Firstborn of the Sun by Marvellous Michael Anson
I would like to thank Michael Joseph for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Michael Jospeh
Published – Out Now
Price – £20 hardback £8.99 ebook
In the Kingdom of Oru L'ore has a secret. She is the only one without agbára – the ability to harness power from the sun. On pain of death she must conceal it from everyone. Including her best friend, Alawani.
But when the gods declare Alawani an Àlùfáà High Priest – a great honour where he will serve the gods and the Kingdom – he must be stripped of his power in a brutal trial likely to kill him. Unwilling to bear his death, L'ore vows to rescue him.
When she desperately attempts to channel agbára an icy shadow magic instead pours from her hands; a power she learns originated from a forbidden, secret land beyond Oru.
In this place, she and Alawani must seek sanctuary from those pursuing them. But soon they will discover a secret that could bring the kingdom to its knees . . .
When characters make bad decisions, it is tempting to blame the character but often I think the more interesting question is in the novel does it explain why those decisions are made? Often a good story requires the world to form a character’s decisions. In Robin Hobb’s Farseer series the main character Fitz makes many poor decisions but it is often because of the way he was brought up and used by those around him that we understand why Fitz sees he has no other option. In Marvellous Michael Anson’s very promising fantasy debut Firstborn of the Sun we meet a young woman trying to do the best for her dearest friend and completely unaware of how many secrets are being kept from her.
In the Kingdom of Oru all wield the magic of agbara to some degree – the power of the sun has many uses from keeping you cool in heat to fighting. Everyone bar L’ore that is. She cannot wield it since she was born and her father the notorious coward Eniltan has taught her forbidden magic so she can appear like everyone else. Magic that if anyone finds she uses she will be executed for. L’ore has one dear friend Alawani a prince never destined for the throne but one she has decided she will work hard to join him as a royal guard. However, when Alawani is unexpectedly chosen to be a High Priest (against all the rules of the family) and is going to be stripped of his own agbara in the process (and if he is unlucky his life) then L’ore hatches a desperate plan to save her friend. This act thought is the catalyst for many secrets to be finally revealed, for many sides to be taken and the fate of Oru itself hangs in the balance.
I’m a big believer in stories having shapes we recognise and I’m going to say on the surface this looks like the traditional hero coming into her own power. As you may guess L’ore having no power is not permanent and indeed what we find is she has the potential to be one of the most powerful people in Oru. However, L’ore is not quite our standard hero on a journey she is quite unaware of how Oru actually works and while she is very headstrong, loyal to her friend and she has the worst plan for a rescue I’ve seen for a while that goes very badly wrong. She is refreshingly not going to immediately be very lucky and suddenly the leader in waiting. My caveat is that lack of knowledge can maker her appear quite naïve, but what Anson does well is make us understand that’s because everyone she has ever known has been withholding key information from her (and most of the wider population). What for me becomes apparent is this is not the simple fantasy of a character getting power this is the more interesting big generational epic fantasy where various factions and powerful people are finding their schemes coming back to bite them. L’ore is more the catalyst for all this to start coming undone quite spectacularly.
The first clue that readers should note is the prologue where we meet Moremi a woman giving birth in a palace. She is fascinating powerful character acting very desperately and Anson holds back explanations we just known Moremi is in danger. We then jump a few years forward when L’ore is seventeen and refreshing quite low on the ladder of people in power. She’s not royalty, she’s not the world’s best fighter but she’s quite likeable. It is quite key that her friendship with Alawani and we can see that’s not quite what either think it is quite key to her world. The chance for Alawani to die is what makes her defy everyone in power and risk her own life (and some friend’s too) . Anson makes this set piece work as L’ore is in so much danger and well over her head on raiding a palace but as we may expect we find there is more to her than even she knows. Alawani and L’ore then are on a desperate race from those in power through Oru’s unusual six rings of the city.
L'ore’s innocence about her world can be frustrating but as we slowly find no one really knows all the secrets of Oru expect for those in the highest of positions. What makes the story stand out is we find so many of those in positions of power are very much keen to keep either the status quo as is or to gain more for their own side. Here the roles of the royal family, the priesthood and the more powerful warriors are all in on how our actually works and this is a story where the more initial interesting characters turn out to be these as we see then vie for power. This includes Alawani’s not so kindly grandfather Elder Priest Aliufaa-Agbaa, the menacing Iya-Ayewho runs the Midens everyone fears and the current High priest and Ruler Babatunde. Anson rotates chapters from L’ore’s escape to these three very fascinating characters all in a very complex web challenging each other and, in the process, revealing their own agendas and secrets. They’re all very ruthless, powerful and constantly scheming. The webs of intrigue Anson explains really underlines that this is a story of how powerful people control a country, a magic and are very happy sacrificing others to keep their world as it is. Slowlyy we see the bigger picture, why Oru has one single form of dominant magic, why their Priests and Kings are so finely balanced and for L’ore why she is now attracting so much attention. Anson cleverly makes us see the history, politics and religions of the wider world and at a worldbuilding level this is quite refreshing. L’ore is here more initially unaware for now how much disruption she is causing.
Another factor I enjoyed is actually we see the generational conflict now coming to the latest generation to play their own part. We have L’ore but other interesting characters are entering the scenes and making choices. Alawani the big focus for L’ore is a prince having to battle his desire for friendship with family and reputation. We meet his friend and actual future rule of our Tofa a kindly young man who also wants the best for his family and there is a fascinating much more malevolent character named Mejila a maiden dedicated to Alawani becoming a High Priest but also very much serving her own ends and wielding immense magic in the process. What Anson does very subtly is we find the problems the elder generation have stored up, meaning this group is having to decide what they must all do to end or continue them. Loyalties will be tested and some of the choices are quite surprising based on how ee think of these characters but Anson underlines loyalty to family is quite a powerful habit to break
In contrast as L’ore and Alawani leave our we see how the Kingdom of Oru is quite a hard place to live. Every ring of the city defines what people there do and how hard they live. Alawani’s family are known for Oath breaking and we see the promises they made and then broke have had repercussions for the working classes. This is a city that works very much for those at the top and everyone else is stuck from birth in their roles. While these themes are only just starting to arise in the trilogy its clear we will return to them as L’ore finds out more about her own family and her legacy too. A story very happy to say this world is wrong and needs fixing is very much in my wheelhouse. Anson is especially good at finding the emotional heart and dilemma of a scene and you really feel even for the eviller characters there are high stakes if they fail at what they’re doing.
Firstborn of the Sun is a story that needs a little patience as it takes a little time to realise L’ore is not going to become a fully-fledged hero just yet. But if you can accept these things actually would take time and that she is the product of the society that made and lied to her then I recommend sitting back and watching the more subtle exploration of the world here to filter through and explain itself. The use of Yoruba culture, magic and religion is giving the story a richness that I really enjoyed exploring and that generational conflict is really well handled and for me what gives the story its real heart. Anson is not afraid to upset the applecart in the end and I’m very intrigued where this series may go next. Highly recommended!
