hear it from her to know the truth.”

    “We,” Amos sighed.  “I’ll do the next delivery and call you later. Let’s meet at the usual place.”

    Ram thanked Amos and hurried to the black SUV parked on the side of the main road.  He jumped into the driver’s seat and drove off with a wave at Amos.  Ram thought about Naria and his mother on his drive to Nyeri Town.

    Naria was his half-sister.  She was younger than he was by ten years.  His mother had gotten her with her boyfriend, Zion Kavinde.  His mother, Candace, was soft with Naria.  She spoiled Naria and gave her everything she could.  Candace said she did so because Naria was a child born into an unsteady home.

    Ram scoffed at the description.

    Unsteady was a mild way to describe their tumultuous home life.  Broken home was more accurate.  The truth was that Candace Jelani still loved her husband, and Ram’s father.  She refused to divorce him and the affair she had with Zion was an attempt to heal her heartbreak.  Naria was born into a messy situation and there was nothing to do but cope.

    Ram parked his car at the White Rhino Hotel and went in. He found Naria sitting at a table for two on the terrace.  She smiled when she saw him.

    “Ram to the rescue,” Naria said with a quick smile, though it did not reach her eyes.

    Ram pulled out the chair opposite her and sat.  He placed his phone and car keys on the table.  Crossing his arms against his chest, he sat back.

    “I’ll settle the bill in exchange for the truth.”

    Naria started to talk but Ram shook his head.

    “If you don’t give me the truth, I’ll walk away,” Ram said, not caring that his mother would find her cooking stick and hit him with it.  He could take a little pain.

    “Ram,” Naria said, her voice shaky.

    Her eyes filled with tears and in a different setting, he would fall for this, but not here.

    Ram pushed his chair back and started to stand up.

    “Wait!” Naria said, reaching for him in a panic.  “Just wait a sec. I’m just…”

    “The truth, Naria.”

    “Fine,” Naria said, sitting back.  “Relax, please don’t leave me here.  I don’t want to call Mom again.”

    “If you tell me, I’ll even buy you lunch,” Ram said, glancing at his watch.  It was just past twelve o’clock and he was hungry.

    Naria sighed.

    “Aki, Ram,” Naria shook her head.

    “Why are you here?” Ram asked, looking around the high-end hotel with a frown.  “Your budget does not allow you to be here.”

    “I came with friends,” Naria started, clasping her hands on the table.  Her nails were a brilliant shade of green.  She was in a short black dress, her leather jacket shiny and there was smudged eye shadow around her eyes.

    Ram sat back and crossed his arms against his chest, waiting.

    To Be Continued!

    Look for it on Wattpad, or Here. Hope your Friday is full of great vibes!

  • A Thousand Splendid Suns

    A Thousand Splendid Suns

    A Thousand Splendid Suns Cover

    A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

    A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan’s last thirty years – from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding – that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives – the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness – are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

    Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heart-wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love – a stunning accomplishment.

    Book Review

    I have no sufficient words.  All I can say is that Mariam’s character makes me feel very angry about what she had to endure at the hands of people who should have afforded her better. Even as I understand her decisions and feelings by the end of this book.  

    “Mariam wished for so much in those final moments. Yet as she closed her eyes, it was not regret any longer but a sensation of abundant peace that washed over her. She thought of her entry into this world, the harami child of a lowly villager, an unintended thing, a pitiable, regrettable accident. A weed. And yet she was leaving the world as a woman who had loved and been loved back. She was leaving it as a friend, a companion, a guardian. A mother. A person of consequence at last. No. It was not so bad. This was a legitimate end to a life of illegitimate belongings.” 
- A Thousand Splendid Suns

    I wish and hope with all my heart that the realities found in this book do not repeat, even as they do even now in some versions across the globe. I wish and hope that all who do walk these paths forged by war, unbending wills, and downright cruelty find the strength to live and survive as Mariam and Laila do, and make it to the other end of the dark tunnel with hope.  This book is very raw, immersing, and speaks of a strength forged when there is nothing else to hold on to, nothing else.

