The Waning

by Wunmi Aramiji

I am the beginning and the end.
The darkness that creates and devours.
The virgin, the mother, and the barren one.
The sacred whore.
I am the stillness from which chaos emerges.

Meera is one of five women who each hold a part of the defeated goddess of death and chaos within them. When the group’s high priestess is murdered, Meera and her three remaining spirit sisters must undergo the Waning ceremony for the second time. Only one of them will be chosen to serve as a vessel for the goddess again. She will become high priestess and mother of witches. The other three women will die trying.

As Meera strives to survive the ceremony, she must also contend with the greed of the noble class and the faith her fellow Endzone laborers have put in her. Will she be able to kill the king and end his oppressive regime or will the king be successful in his quest to birth a new evil into the world? With only three months left until the Waning, time is not on Meera’s side.

Set in the desert kingdom of Ile-Oja, the waning reimagines aspects of Yoruba culture and spirituality to create a dazzling world unlike any other.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Queer, Science Fiction, Mythology, Dystopia, Science Fiction Fantasy

432 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2024

About the author

Wunmi Aramiji is a scientist, artist and storyteller exploring the ways harmony emerges from, exists beside, and thrives within chaos. As both a scientist and an artist, Wunmi is driven by the desire to make sense (and nonsense) of the human experience. She is particularly passionate about centering the experiences of those on the fringes of society and sees community building and caretaking as essential to holistic being.

After graduating with a BS in Chemistry and a MS in Materials Science from Stanford, Wunmi spent almost two years as a research scientist studying works of art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. During that time, she wrote her debut novel, The Waning. Wunmi is now a PhD candidate in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern.

When she’s not writing, Wunmi spends her time doing ceramics, pole dancing, and embroidering random articles of clothing for her friends.

Reviews

[Meredith Moga Dooley · Rating 2 out of 5]

ieieie it hurts my heart to rate this low. But like who did the editing. There were several typos and missing words throughout the book, and like, it was digitally available from my library so? Like someone didn't do their job.
Also, the author uses "ever so often" multiple times in the book, and they 100% mean "every so often", it took me out of the story each time.
The storyline itself needs work. It is creative, but we jump into the fray right from the get and I am LOST. We could have used way more world building and way less bull. There are so many scenes that were unnecessary and didn't add character development or plot. And genuinely made me hate the main girl she was so annoying and dumb. The scene where she gets drunk and fights someone? I can't.
In one chapter, the author randomly announces a character is trans so awkwardly, and then it is never discussed or referenced again it felt so out of the blue?? Mess.
I am very surprised by all the issues of this book seeing as Aramiji went to Stanford??? Like baby. What??
This needs edits. And more plot. And less fluff. I was so excited to get swept up in this storyline, I saw this in a tiktok about black authors and black fantasy, but this did not deliver. I'm SORRY but it had to be said.

[Clarissa Casagrande · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ran into Wunmi Aramiji on my Instagram reels, specifically on the reel where she says her debut novel was rejected by 20 agents. And all I have to say... what the hell do you mean 20 agents rejected this story?!

Aramiji's writing is so entertaining and the main character, Meera, is a breath of fresh air amongst fantasy female protagonists. Everything about this story felt so unfamiliar (in the best way possible), so unpredictable, and so addictive. One thing I appreciate as a reader is extremely well thought out characters, and Aramiji nails this to a tee. There's so much complexity and layers to every last character we are introduced to throughout the story, and it creates multiple nuances in every piece of dialogue.

Relating to dialogues, there's something that deserves a special mention, which I haven't seen many authors master quite like Aramiji. No matter what we know about a character, any character at all, Aramiji carefully describes their look, micro expressions and gestures, and tone of voice without going overboard, which can happen very easily. If you're good at reading people and/or situations with minimal information, this particular feature about The Waning will keep you hooked. You distrust and also trust some characters very quickly and you can't even point any exact reason why. Being able to do that if anything is a sign of an extremely talented writer, and I hope Aramiji realises that about herself.

