REVIEW: A Song of Legends Lost by M. H. Ayinde
I’ll admit it: I judged a book by its cover. I saw a giant flaming figure towering over a smaller warrior and thought, “Oh wow, that looks cool,” and decided M. H. Ayinde’s debut novel, A Song of Legends Lost, would be a good read. Luckily for me, this snap judgement proved to be correct; Ayinde’s science fantasy epic was a tremendous read and one I enjoyed, even though it isn’t quite what I expected. I was genuinely surprised to realise that this was Ayinde’s debut novel. It is exceptionally well written. She keeps on top of the multiple perspectives and blends the plot and the characters in an engaging and entertaining way. Also, props to artist Richard Anderson because that cover is superb.
Set in secondary fantasy world of the Nine Lands, A Song of Legends Lost is a story of war and rebellion. Here, a small group of noble bloods are called to be Invokers. They are warriors who can summon the spirits of their Ancestors and wield their powers in battle. Until Temi, a low-blood commoner, accidentally invokes and discovers it could be the key to ending the war that has been waging for generations and tipping the balance of power away from the nobles.
If you like epic fantasy with a slightly darker edge, A Song of Legends Lost is probably a read you will enjoy. If you like your epic fantasy with a slightly darker edge and a science fiction twist (like, for example, Mark Lawrence’s The Library Trilogy), then A Song of Legends Lost would definitely be a good book for you to pick up.
Ayinde has given us many treats as fans of the genre, with maps, an extensive character list, and multiple points of view to follow in the novel. Temi, the commoner who can invoke, is one of the five perspectives in the story. There is also Jiano, a noble, Father Boleo, a monk, Elari, a warrior, and Runt, a pot girl. Ayinde’s ensemble cast covers almost all walks of life, and it creates a story that the reader hears from a range of people and places in this vast world. Rarely for a multiple POV novel, I did not have a favourite viewpoint in A Song of Legends Lost. I found each of them equally as compelling and enjoyable as the others.
However, the science fiction elements surprised me as, initially, there was nothing to suggest that A Song of Legends Lost wasn’t a straight-up epic fantasy novel. I tend not to enjoy science fiction books, so when these elements came into play, I was worried it would spoil the story. I was pleasantly surprised to find it did not, and Ayinde wove fantasy and sci-fi together in a way that would make the novel appeal to fans of both genres. Also, A Song of Legends Lost is a rare bird in today’s fantasy world because it has no romantic plot elements. This might feel very refreshing to some readers and certainly makes the novel stand out at a time when everything else seems to be being shoved under the romantasy label.
An element that I struggled with in A Song of Legends Lost was the novel’s structure. It isn’t that there are multiple POVs; it is the fact that we switch between only two perspectives for the first part of the novel, and then the others are introduced. It felt like it was jarring to follow these new voices suddenly, and then it was too long before we returned to the earlier characters. But I am reserving judgment on this and won’t go so far as to call it a fault because I know I was reading A Song of Legends Lost in a very disjointed way. Reading it in tiny chunks and spreading it over a few weeks may be why the structure didn’t click with me rather than the writing. Reading like this also means I can’t comment on the pacing of Ayinde’s writing. However, I was interested enough to keep coming back, and it flowed nicely when I could read more than a chapter at a time.
A Song of Legends Lost is a massive science fantasy epic, with a wide cast of characters and detailed worldbuilding. Ayinde is a writer to keep an eye on in the fantasy world and hopefully we will get more of the same from her as The Invoker Trilogy continues. Thank you to M. H. Ayinde and the Orbit team for sending us a copy of A Song of Legends Lost.
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