African Mythology

Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi 

The audiobook narrator struggled with her male voices but her overall narration was spectacular. The amount of research that went into this book to make it immersive and historically accurate was superb. My only issue that dropped it from a 4* was the ending was predictable; I wanted the ending to happen, but I saw it coming and I ended up being disappointed because I wanted it to happen in a different way. (I listened to the audiobook so I never saw the names spelled and will not disrespect the author or the characters by trying to spell them). FMC is a blacksmith and she is approached by what she thinks is a vagrant, but she is kind to him which impresses him, so he has her kidnapped because he was actually the ruler of their land and he wants to make her his wife. Once she knows this she goes along willingly because anything is better than the life she has been living, but she has one condition: she will not marry him until they can find her mother and she can be there for the ceremony. He agrees and he sends men out to get her mother. One problem, she is missing. And now blacksmiths all across the land are abandoning their forges. Also, his mother is mean and manipulative and is trying to stop the marriage. His first wife the only friend she has, until she doesn't. Because there is a slave uprising and first wife is stuck in the city and she forces him to go after her, but it turns out first wife was the one behind it and she pushes FMC back into a burning building. She has to cut off her hand to escape when she finally wakes up, and when she is walking into the town they are having a masquerade, for her death. But MMC sees her and realizes the body they found wasn't hers. Then, she is finally able to meet with her mother and gets caught and he thinks she was secretly plotting with the blacksmiths so he makes her kill her own mother to prove her loyalty. They finally get married. Then he goes off on a fight that should have been fast, but he is gone for a long time and she starts taking over his duties and the generals listen to her and value her. She is the one to come up with the plan to save him when they finally find out where he is. And the day he gets back, she kills him because he disregards her and her ideas. She gives him a chance, but he basically says you're too pretty for strategy and she tells him I'm the one that saved you and he says thanks now we can go back to the way we were, so she slits his throat. She walks into the throne room, takes his seat, and the generals all fall in line. There was a lot more action, adventure, and political intrigue, but that was the gist of the story. Her revenge on his mom was killing him. We knew she was going to take power, I just wish it had ended differently; that something more had gone down with his mother, that she hadn't slit his throat. Something. This middle and the build up were great, but the finale left me wanting.