I was expecting to really enjoy this, and I was thoroughly surprised with how much I frickin adored this sequel. I appreciate the author simultaneously dropping us back into the story and giving us a refresher of where we left off. This is a fantasy book, yes, about a girl doing all she can with her new found privilege while claiming her birthright, it’s also a tale of mental health, self care, and self-preservation being acts of resistance. Tarisai has a self-sacrificing nature due to her always feeling like she needs to prove that she belongs, and she folds herself and hides her rougher edges in order to be liked. I mean, damn. So MANY of us can relate to this. I felt so SEEN in Tarisai’s struggle to be “fine” and keep going, and I know so many Black girls and women in specific, especially those of us who deal with mental health issues, who can absolutely relate to this. I mean damn.

REDEMPTOR most definitely has feminist themes, and specifically explores the expectation of young women to aspire to motherhood, women in new positions of power previously unavailable to them, and women feeling undeserving and overwhelmed by the responsibility of breaking the glass ceiling. This book also has asexual rep, as well as depression and anxiety rep.