Book Review The Ivory Staff

Title: The Ivory Staff
Author: M. Lachi
Genre: New Adult Fantasy
Age Group: New Adult
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

How was young Samiyah to know that her simple grace, wit, and beauty—exceptional traits given her peasant class—would land her in the middle of a chessboard of high-level political turmoil or that the love that blinds politics, the hate that blinds brotherhood, and the lust that blinds love would flip that chessboard on its side? Rife with passionate dialog, edgy suspense, and epic conflict, this Dark Fairy Tale follows our heroine as she journeys to heal a nation broken by the internal prejudices of class warfare, armed with nothing but stark determination.

In The Ivory Staff, fifteen-year-old Maliko is snooping around in the forbidden room. The forbidden room is supposedly strictly off-limits, in particular the forbidden box stored inside the room. His Uncle Pan stops him from snooping inside the box, making Maliko suspect the box has something to do with his mother. As an orphan, the topic is always on Maliko’s mind, but Uncle Pan refuses to open up about it.

From two different perspectives, we next get the story of Samiyah, Maliko’s mother, a beautiful peasant girl who ends up in the middle of political turmoil. The story is enlightening, different, and it shows an interesting blend of characters, all of them with unique personalities.

I loved the worldbuilding. The story is set on a fictional island of the coast of North Africa, and focuses a lot on the quarrels between two tribes, but it’s this cultural undertone that makes it intriguing. I thought Saab was one of the most interesting, genuine characters in the book. All of the characters had flaws and were realistic, but I found I had an instant connection to Saab.

Fans of new adult books and fantasy will love this book. The worldbuilding is great, and it’s an interesting blend of politics, scheming, the difference between two classes and the discrimination and issues that brings, that combined in a plot that kept me on the edge of my seat.