    “‎I know you’re still young but I want you to understand and learn this now. Marriage can wait, education cannot. You’re a very very bright girl. Truly you are. You can be anything you want Laila. I know this about you. And I also know that when this war is over, Afghanistan is going to need you as much as its men maybe even more. Because a society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated Laila. No chance.

    Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns
  • Homegoing – Review

    Homegoing – Review

    Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

    Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle’s dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast’s booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia’s descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day, Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.

    Book Review

    I just want to say that Homegoing is required reading. It is also important to say that this book is not an easy read.  It is always heartbreaking to read about the slave trade, and the roles fellow tribes’ people played to sell off their own people into the slave trade.  Yaa explores the two different sides of the slave trade by following two half-sisters, Esi and Effia.  The two women do not meet each other, but they are born to the same mother. 

    Esi is sold into slavery, and her descendants grow up as slaves, and end up in the slave struggle in the U.S.  Effia is married off to a British slave merchant.  Her descendants remain in Ghana, and struggle with the realities of being born from a slaver, and what is their true place, their tribe.  In seven generations from the eighteenth century to the present, Yaa explores the great civil rights struggles and cultural shifts in the U.S. and in Ghana, and how these struggles affect Esi and Effia’s descendants.  Each experience somehow tied back to the moment Esi became a slave, and Effia married a British slave merchant. The vast journey Homegoing takes spans seven generations in a breathtaking and emotionally brutal story.

  • March 2022’s Reading List

    March 2022’s Reading List

    Belonging

    This book is available from Furaha Publishers in Kigali, Rwanda.

    It is about:

    Keza, who is in search of a place she can truly call hers.  She carries on her shoulders a difficult past faced by her ancestors: her parents, grandparents, and relatives in her Tutsi tribe. Because of this past, and an initial loss of her homeland, Keza becomes a woman forged by three distinct cultures from three different countries: Uganda, Rwanda, and the Western world.

    Book Review

    A Torch Against the Night

    A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir

    It was so much fun getting back to this series. Elias and Laia are on the run with Helene in pursuit. They really found themselves in a tough spot often.

    Blurb

    Elias and Laia are running for their lives.

    After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire.

    Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire’s most secure and dangerous prison—to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars’ survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.

    But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene—Elias’s former friend and the Empire’s newest Blood Shrike.

    Book Review

    Slay Book Cover

    Slay by Brittney Morris

    Slay is one of those books written to make you think of racial issues from a different perspective.  Kiera is a truly strong and unique character.  I loved her passion for gaming.  Most important is the pure intention of providing a safe space she pours into the creation of her game, Slay.  It’s admirable and this book should be read by more people.

    Blurb

    By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is a high school student and one of the only black kids at Jefferson Academy. By night, she joins hundreds of thousands of black gamers who duel worldwide in the secret online role-playing card game, SLAY.

    No one knows Kiera is the game developer – not even her boyfriend, Malcolm. But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, the media labels it an exclusionist, racist hub for thugs.

    With threats coming from both inside and outside the game, Kiera must fight to save the safe space she’s created. But can she protect SLAY without losing herself?

    Book Review

    A Reaper at the Gates
    A Sky Beyond the Storm book cover
    An Ember in the Ashes Book 3 and 4

    A Reaper at the Gates and A Sky Beyond the Storm bring this series to the end.  Elias and Laia had a great adventure.  They changed their worlds and brought what they thought of as happiness to life. Despite the many losses they faced.  I’m so glad Sabaa Tahir chose to write this series.  She’s a great kehanni.

    Book 3 Review & Book 4 Review

    March 2022 was filled with Sabaa Tahir’s series.  I’m very lucky it is complete and all four books are available.  April starts with Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. 

    If you would like a book review, or a book feature, just email me or message me on this blog.  I’ll get back to you.  I wish you a very beautiful April. Easter is coming up, have a good one.

    Check out Zev’s Afrotheria on Wattpad, or Here if you love reading online.

  • A Sky Beyond the Storm – Review

    A Sky Beyond the Storm – Review

    Picking up just a few months after A Reaper at the Gates left off…

    A Sky Beyond the Storm book cover

    A Sky Beyond the Storm

    by Sabaa Tahir

    The long-imprisoned jinn are on the attack, wreaking bloody havoc in villages and cities alike. But for the Nightbringer, vengeance on his human foes is just the beginning.

