Ashâke is an acolyte who has been training and waiting for the day she hears the call of the orisha signaling it’s time for her to ascend to priesthood. After being passed over and not chosen, she feels snubbed and is desperate to make contact with any orisha. As she tries to summon and trap one, she is caught by the high priests. This type of contact with the orisha is forbidden, so she is punished for her attempts. Deciding to leave the temple, she learns so much more than she could’ve anticipated about the dangerous people (and celestial beings) lurking just outside the temple walls.

This is such a promising story! The things I really loved about this story: the worldbuilding, the characterization, and the INTRIGUE! Things I wanted from this story: MORE OF IT. I think my biggest qualm throughout the entire novella is that I wanted this to be a novel-length story. The world and the characters are so rich, but it fell flat for me in such a brief storytelling format. I wanted to see even more depth and dimension to the characters while getting more backstory about the world to be fully immersed. Instead, I frequently felt pulled from the story due to the rushed plot. I will still gladly come back for the second half of this duology and am intrigued to see how Ogundiran fleshes out the rest of this story.