I have a feeling I'm not the only reader getting tired of the same old fantasy/scifi themes and tropes that take the masses by storm. Even though I'm all about the dragons too, but I don't think I need to mention any specific stories for you to understand what it is I'm trying to say... The Waning offers a completely new and fresh world to explore, and I'm already itching to read where Aramiji will take us with Meera and hopefully, with many other unreleased stories.

P.S. I am head over heels in love with Aris. For the love of everything holy, may he survive whatever it is he has ahead of him.

[Nguwasen · Rating 5 out of 5]

**4.5 stars rounded up to 5 for the scale**

There’s something chaotically beautiful about "The Waning." It felt like there was never a dull moment because of how consistently unexpected the plot remained throughout the book. Every time I thought I had wrapped my head around where the story was going, another twist would surprise me.

The author’s writing style was also helpful in keeping the story engaging. I appreciated the immersive world-building, although sometimes intricate details were brushed over, which could make the larger concepts hard to grasp.

The book concludes with an open ending, leaving the characters faced with uncertainty. This sets up great potential for a sequel, in my opinion. However, some readers might find the lack of a definitive ending a bit frustrating.

If you’re looking for an exciting, fast-paced fantasy novel, I highly recommend checking this one out when it releases on July 1st. Overall, I’m so grateful to have read the ARC of this book!

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well told story, but...

Overall, the plot was interesting and compelling, but the writing was bogged down by grammatical errors and misspelled words. For instance, when describing something that was fate, the author used the word, "faith," on more than one occasion. Further, when one character was using a "pail," for water, the word choice was "pale." I could go on; i.e. the word, "murmur" misspelled "mummer."

I *really* want Ms. Aramiji to succeed in her literary endeavors, as she has demonstrated great curiosity about the world, greed, apathy, power dynamics, and economic justice. But, I found the misspellings, poorly chosen words, and at least one character blunder actually detracted from my overall reading enjoyment. It is clear that a second book will be released, so my hope is that her publisher and/or editor do a better job at catching and correcting easily fixed mistakes, so that her readers aren't distracted from the richness of the storyline.

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I want to preface this by congratulating the author on self-publishing her book. It takes a lot of determination and self-belief to bring your story into the world despite facing a number of rejections. I hope she continues to grow in her writing journey and builds up her skills and expertise the more she writes. I sincerely wish her the best in this.
As much as I acknowledge that this is a self-published debut novel, I will critique it the same way I do any other book I read with the hope that she learns from the missteps she made in The Waning. If I am harsh, I don’t do it out of malice. This is not personal. I bring the issues to light so that she knows exactly what went wrong in this book and can fix them better in future books. I have some writing suggestions at the end that will hopefully be of help to her.
Now, the review.

***

This was a bad book. A book with a good idea and concept, but the execution was terrible. I had problems with nearly every page I read. I was consistently underwhelmed and irritated by what followed. I honestly wanted to quit ⅓ of the way in, but my brain values closure over sanity, so I somehow pushed myself to finish this book. It made me question whether I’m a masochist. I read with that perverse compulsion to pick at a near-open wound to see how bad it would hurt this time. So, closure and morbid curiosity. I paid for it in the end, but at least I got my closure.

EVERYTHING WRONG WITH THIS BOOK.
1. The writing– It’s really bad.
The author writes like she doesn’t understand what exactly she wants to say or what effect she wants her words to convey, so she uses two wholly contradicting verbs or adjectives to describe one sentence. And it’s not a skilful contrast. It’s a jarring patchwork of words, like she wrote the same novel in two different tones and meshed them together without smoothing it over. And sometimes the book reads like a translation from a wholly foreign culture and I even had to google where the author is from. She’s American. She might have African parents but I know an American accent when I hear one and I heard it in her videos (she's very articulate and thoughtful btw). So English isn’t a foreign language to her, meaning she ought to know how English words work. Alas, no. It’s like the literature version of that double red-blue vision you get when your camera is tweaking, but where they overlap it’s a conFused jOlt of co!oUr? In some cases, the text felt like an AI prompted to write a story after feeding it books found online—it understands the concept of things in theory but being non-human, there’s only so much it can glean from literature before the flaws in its understanding show.
Some spoiler-free quotes from the book as examples (with commentary):
[btw, all the typos and weird grammatical errors are from the actual book]