    At his side, Commandant Keris Veturia declares herself Empress, and calls for the heads of any and all who defy her rule. At the top of the list? The Blood Shrike and her remaining family.

    Laia of Serra, now allied with the Blood Shrike, struggles to recover from the loss of the two people most important to her. Determined to stop the approaching apocalypse, she throws herself into the destruction of the Nightbringer. In the process, she awakens an ancient power that could lead her to victory–or to an unimaginable doom.

    And deep in the Waiting Place, the Soul Catcher seeks only to forget the life–and love–he left behind. Yet doing so means ignoring the trail of murder left by the Nightbringer and his jinn. To uphold his oath and protect the human world from the supernatural, the Soul Catcher must look beyond the borders of his own land. He must take on a mission that could save–or destroy–all that he knows.

    Book Review

    A Sky Beyond the Storm marks the end of the Ember in the Ashes. Laia has changed.  She is no longer the frightened girl at the start of the series.  Since then, she has endured torturous hours, under the commandant.  She stood up to bullies in the resistance. Endured heartbreak thanks to the Nightbringer.  She found the strength to save Elias and her brother.  Most important she found purpose and the determination to follow through. I admire her tenacity and her ability to keep going no matter what.  This determination to find another way, not to give up.

    Elias’s character when we first meet him is on a quest to escape his harsh unforgiving life at Blackburn.  He doesn’t succeed and gets pulled back each time, by Helene, by the Commandant, by the masks under his command.  The consequences he faces should he be caught running were demonstrated on fellow masks who ran away. The punishment was brutal.  After a series of unfortunate events, in which Elias goes through a trial to become the emperor, he makes a choice not to be a mask anymore.  This decision means he forfeits his life and Marcus chooses to end him. At this point, Elias is saved by Laia. To repay her, Elias chooses to save Darrin, Laia’s brother, and this decision, this giving of himself, leads him to the role of the Soul Catcher. Elias is a struggling soul catcher.  He doesn’t excel in this role, and even though in this last book he comes back to help fight the Nightbringer, I wished there was a way out for him.

    The only disappointments in this book are the lack of the Commandant’s story. I wish there was more about her, about why she chose to be so cruel even to her own son.  Her motivations are really not defined, and even though she makes the perfect villain, her story deserves more. The other unfortunate character is Harper. There’s a saying I heard a lot at my old job. ‘Bad things happen to good people.’ I really don’t like this saying, because why? Why do bad things happen to good people? Harper is a perfect representation of this saying. And while I don’t question why Sabaa Tahir goes this route, it adds to Helene Aquilla’s growth, but it sure sucks for Harper. I think he deserved to live and enjoy the world he had fought so hard to create.

    The series came to an end with an epic fight and a lot of losses. A host of characters leave in the tragedy that is war. But happiness does come for all the remaining characters. It was a good ending for Laia and Elias to find their place.  In a way, so does Helene, despite her many losses. These four books were worth it.

  • A Reaper at the Gates – Review

    A Reaper at the Gates – Review

    A Reaper at the Gates

    A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

    Helene Aquilla, the Blood Shrike, is desperate to protect her sister’s life and the lives of everyone in the Empire. Yet danger lurks on all sides. Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable and violent, while Keris Veturia, the ruthless Commandant, capitalizes on the Emperor’s volatility to grow her own power—regardless of the carnage she leaves in her path. Far to the east, Laia of Serra knows that the fate of the world lies not in the machinations of the Martial court, but in stopping the Nightbringer. During the hunt to bring him down, Laia faces unexpected threats from those she hoped would help her, and is drawn into a battle she never thought she’d have to fight. And in the land between the living and the dead, Elias Veturius has given up his freedom to serve as Soul Catcher. However, in doing so, he has vowed himself to an ancient power that demands his complete surrender—even if that means abandoning the woman he loves.

    Book Review

    A Reaper at The Gates definitely reaps at the soul.  No one is having an easy time in this book.  Elias is caught by the consequences of the last book’s ending.  He is moving between two worlds, the waiting place, and the real world. The waiting place refuses to let him go.  It is quickly clear that the promises he made to Laia will be broken, whether he wants to or not. Elias is becoming the Soul Catcher.

