One of the books I had the pleasure of reading during the month of February was "Of Fear and Faith" by N.D. Jones. This is the first book of the "Death and Destiny" trilogy. I accepted this book for review because it sounded so different from anything I have read before. I am a huge lover of mythology - I grew up hearing tales from Indian mythology and much of my own writing has been heavily influenced by these stories. When I was older, one of my favorite college classes was a world literature class. Most of these myths were from Asian and European countries. Unfortunately, I have had limited exposure to African mythology, which is why I was very excited to learn more.
The prologue hooked me right from the first sentence. The author set the scene beautifully, describing the ancient land of Yoruba, and the legend of the Fire and Water witches who would be born in 500 years. Once I finished this intro, I couldn't put the book down.
In the next few chapters we meet the main couple, special agent Assefa and Sanura, a psychology professor; as well as some of the supporting characters - Sanura's mother Makena, her godfather Mike (who is also Assefa's partner), and her ex boyfriend, Richard. The introductions are very well done and the characters are fleshed out well. Mike and Assefa are investigating the murder of a couple in their own home. Mike suspects that there is something unusual about this crime, so he asks his goddaughter to weigh in. Here we get our first clues that the main characters are not quite human.
Of Fear and Faith has a little bit of everything. It is a well written love story and compelling mystery. It has drama and horror and includes various paranormal creatures. The relationship between Sanura and Assefa develops at an appropriate pace, and the love scenes were well done. The various mysteries in the book kept me eagerly turning the pages.
My only qualm is that I felt that Richard's secrets, which were revealed much later in the book, felt like an afterthought. I would have liked a bit more insight into this character and the reasons for his actions in the book.
In technical terms, the book is well written with no noted typos. I am looking forward to learning more about the ancient legends of the fire and water witches as well as seeing how Sanura and Assefa's relationship progresses. I would be interested in reading subsequent books in this series as well as other works by this author!
My Rating: 4 stars.