“Where do you think?” he shouts. “The Deadends,” he says, voice low but tone short and crisp. (which is it, are you shouting or murmuring?)

Aris reins in his hamel, bringing it to a screeching halt. (brought an animal to a screeching halt like it’s Looney Tunes)

His skin is taught against his bones, besides the sliver of well-defined muscle between the two. (idek what this was supposed to be but i laughed.)

Bear places one hand atop the other, resting both of them atop his cane, then resting the bottom of the chin on the entire ensemble. (do you see how this sounds like AI?)

He smiles that insufferable smile again. I swallow the lump in my throat. Blood thrashes around my cheek and neck. (Blood what???)

When he raises his hung head, it’s none other than ‘ smirking a cocky smile as he bleeds through the cuts in his black leather uniform. (no notes.)

2. The plot—is weak
It was barely there. It felt like thin paint that slowly peels off in humidity. Like using four strings of thread as a blanket. I don’t understand why she chose that blurb. The whole virgin, mother, sacred whore had no significance whatsoever. The Waning itself is very irrelevant. It’s brought up every fifty pages or so by the MC but it comes off with as much emotion and weight as your phone asking you to update its software, with 3% of its urgency. The oppressors are oppressive because the book needed someone to be oppressed. From the introduction I’d expected weight in it, some kind of twisted rationalization of why certain people needed to be kept down and pushed into servitude. But no. The people in power are evil because. Sure we sometimes see them being bad and mean, but why? Plot. Conflict. Righteous anger and uprising. That’s it. I was so underwhelmed I felt I was going into emotional debt. In the end, I just felt tired.

3. The characters— human-shaped vacuums.
I’m going to overindulge a bit and use one of the rants I’d written as I read the book. The sum of it is the characters are empty space.
*
I’ve never had more to say about characters with a deficiency in substance.

(rant as I read the book) Honestly, I hated the writing so much I almost didn’t notice how flat and fake the characters are. No personality (and the writing DEFINITELY did not help with this), no life, nothing. I don’t even know how to describe them. I don’t have any sense of their personality. The only one I can describe is Sade, and that’s just because her personality is a weird kind of outlier. The rest are cardboard with no colour painted on top. So if I don’t even have ONE word to describe the main character, let alone the supporting characters, are they even 1D or do they not exist yet? And why is Meera even the MC? There’s nothing there to watch. I’m not even joking. She does nothing but move from place to place with her mates. She sits and thinks a bit then walks over to stand in a new patch of grass to think some more. She talks with her sisters then goes back to her room to sit and think. What is she thinking of? I don’t know. Nothing comes of anything. She’s just there. I actually wish Sade was the MC. At least we’d see someone moving with purpose, which is crazy since Meera was supposed to be helping the rebellion from the inside but even she admitted that after her first night there, she basically gave up and went to water her plants. Like????? And when she’s not thinking about air, she dreams a lot, but they don’t feel like they have a point except to present the aesthetic of a twisted mental landscape, but it comes off as confused and unfathomably tiring.

AND DON’T GET ME STARTED ON THE MEERA-ARIS THING. I cannot even use the word romance to describe this because there was absolutely nothing there!! These two people do not like each other and have no connection, chemistry, energy or personality, but all of a sudden they switch up and begin the process of feeling hot and heavy for no reason whatsoever (honestly it was less hot and heavy and more like watching robots try to mate). It’s like someone suddenly turned on a switch and they both randomly got into heat every now and then. There are no emotions whatsoever involved, I promise. One moment, they’re talking somewhat about a rebellion, next she’s on his lap and he’s asking her if she wants it. It’s the equivalent of going to a food truck to buy a shawarma, then a man walks over and asks you if you want to have sex, then you’re both on the ground on top of each other. Brother WHAT???

