Firstborn of the Sun by Marvellous Michael Anson Review

A heart-pounding yoruba inspired fantasy novel set in an epic world of courtly intrigue and forbidden power . . .
 

In 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 – 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 the six rings of Oru.
 

One where she and Alawani must now seek sanctuary and discover a secret that could bring the Kingdom to its knees . . .

An intense African inspired fantasy story, Marvellous Michael Anson’s Firstborn of the Sun is an impressive and commanding traditionally published debut novel. An imaginative and complex power struggle story of magic and action, this book has an expertly crafted plot that’s twisty, full of turmoil, and honors its cultural influences while also being very accessible and compelling. With confident storytelling and distinctively fresh fantasy elements, Firstborn of the Sun is a well-rounded and excellent start to Anson’s planned epic fantasy trilogy.

I will be the first to admit that having zero familiarity with Yuruban culture, I had no idea what to expect from this book having received it as part of Goldsboro’s GSFF subscription. However, I am glad to have been exposed to this book as it’s a really solid one! Set in the fictional Continent and Kingdom of Oru that’s governed by a monarchy and Holy Order, Firstborn of the Sun’s strong African roots and inspirations are one of the book’s biggest highlights. A good number of popular high fantasy books tend to be loosely based around European fantasy material that can often feel stale or uninspired, but this book is distinctively different and conceptually very refreshing. As to be expected for a high fantasy book, the story has a well-crafted magic system that’s based around one’s agbára, sun-based inner magic gifted to each individual from the gods. Not only is the magic system unique, but so too is Anson’s creative use of various sun or heat-based magic mixed with traditional spear and dagger combat, leading to excellent magical warfare and elaborately choreographed fight sequences. Unlike other fantasy or dystopian series set in arid desert like environments, the Kingdom of Oru feels fully realized, vibrant, but most importantly lived in and diverse. Featuring six rings, each region is distinctive and provides a variety of different environments and settings for the story to work with as its characters continue on their journey. Despite having quite a few different terms, statuses, and vocabulary, Anson does a great job at guiding the reader through her world-building and lore where no experience with African fantasy folklore is needed which becomes second nature when reading the further into the story you get. Short proverbs and snippets that separate chapters are also a nice touch that adds to the overall tone of the book.

Firstborn of the Sun not only has a distinctive fantasy flavor but also has the narrative content to back it up. Set around the selection of prospective priests who are selected from each ring of Oru every ten years who are then stripped of their agbára as part of tradition to ensure the future powers for the Kingdom, the book’s plot is essentially a power succession struggle between different political figures following the recent death of the King. Anson’s storytelling and plotting are excellent, particularly when it comes to the intense scheming, manipulation, and political maneuvering of the different figures across groups and generations. Additionally, the succession of power is unique and complicated in that the King of Oru is determined based on the firstborn of the High Priest/Regent who is selected from the decennial priesthood selection process while the firstborn of current King has no actual political power, an important limitation that plays a major role in the story. Additionally, during transitional periods between kings or rulers, the Regent assumes all powers of the king’s role until a new successor ascends, leading to potential conflicts of power. The plot is complex, featuring multi POV’s including the daughter of the outcast L’ore who has no agbára, her childhood best friend and royal prince Alawani, his bonded temple maiden Milúà, and the heir to the throne Tofa. Each representing a POV from a different group within the kingdom, they provide good variety and exploration of Anson’s expansive world. I found the book most compelling when it was focused on the intricate power plays and conflicting interests of each young main character, a marketing blurb drawing comparisons to Game of Thrones being an apt reference in loose concept.

Complementing its strong plotting are a variety of great themes that run throughout the story. Despite being from different political entities and backgrounds, all four of the young characters have a recurring element of being saddled with the legacies or burdens of their parents and the consequences of their past actions. For L’ore in particular, the recurring motifs of being an outcast and survivor run throughout her story, directly shaping her decisions and coming full circle by the end of this first book. The theme of corruption, deception, and twisting of the words of the gods are also elements that are effectively used as the story builds and grows, not to mention the book’s title being referenced dramatically in the back of the novel.

While the book is very well-rounded and has an expertly crafted plot, at times I found the pacing and story to occasionally drag, particularly in its middle section. Initially featuring just L’ore and Alawani’s POV’s that complement each other, as the other two POV’s are added and the scope of the series expands, the general pacing slows considerably due to the constant perspective shifts. A lot happens and the content is interesting, but juggling three to four perspectives means a lot of pages are used to cover a relatively short amount of time within the story. To Anson’s credit, the POV’s are utilized well and are necessary to provide the context for each character’s motivations as well as revealing how intricate and complex the line of succession is and how far the Holy Order’s reach extends, but there are moments where I felt that the book was a bit slow and slightly long for what it was trying to do. Additionally, after an action-packed start, the story takes a while to get going, though the payoff for patient readers is worth it when the book gets to its back half.

When I started reading this book, I was not aware that it was only the start of a new trilogy rather than being a standalone novel, thinking that the book would need all its nearly 600 pages to tell its story. However, as just the start of the series, perhaps it could’ve been trimmed slightly as I found L’ore’s journey out of the core to the outer rings taking a lot longer than I would’ve expected; the content is narratively good but lengthy. While I liked Alawani’s platonic and romantic chemistry with L’ore and found his early chapters during his summoning to priesthood compelling, I found his characters and chapters to be less interesting and contributing less to the story compared to the other three POV’s. Especially when compared to how strong, driven, and passionate L’ore’s POV is, I felt like his character kind of plateaued a bit early in the book and left L’ore to carry the back-half of their duo on her shoulders. That said, based on the direction the series appears to be going, I fully expect this to change considering the big plot twist his last chapter ends on. For those that are for or against romantasy genre books, do note that Firstborn of the Sun is NOT a romantasy book and is an authentic epic fantasy story. There is a romance element that follows the friends-to-lovers and ill-fated romance tropes well, but the romance is used as a base for character growth/motivations only and is a minor supporting element rather than the focus; the few romantic moments are brief and free of spice.

Featuring a well-crafted plot, complex character motivations and dynamics, great magical elements and action, and distinctive Yoruban inspirations, Firstborn of the Sun is a very solid start to Anson’s new series. With a great mix of story, characterizations, world-building, and most importantly scale, this book is a confident and well-rounded fantasy adventure that fully earns its high and epic fantasy genre classifications. This was a book that I never would’ve read or even heard of if not for Goldsboro’s GSFF subscription, but I am glad I took a chance on it as it’s a book that needs to be talked about more in fantasy book circles not only for its diversity and representation, but also because it’s just a great book in general. At the time of this review, Firstborn of the Sun is currently a UK-only title due to lack of publishers in other regions but if you’re able to somehow get a copy of it, it’s an imaginative hard fantasy book worth picking up!