    Helene Aquilla is Blood Shrike and she is facing a torturous life.  The emperor is not kind to her sister. Marcus tortures Helene’s sister to make sure she does what he asks. The Commandant is not giving her a break. The empire is at war, and everyone is looking to Helene for a way forward.  Helene endures some hard choices in A Reaper at the Gates.

    Laia is now with the resistance.  Her brother is safe, even though Darrin is not whole, at least he is with her.  She wants to find a way to defeat the Nightbringer, but he is not easy to fight. His cause is just, even while it is cruel. Laia is on a path that will make her the leader of the resistance, of her people.

    The Commandant becomes a formidable villain, with the Nightbringer’s help. As for Marcus, he is an emperor who has no idea how to hold on to his empire.

    I’m glad I read A Reaper at the Gates while I had the next book waiting. Otherwise, I would be in frustrationville. It is a book preparing for the end of the story.  Each character faces the worst that could happen in any scenario. I thought Helene had the worst luck. She gives too much as the Blood Shrike and Marcus does not deserve her loyalty. Elias is plain unfortunate. He gave so much until it cost him the one thing he was trying to hold on to, his freedom. I was very sad at the end of this book.

  • Slay – Book Review

    Slay – Book Review

    Slay Book Cover

    Slay

    by Brittney Morris

    By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is a high school student and one of the only black kids at Jefferson Academy. By night, she joins hundreds of thousands of black gamers who duel worldwide in the secret online role-playing card game, SLAY.

    No one knows Kiera is the game developer – not even her boyfriend, Malcolm. But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, the media labels it an exclusionist, racist hub for thugs.

    With threats coming from both inside and outside the game, Kiera must fight to save the safe space she’s created. But can she protect SLAY without losing herself?

    Book Review

    Keira Johnson is seventeen and she is in a high school where she is one of three or so black kids at school.  She is also a game developer and has created a VR card dueler game named SLAY.  The thing is, no one in her school knows, including her boyfriend and little sister.  She goes by the name Queen Emerald in the game, and she spends most of her free time working to make sure the users of her game don’t face any glitches.

    What I loved about this story is that Keira is a very strong character.  She is smart, diplomatic, knows her mind, (except when it comes to her boyfriend) and she creates a safe platform welcome to anyone in search of a place they belong.

    Slay delves heavily into race issues. They are part of Keira’s daily life, filled in conservations with her boyfriend, best friend, parents, and her little sister.  Keira endures questions at school like whether it is okay for white folks to wear locs. If they do, whether or not it will insult the black culture.  At all times, Keira wishes she were still back in her old school where she did not have to be the authority on such questions. The pressure can be too much.

    Keira creates an exclusive game, SLAY, that only allows black people into the game.  The moment it is discovered, a fierce debate starts on how right it is to create such an exclusive space. Keira takes it in stride and does her best to keep the game going and her members happy in the face of growing criticism.

    What I did not love about Slay was the treatment of Keira’s boyfriend, Malcolm.  He calls her a queen, so he is a king. He reads a lot, but his views on what he reads and what he takes in immediately present a challenge.  He reads books written by black writers, only. He calls it decolonizing his mind. Malcolm’s character seems fine at the start.  He and Keira have a great relationship and they are in love. Still, his opinions become worrying when he tells Keira she should not be playing video games, especially SLAY, not knowing she developed it.  He also does not approve of Keira’s sister dating a boy who is not black. As Keira articulates, Malcolm believes, ‘… you can’t be for the advancement of black people if you’re dating someone who’s not black.’

    Mint chocolate Cadburys

    Malcolm deteriorates from here, turning controlling and very scary when he starts believing Keira is ignoring him.  He threatens her best friend and wants to shake Keira down in the school cafeteria because she won’t answer his calls.  He turns into a villain after this, and I thought it was the saddest thing since Cadburys discontinued mint fudge in our region.  Why would they be so cruel and unusual? I really miss these. Bring them back Cadburys. Anyway, Malcolm drew the short stick in SLAY, and I don’t support it. On a side note, Malcolm seems modeled after Killmonger from Black Panther.