I’m so done. (end of rant)

THE MC:
The way I always have to pause and think to remember her name.

She’s like a blank canvas you buy because you want to paint it. You know you want to make something great and you want to capture it right. So you buy the canvas but aren’t quite sure how you want to start. You don’t want to mess up the canvas, you see. So you set it aside and wait for the right idea to hit you. You place it against the wall and walk around and have lunch. The canvas is still there. You decide to deal with it in the morning. You wake up. The canvas is still there. The idea isn’t. So you walk around it and do a lot of other things that aren’t painting the canvas. Days go by. Weeks pass. Finally, you resign yourself to the fact that you don’t know what you want to do with the canvas. So you simply decide to hang it up on your wall and let it stay there. Maybe one day you’ll know the vision you want for your canvas. Until then, that rectangular cut of white canvas will hang on your wall, blank, mildly resigned, knowing that it will never have a spot of colour in its life. That’s Meera.

She’s like when you have a thought but it slips away from you too quickly to catch. Or hear a song in the background or see a famous face and you’re just trying to catch their name because it’s right there, it’s right there in your mind, you can see it, you just need to reach back a little farther and you’ll have it and it’s absolutely maddening because the more you reach the farther away it disappears and it’s driving you crazy and you can't even google it because the song already passed or the face already disappeared so now all you have is this growing frustration settling in your head because you KNOW that song, you KNOW that face, WHY can’t you remember its name? You never remember its name. Eventually, frustrated, you let it go, but only just. Your mind is still quietly trying to recall it in the background but it never does. Your only hope now is that someone calls out the name out of random chance and FINALLY you can have the relief and release of knowing that name. This feeling, this itch you can’t scratch, is Meera.

Her character is like a wall deficient in colour. Not white, as white still has something to say. Not colourless, since that’s still an interesting choice of wall. Not black, as it has a mood or atmosphere about it. Not even grey. It’s just a very parched wall deficient in colour. I also picture paper mache that’s left in water too long and then dried out in the sun until it crumbles. That’s Meera.
How a vacuum of a character can evoke so many images and descriptions from my head needs to be studied.

ARIS:
Does things, supposedly.

SADE:
A jumble of characteristics. I can’t help but picture a hyena when I think of her. You know that weird laugh hyenas do? That's how I picture her. Idk why. She’s just a lot, and nothing at all. A walking juxtaposition. At least she does something (I think), even though it’s dumb. Really dumb. Nonsensical even. But she does something.

THE REST:
Are there, apparently.
*

In essence, the characters were simultaneously robotic and vacuumous. They had as much impact as a scream in space. This genuinely needs to be studied.

4. The world—Brittle
I guess I can kind of see it if I squint, but it felt like a world crafted in a low-budget video game whose edges are just a two-minute walk away and beyond is the vast whiteness of pixelated space. I also don’t understand why 65% of the characters we know are non-African. I thought this was an African fantasy, but nearly everyone in power is white or asian. There’s no reason given. Maybe it’s colonialism, maybe that’s just the world, but considering how thoughtful Aramiji sounds in her videos, I’d expect a bit more clarity on the history of this world and why she made it that way. As it is, the people in power are non-black and the oppressed are black. Because. Even their names aren’t African; they’re almost always Western. Did I get it twisted and jump to my own conclusions? Was this actually not set in a dystopian version of Africa? Please let me know. If it’s my own misunderstanding, ignore this critique.

