Raybearer set the bar incredibly high and, while still incredibly enjoyable, Redemptor wasn't quite as good. The plot was absolutely delightful and I loved seeing more of Dayo and his asexuality (yay representation!) He's such an incredble character and I am happy that we didn't lose his presence in this book (as we could so easily have as Tarisai has a whole lot of daunting tasks coming up). I also loved seeing Tarisai grow now that she is no longer trapped by her mother, although she definitely faces whole new kind of cruel and manipulative presence in this book. I also enjoyed her stress-induced spiralling. I think many people ill be able to relate to it to some degree even if they haven't experienced it to the same extent she is. I'm glad that she had people who stuck by her and looked out for her through it all.

I was, however, a little disappointed by all the new characters. There are A LOT of them and I feel like less care is given to them than those in the first book. And yet a good portion of the pages is dedicated to this. It means that other important plot points probably aren't given as much space and time as they should have. I really think this book could have benefitted from more pages to accomplish all the many things it as trying to do. Maybe even a whole other book, but I suspect that that would have just resulted in the story dragging so just expanding this (although already not short) would have been a noticeable improvement. Like I would have loved to have seen more of the Underworld as the author clearly put so much effort into making it. (And of course it's also what the duology has been building up to for hundreds of pages) as well as the resolution.

While this book might not quite have lived up to Raybearer for me, I did still enjoy it and would still recommend it. It provides a good conclusion to all the conflict and the story that were started in the previous book. And of course it is always nice to read about a unique fantasy world that is so unlike the more typical western-centric ones that one comes across so often. I hope that the author writes more about the world in the future. It is definitely one I would love to spend more time exploring. ( )

A fitting end. I've to buy this one now too! I definitely want to read more from this author.

Nitpick: Besides Sanjeet and Kirah, the other council bros/sisters don't get any more spotlight. I was hoping to learn more about them in this book. ( )

(Review also posted on Netgalley)
Solid sequel to Raybearer; 4.5/5 stars

When I began the book I was a bit confused on how much time had passed, but Ifueko quickly centers you in Tarisai's journey to connect with 11 others before her trip to the underworld. The pacing was interesting--slow build with Tarisai's journey in the underworld taking up about 15% of the book towards the last quarter of the book. This pacing is not for everyone, and I typically don't enjoy books that follow this flow.

I appreciated the the Lady was included, but her presence was brief and aligned with what we learned about her in the the first book. I wish there was more about Kirah in this book--she and Tarisai seemed to grow alongside each other in the first book!

ALSO, the way in which Dayo's asexuality was presented was so positive throughout the book, and it was valuable that this was shown as a key part of his identity, without it being the only part of his character worth sharing. Ifueko crafted a strong world, consistent with the first book--definitely recommend to have this book on hand for students, although I would not personally choose to teach this text due to the odd pacing. ( )

Satisfying conclusion to Raybearer.

Tarasai is now the Empress Redemptor. She is determined to stop her people from suffering, be it from child sacrifice, worker exploitation, or justice. Despite being Dayo's Raybearer, and tasked with creating her own council of Raybearers, she often tries to go it alone.

I feel like the book could have been longer. I wanted more Dayo and more bonding with the other rulers. However, the story is told from Tar's POV, and she is on a Mission. And she is focused on the Mission. ( )

This was a great conclusion to the Raybearer duology.

In this book the focus is on improving society and what realistically can be done to achieve that. I like how the book addressed an extreme of it with the Crocodile while showing the downside of letting the mission become someone's entire reason for living through Tarisai. I think this is a struggle a lot of people will relate to, especially now in the age of social media that allows us to have access to so many awful things happening at the same time. Tarisai is always hearing these voices that tell her to do more and more and she forgets to take care of herself, which makes all those that care about her worry. I really liked how this plot was addressed.

Even though I predicted some of the reveals, like in the former book, it was still such a joy to read. I loved seeing a bit more of characters I already knew and getting to meet new characters. Once again i feel like the author could write a story about any of these characters because they have so much potential. However, I understand that the duology should stick to the main themes addressed and that this is mainly about Tarisai's growth. I love it for that even if I think there were other ideas for characters that would have been interesting to explore.

The resolution at the end was a bit easy and I was expecting more out of the Underworld chapters, but I still really liked the conclusion and these two books are absolutely worth reading. ( )