King Jide Adelani’s rule over Yorumba in In the Shadow of Ruin was such an enjoyable read, and I could easily imagine this story transferred to the big screen. Debajo is an author I was previously unaware of, but has become one of my favourite modern day writers.

This was a real epic rollercoaster of a novel, with many fantastical elements as well as personal conflicts and war. There is a lot of subject matter in place, lots of names of characters, tribes, etc, so it does need a little focus when getting to grips with all of that, but when the pieces click into place this is such an enjoyable book. I’d love to see a movie version, but in the meantime I may go back and reread this one in a few months. ( )