    In any case, I believe Slay is an important book to read.  Keira is a very independent character, and she stands up for herself and the game she has created.  The safe space she calls SLAY allows an international sisterhood and brotherhood to join in and just enjoy a game, being themselves. 

    My favorite quote from this book is: “As we duel, as we chat, there’s an understanding that “your black is not my black” and “your weird is not my weird” and “your beautiful is not my beautiful,” and that’s okay.”

  • Book Wishlist for the Blog’s Reading List

    Book Wishlist for the Blog’s Reading List

    Nairobi is super hot right now, and 2 pm is almost like mandatory naptime. It’s too hot to be outside, it’s better to be inside reading or checking out your FYP on TikTok (careful with this vortex though, you might not get any work done). It’s almost the end of March and I’m like, ‘where did the rain go? Cool-weather please come over now’. Funny that when June gets here, I’ll be like, ‘where did the sun go?’ Such a fickle heart when it comes to the weather. Oh well, global warming is real.

    This Monday, I’ve been spending some time on the world’s bookshelf called Amazon Kindle. Hahaha.  I found books on my wish list that I’ve wanted to read for a while.  I’m excited to discover I’ve gotten to some of them, but there are still some epic ones on the list.  I hope to find time to review them as the year goes on.  Here’s my book wish list this March.

    1. Amanda Gorman’s Call Us What We Carry
    Call Us What We Carry book cover

    Formerly titled The Hill We Climb and Other Poems, the luminous poetry collection by  New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman captures a shipwrecked moment in time and transforms it into a lyric of hope and healing. In Call Us What We Carry, Gorman explores history, language, identity, and erasure through an imaginative and intimate collage. Harnessing the collective grief of a global pandemic, this beautifully designed volume features poems in many inventive styles and structures and shines a light on a moment of reckoning. Call Us What We Carry reveals that Gorman has become our messenger from the past, our voice for the future.

    I’ve been waiting for this since I heard it was going to come out. I loved her poem ‘The Hill We Climb’.  One of my favorite parts of this poem that I feel defines all the places we call home and the strife often found among us all as humans,

    Scripture tells us to envision
    that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
    and no one shall make them afraid.
    If we’re to live up to our own time,
    then victory won’t lie in the blade.
    But in all the bridges we’ve made,
    that is the promise to glade,
    the hill we climb.
    If only we dare.

    The Hill We Climb, Amanda Gorman

    I enjoyed reading and listening to Miss Amanda Gorman’s delivery of The Hill We Climb.  I can’t wait to read and discover more poems in Call Us What We Carry.

    1. Homegoing by Yaa Gyaasi

    Ghana, eighteenth century: two half-sisters are born into different villages, each unaware of the other. One will marry an Englishman and lead a life of comfort in the palatial rooms of the Cape Coast Castle. The other will be captured in a raid on her village, imprisoned in the very same castle, and sold into slavery.

    Homegoing follows the parallel paths of these sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem.

    Yaa Gyasi’s extraordinary novel illuminates slavery’s troubled legacy both for those who were taken and those who stayed.

    This book was recommended to me last year. I’ve had it on my reading list for a while thanks to the epic reviews and mentions.  It’s ended up on the reading list for April 2022. 

    1. Caraval by Stephanie Garber
    Caraval Book Cover

    Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over.

    But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

    Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But she nevertheless becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic with the other players in the game. And whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, a dangerous domino effect of consequences is set off, and her sister disappears forever.

    Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . beware of getting swept too far away.

    I am late to this fandom.  I love the book cover.  Yes, I also pick up books based on how awesome their book covers look.  This one does it for me and I can’t wait to get into this book.  Caraval has three books in the series.  I’m excited to finally discover what the fandom is about.

    1. The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
    The Gilded Ones Book Cover

    Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.

    But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity–and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.

    Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki–near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire’s greatest threat.

    Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to leave the only life she’s ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one is quite what they seem to be–not even Deka herself.

    I read book one last year, so I’m excited for Book Two.  Once again, the cover is so beautiful, and the story itself is so epic. I’m hoping to get book two when it’s out in May and put out a review for both.

