In preparation for the release of Lore of the Tides by Analeigh Sbrana on July 8th, today we are diving into the themes as well as my thoughts on the first book in the duology, Lore of the Wilds.

If you have never had the pleasure to hear me yap about this book, or if this is your first time hearing about it, well buckle up, you are absolutely in for a ride!

Summary

A Fae lord who wants in.

A human woman willing to risk it all for a taste of power.

In a land ruled by ruthless Fae, twenty-one-year-old Lore Alemeyu’s village is trapped in a forested prison. Lore knows that any escape attempt is futile—her scars are a testament to her past failures. But when her village is threatened, Lore makes a desperate deal with a Fae lord. She will leave her home to catalog/organize an enchanted library that hasn’t been touched in a thousand years. No Fae may enter the library, but there is a chance a human might be able to breach the cursed doors.

She convinces him that she will risk her life for wealth, but really she’s after the one thing the Fae covet above all: magic of her own.

As Lore navigates the hostile world outside, she’s forced to rely on two Fae males to survive. Two very different, very dangerous, very attractive Fae males. When undeniable chemistry ignites, she’s not just in danger of losing her life, but her heart to the very creatures she can never trust.

Discussion

As we enter the world of Lore, we are met with two facts almost immediately:

1. The inhabitants of her town were ripped away from their world to Alytheria, and cannot leave.

2. Lore loves books and and has a vast collection of them.

While those two points may not connect on the surface, it becomes apparent to the reader that the stories as well as the history are what Duskmere, the town, value because stories are ways to teach the youth of what life was like in their rightful land. This also is even more important because, given that this is black fantasy, the practice of elders retelling stories and becoming storykeepers is some that is important within Black History. The preservation of these tales are often done orally as told to the youth as a celebration as well as cautionary tales.

Another thing that we learn about Lore's world is that she lost her parents before the narrative begins, and often divvies up her time by helping at the orphanage as well as working at the apothecary where she lives. The town is run down in contrast to the abundance that the fae just outside of Duskmere live in and outright forbid the humans from partaking in. They aren't even allowed to leave the town for fear of death. The Fae use their magic and power to control and assert dominance over the humans who then are seen as lesser beings. It is only when Lore is given the opportunity to be escorted to the castle due to her nature of being able to read, does she make a deal with the Fae lord in order to help out her town, which is crumbling after a horrible earthquake. Her task? To clean up a library.

Now any reader that I know would jump at the chance to clean a library and stay in a castle to do so, and the premise is something that Lore also enjoys. But she is still a prisoner. Still at the mercy of the Fae and the Fae lord and is constantly in danger due to the fact that she is put in this new location with no idea of the customs and how to "behave". She is also, all alone and pulled away from her community.

If the themes of Resistance and overcoming oppression are not apparent to you, then I implore you to take another look and mirror it with the systems of power that are in place during this day and age. While Lore and many of the Fae characters are Black, this is still an allegory for both slavery and systematic oppression. Taken from their land, a group of people are then forced to remain trapped within one location while dangerous forces and those who would bring harm are just outside waiting for them to "slip up". Waiting to assert their dominance. And the main thing that separates the two groups of people are those who can use magic (born to it) and those who cannot.

Re-reading my notes for this book while also watching Sinners on Juneteenth was a cultural experience as well as meaningful. Both pieces of fantasy that have elements of reality woven in, Sinners more so, but they talk about the importance of stories. Of narrative. Of music and magic and the power of words that can both command as well as entice those that would wish to do you harm. Those that would love to steal those words for their own gain and appropriate them.

I could honestly go on and on about how much this book means to me, to the point where I could do a ten minute Ted talk. But, I do not want to spoil a single bit of it, and would love for you to come to your own analysis on this beautiful work yourself.