In the ancient city of Bassa, Danso is a clever scholar on the cusp of achieving greatness—except he doesn’t want it. Instead, he prefers to chase forbidden stories about what lies outside the city walls. The Bassai elite claim there is nothing of interest. The city’s immigrants are sworn to secrecy.
When Danso stumbles across a warrior wielding magic that shouldn’t exist, he’s put on a collision course with Bassa’s darkest secrets. Drawn into the city’s hidden history, he sets out on a journey beyond its borders—and the chaos left in the wake of his discovery could bring down an empire.
Like far too many books, Suyi Davies Okungbowa’s SON OF THE STORM was one I absolutely planned to read as soon as it was released. And here we are, four years later. But that’s just how it goes sometimes.
But goddamn, it was worth the wait. I fucking loved this so much! This is the first book in Okungbowa’s trilogy, THE NAMELESS REPUBLIC. And a quick look at the author’s website tells me the third book is coming in early 2026, giving me plenty of time to dive into book two, WARRIOR OF THE WIND!
My schedule has been a little bonkers & I finished this one awhile ago, so this review could feel a little spotty. This book is also wildly ambitious & complex, but I really wanted try to get some thoughts down.
The story is set in the city of Bassa, inspired by the empires of pre-colonial West Africa. There’s a very strict class hierarchy amongst the citizens of Bassa, much of it based around skin color. Trying to fully grasp the way this all worked was somewhat tricky to get the hang of.
One of the main POV characters is Danso, a novitiate scholar with his head in the clouds. Danso is what’s known as Shashi, essentially biracial. This puts him on the lowest echelon in Bassa. But still, he is on a path to success at the university…except he just kind of gets in his own way? Running late to important events seems to be the theme & that’s actually our first introduction to Danso, as he frantically races through the city.
Danso is engaged to a woman named Esheme, another of the POV characters. She’s also from a lower caste, but is much more ambitious than Danso. Although Danso seems somewhat smitten with Esheme (this is an arranged marriage, the two seem to just barely know one another), she is more often than not embarrassed by Danso and his bumbling around.
Our third main POV (there are a couple other characters who get their own chapters to a lesser extent) we don’t properly meet until decently far into the story. Her name is Lilong and she’s a warrior from a chain of islands known as the Nameless Islands.
Everything about Lilong is mysterious & the story fundamentally changes when she comes crashing into Danso’s life. Life for Danso (and all the people of Bassa) is almost like a carefully/politically manipulated illusion. No one really knows much about the world beyond the borders of Bassa, and it’s really frowned upon to even consider it. It’s very isolating & constrictive for someone with a curious mind.
Someone like Danso.
A whole world of strange & powerful magic exists, and Danso is about to have his entire worldview cataclysmically altered. This is…just the bare bones of what is happening in this book, no doubt.
Okungbowa’s world is so intricately created, and so vivid on the page. The city of Bassa is this bustling, sometimes chaotic environment. But as the story progresses, we see other parts of this world & they’re stunningly descriptive. The Breathing Forest in particular really blew me away. It’s this forbidden/foreboding rainforest beyond the city limits & the sequence that takes place there is such a blast! Okungbowa really knows how to ratchet up the tension & excitement & sense of adventure/discovery, and yeah, the whole Breathing Forest sequence is so memorable.
I loved the dynamics between Danso & Lilong, as they struggle to communicate and understand one another. Their lives have been so profoundly different, and now they’re on this epic quest together. Just a really great duo & I’m looking forward to seeing more of them!
The book also has a pretty elaborate magic system. I don’t usually get too bogged down trying to understand much about different magic systems, but I like the way this is handled here. It’s based around a magical mineral called ibor, which comes in a few different colors. Different wielders (or iborworkers) can use the different colors with varying degrees of skill, including red ibor, which allows the wielder to control dead entities! Pretty gnarly stuff.
This was just an awesome story, and a great book one! Really excited to carry on with the trilogy!
I listened to a lot of this one on audio & I was super impressed with the narrator, Korey Jackson! He bounces around with a lot of different accents & really immerses the listener into this world. Such a great performance!
Big thanks to Orbit & Hachette Audio for this one!
Grimdark Dad 