    1. An Ember in the Ashes Series by Sabaa Tahir

    I’m crazy for this series.  In case you haven’t discovered my reviews for the first two books, you’ll find them here and here.  Sabaa Tahir’s epic is amazing, and I am currently in deep with book three. So, definitely sharing a review of the end of this series soon. I’m both excited and sad to get to the end because Elias and Laia are so grand.  Helene is a very frightening warrior, and Sabaa should definitely wear the Kehanni’s crown from now on. I’m in this one full throttle.

    A Reaper at the Gates
    Book Three of An Ember in the Ashes Series
    The Merciless Ones book cover

    So, my reading list is packed with a bit of poetry, a bit of Yaa Gyaasi, and a trio of series books. I’m in a love/hate relationship with a series of books.  When you can get all the books on the line, it’s exciting to get into the series and read to the end.

    It’s different when you have to wait for the next book in the series.  The Gilded Ones – Book Two comes out in May 2022.  Which means waiting a year between books.  Oh well, here’s to rereading the first part as we wait for Book 2.

    If you’re in Nairobi, stay cool. Cold watermelons and hot tea. hahaha, if you know, you know. The sun loves us too much oh! Happy reading trails!

  • A Torch Against the Night – Review

    A Torch Against the Night – Review

     A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir

    A Torch Against the Night
    A Torch Against the Night Book Cover

    In A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT, Elias and Laia are running for their lives.

    After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire.

    Laia is determined to break into Kauf—the Empire’s most secure and dangerous prison—to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars’ survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.

    But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene—Elias’s former friend and the Empire’s newest Blood Shrike.

    Bound to Marcus’s will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own—one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape…and kill them both.

    Book Review

    I read A Torch Against the Night in one afternoon. It continues from where An Ember in the Ashes ended. Elias and Laia are on the run from the masks and need to get out of the city.  Elias is determined to get Laia out and help her save her brother from prison.  Laia needs Elias’s considerable skills to stay alive, and escape a city locked down by masks who are determined to capture Elias.

    Helene Aquilla has become the Blood Shrike. She answers to the new brutal emperor Marcus and he has a terrible mission for her.  Track down her friend Elias and bring him back to the city for a public execution.

    A Torch Against the Night is an action-packed read.  Laia is stronger this round, more decisive which is grand to see.  She supports Elias as they race to save Laia’s brother.  Helen remains a character caught in a terrible nightmare.  She must hunt for Elias, even though it means killing him.  Her quest is designed to break her and Marcus knows it.  There was no moment of softness for Helene, the Blood Shrike.

    The field of battle is my temple.  The swordpoint is my priest.  The killing blow is my release.  I’m not ready for my release. Not yet. Not yet.

    Elias Veturius, A Torch Against the Night

    Elias, my favorite character, chooses a tough road in this book.  His only wish has been to live a quiet life, one of peace.  But, he has only lived by the sword and been trained to be the best warrior.  His willingness to sacrifice himself is both admirable and something to be sad about at every step. By the end, he has reached a point of no return and makes a choice that will change his and Laia’s lives forever.

    The fight against the chains of slavery forged by the martial forces is underlying, growing by each chapter.  I loved meeting Elias’s adoptive mother most.  She is a skilled Kehanni (storyteller) and her tale helps Elias and Laia escape a tight spot.  Her words spark a revolt and I thought that was such a powerful scene.  As with Book One, there are terrible losses in Book Two.  I was happy and sad as I read the last chapter of A Torch Against the Night.  I cannot wait to get A Reaper at the Gates to discover the consequences of Elias’s decision.

  • Belonging – Review

    Belonging – Review

    Belonging by Christine Warugaba

    Published by Furaha Publishers, based in Kigali, Rwanda. This book is available in March 2022. I received an Advanced Review Copy from C. Warugaba.

    Summary

    Belonging by Christine Warugaba is about Keza Rugamba, who was born in Kampala, Uganda to parents originating from Rwanda.  Their tribe is Tutsi and her parents fled Rwanda to escape the genocide of the Tutsi in the early 1960s. Keza grows up in Kampala, Uganda amidst the background of a military regime marked by raids in their home, and deadly robberies that stole her uncle’s life.  Despite the chaos, Keza’s family lives a relatively peaceful life and she completes her primary and high school education.