5. The magic—??
These women apparently have the essence of a goddess of chaos within them. Something dangerous and to be feared. The main antagonist also has the essence of the sun god. Sounds cool, yeah? What do they amount to? Laser eyes. Sonic screams that somehow deflect said laser eyes (please don’t ask me, I don’t know). Blood-bending. Weird dreams. The ability to get into a person’s mind and watch their sexual experiences. Now, maybe, somehow, if this were done right, MAYBE this could still be intriguing. As it is, we only get two scenes in this whole book where these were put into play for conflict, and the only ones who seemed to actually use their powers relatively sensibly are the antagonists. Our MC for example, instead of using her vague powers, decides to tackle a blood-bender. Smart, yeah?

6. The writing—bonus.
More unasked-for quotes from the book that made me laugh in pain (with more unasked-for commentary):

She releases her grip on him, ruffling over to my side in the next instant… (how does a person ruffle over?)

I should join, too, but even after hours of doing nothing, I can’t find the energy to do so. (Meera’s existence in one sentence.)

“It’s not much. We spend most of our time waiting on the plants we have in a rotunda that joins our rooms. Or we wait to be sent on assignments by the king.” (Even Meera said it. That’s literally all they do.)

He makes two tsk sounds by pressing his tongue to the back of his teeth. (yes, that’s how tsking works.)

I lay my head on the rough, porous surface, feeling the cold stone beneath the tips of my fingers. (... were you talking about your head or hand?)

Bear gives me a disappointed look, shaking his head slightly from left to right. (I’m glad she clarified because sometimes I shake my head up and down.)

The guard snares, baring a line of yellowed and crooked teeth, one missing from each row.

(This is what the MC, a vessel of the goddess of chaos and holder of (apparently) dangerous, scary powers, does to her comrade, a fellow vessel of the goddess, who can bend the blood in her veins—and she just did it to the MC!) I run towards her, throwing my body at her and knocking us both down to the ground.

“I can’t make it past the wall,” she says, shaking his head. (Laughed too much at this. Imagine someone actually shaking someone else’s head. LMAO. )

My eyes dart to the sky, suddenly aware of the darkened sky. (A way with words.)

In the end, all I did was for nothing. (I didn’t read the “for” at first and vehemently agreed.)

But like a ball rolls down a hill, Adara’s essence expands to fill all voids,… (what an analogy. brilliant.)
***

