The Twelve Realms
Nabii, a young Moorish royal, endures harrowing nights of chilling visions. When an eccentric priest and a mysterious shaman pursue an end to her horrors, they unveil a series of cryptic messages and discover her dreams are linked to an ages-old mystical prophecy with global implications. The Twelve Realms is a historical reimagining that links kings and paupers, priests and soldiers, and shaman and witches in an epic adventure. Nabii is the key within a tapestry of intertwined people from Western Africa to the Far East and the British Isles who must join forces and find a weapon that will defeat the shadows prophesized to rise from the deep.
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So sweeping and epic historical fantasy is hard to pull off, but The Twelve Realms does it expertly. Sloane digs up forgotten nuggets from history and inserts them into the tapestry of this book, pulling from African and Druidic lore and blending them with elemental magic: water, air, and fire. swoon
Though vastly different (an intellectual vs a warrior), Nabii and her twin Nahlah both control water, and their story is one of two powerful sisters who carry the fate of the world in their hands. Even when they make decisions you know they shouldn't, you can't help wanting them to succeed because the world they're living in is so ruthless, magical, beautiful, and often times deeply patriarchal—you want these two women to overcome the challenges facing them.
Yet the elemental and prophetic conflicts are, at bottom, human stories. I enjoyed the painstaking vividness of being plunged into ancient Africa and Mesopotamia. The characters stole my heart. If there's a book 2, I'm in.
Thanks to the publisher for the 2nd edition of this book.