    Two years before Keza’s high school graduation, Rwanda endures a tumultuous period, and soon after welcomes the restoration of peace.  A peaceful Rwanda has Keza’s father thinking of a return to their homeland.  However, Keza’s mother is traumatized by the loss of their extended family and is unwilling to return, so they remain in Kampala. In contrast, Keza’s Aunt Stella, her mother’s sister, makes the decision to return to Kigali, Rwanda.

    Fresh out of high school, Keza begs her mother’s permission to go along with her Aunt Stella to see their homeland.  To her mother’s surprise, Keza insists on attending university in Rwanda.  Keza arrives in Kigali to live with her Aunt Stella and attend med school at the National University of Rwanda.

    Belonging is a
    Conversation Starter

    ellyinnairobi.com

    Rwanda soon becomes Keza’s second home. In a reflective moment, between holiday visits to see her parents in Kampala, Keza wonders, “Where is home?”

    When Keza completes her university, she applies for and wins a green card.  A new adventure in a foreign country begins when Keza lands in New York. She finds herself working to survive a fast-paced, alien-biased world.  She is a qualified doctor in Rwanda, but in the United States, she needs to return to school and qualify for an American Medical License.

    She works odd jobs to help meet basic needs and afford her new life in New York.  Keza almost drowns in the tedium of shift jobs, paying rent and upkeep, while studying for her medical license examinations.  She catches a break when she lands a job working at a weight-loss clinic in New York and gains a Kenyan friend and boss who does understand her struggle.  Keza strikes a work/school life balance as she works at the Makena Clinic.  She remains at the clinic for six years before she is disillusioned by the American Dream, and she finally decides to return to Kigali with a new dream, starting her own business.

    The moment Keza lands in Kigali, her cousin Ivan warns her that Aunt Stella will make it a mission to get Keza married.  True to Ivan’s prediction, Aunt Stella embarks on a full campaign to get Keza married, which includes prayers and fasting.  Despite Aunt Stella’s obvious efforts, Keza starts a sincere journey to solidify her roots and create something belonging to her.

    Thoughts

    Belonging as a novel illustrates a quest to find a home.

    Keza is in search of a place she can truly call hers.  She carries on her shoulders a difficult past faced by her ancestors: her parents, grandparents, and relatives in her Tutsi tribe. Because of this past, and an initial loss of her homeland, Keza becomes a woman forged by three distinct cultures from three different countries: Uganda, Rwanda, and the Western world.

    She is highly educated.  Thanks to the experiences she faced in each world, she becomes intensely hardworking and independent.  By the time she is landing in Kigali, her mind is set on a specific goal, that is, building a successful business.  A goal she finds difficult to push aside to accommodate her aunt’s search for a husband for her.

    At every step, Keza’s family remains supportive.  From her steadfast Aunt Stella who gives Keza unconditional love and support, marriage plans aside. To her cousins and nieces who help Keza when she is at her lowest and in grief.  They also celebrate with her during her highest moments.

    Belonging does showcase impact points meant to start a larger conversation. The most prominent point speaks on the weight of traditional expectations concerning marriage beset on African women’s shoulders.  No matter the extent of their education or accomplishment.

    Aunt Stella’s quest to get Keza married before she turns forty serves as a perfect example of this expectation.  In sharp contrast, Aunt Stella does not show the same desperate concern for her own son.  Her quest climaxes in a party with a house full of bachelors so that Keza may try to find someone who sparks her interests.  Aunt Stella’s desperation and concern for Keza’s marriage leads to health problems caused by constant fasting.  Concern for her aunt’s health forces Keza to the extreme idea of getting a fake boyfriend.

    It was probably the only way Keza was going to meet someone. The experiences Keza lives through forge her character and her ultimate goals. The events of her life give her the strength to build a successful business in Kigali.  They also make her opinion on marriage different from Aunt Stella’s. I do appreciate the fact that in the end, these life experiences help Keza choose a partner who is right for her, on her own terms.

    Belonging unfolds in the form of flashbacks at the start.  Much of the first part of the novel is told in a memory stream.  Keza remembers her past as she packs to return to Kigali. It is not a fast romance read. The story needs time to assimilate, as Keza works to find her place in the many worlds she encounters.