Writing suggestions for the author:
I could honestly do a chapter by chapter breakdown of what was done wrong and how to fix it but I don’t have the time, space or energy and I’m not getting paid to do this so I’ll just do it in a general summary of the basics.
1. Find an editor and a proofreader. If you already do, fire them and get new ones, or pay them extra to do their job better. There were too many mistakes in this book. It drove me insane. Punctuation, grammar inconsistencies—work on these.
2. Attend a writing class. Learn how to structure your sentences. Google the verbs you want to use and find out how they work in the right context. I could actually write a whole paper for this alone but I’ll use only a few examples.
-In one chapter you wrote, "She streamed into the room” but I don’t see how one person can stream. That verb is used to describe a multitude. But later you used it properly when describing a group of people entering the room. That context was correct. But these kinds of misuse made the book feel like it was written by AI. It knew the basic meaning of the word and had a vague idea of how it’s used in literature, but the knowledge was imperfect so it almost always feels and looks off when reading.
-Learn the difference between “weary” and “wary” because you mixed them up a lot.
-Learn how to use contrast properly. I don’t understand how someone can “half-whisper, half-yell”. Either you do one or fail at both, in which case what’s the point at all?
3. Stop telling. Nearly every single writing advice video on YouTube will tell you “Show, don’t tell”. You tell a lot. A lot. You tell everything, in fact. The “sisterhood” of the Galed. The sudden desire to breed between Meera and Aris. The forgotten histories. Character motives(?). The importance of the Waning. And so on. Maybe the one thing you did right was showing the nature of the king in his pursuits. Do more of that. Stop dictating what you want your readers to know. Make us believe it.
4. Read a book or article or whatever you can on writing characters with substance. Add depth. Learn how to write genuine connections. The Galed felt like women who had known and lived with each other for a month, max. There were no memories or whatever to back up their 2-year relationship. They also had no personalities, especially the main character. There are many structures to making believable characters. Google them. There are plenty of free resources to do this. Wattpad is a great example. Read a few writing books there.
5. Work on your romance. There was absolutely no chemistry, rhyme or reason why Aris and Meera suddenly had eyes for each other. It was jarring, extremely uncomfortable and very stale. It felt like what robots think romance and sexual tension look like. Learn how to set up romances. Read a romance book. Considering the direction I think you were aiming for, try a romantasy. I'm even recommending ACOTAR and Fourth Wing for this. Take notes. Destructure and recreate the romances that appeal to you and see how to apply them to your story. (don’t copy-paste/plagiarise, obviously.)
6. Read a lot of great fantasy books to learn how to make your fantasy world feel real and alive. I barely felt like this world actually existed. It’s like those old games where you go beyond its boundaries and there’s nothing but white pixels. I’d suggest reading Mistborn because of its singular setting. This one did a great job in making a dystopian world feel real and whole. If you want an African setting, try Children of Blood and Bone. That one had some substance.
7. Make sure your world makes sense and you communicate that properly. I don’t understand how these different races came to this land and set up camp there. Have they always been there? Is it all one great land of diverse races? If not, are there other continents? Did the desert-like conditions affect all areas or just this one land? Is this all that’s left of humanity? Also, explain how the ruling class got their power and why they succeeded in doing so. Was it colonialism? Because it just seems like they’re in power for the sake of having someone at the top to fight against. Make your dystopia and the ruling structures make sense. Again, read Mistborn.

Once more, this was an impersonal review with the hope of highlighting key issues in the book to give the author a starting point for future improvement. If I was too harsh, I apologise. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I wish you all the best.

[Estelle Archer · Rating 2 out of 5]

**spoilers**
As with many others, I wanted to love it.
The whole concept was amazing. The idea of the goddess and the lack of water… it was just so cool. But that’s pretty much all that I liked about it. The book should have been about 200-300 pages to fully flesh out the timeline, the character development, and the lore/ idea. I felt like the whole book was a push to get through and the ending was terribly fast.

Many have spoken about the editing and I agree. It definitely could have used a developmental editor or another round of betas.

Also, the more I read, the more I really appreciate trigger warnings. There was one scene in particular that just came out of no where and for no reason. It served to only create a distance between the MCs. That was unnecessary.
While have sex with the MM (main male) our MC sees a memory of him getting pegged by a previous lover of hers (Lazarus) and Lazarus’s mother!?? I just… I can’t. It created a conflict that honestly was unnecessary and instead we could have had them grow stronger as a “couple”.

Anyways, the concept was super awesome and I really think a rewrite with an editor or a development editor would make a world of difference.

[Sami BigBull · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book, I preordered it after seeing a video from the author on Instagram, and was looking forward to a fem-forward fantasy that was going up against the patriarchy.
But man, I just couldn't get into it. I had a hard time caring about any of the characters, and the pacing left me rereading things constantly because things seemed to occur at random. So much time was spent on unnecessary descriptions, yet the meat and potatoes of the story felt rushed and sporadic.
The actual concept is one I'm still very intrigued by, but the execution could have been improved substantially. If this were to be re-edited, and if the pacing were approached differently, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more.
**Small spoilers ahead (don't really impact the story)**
I was also really offput by the scene where the MC and the MM were getting intimate, and she flashes to his memory of him being SA'd. It felt... Poorly placed and poorly written. I really could have done with this concept being handled with more care, especially since this is written for a YA audience. As a survivor myself, this almost caused me to stop reading the book entirely.
Also is it just me, or did it feel like just tossing in that a character was trans was to check a box? I would have loved more exploration around this, but instead it's mentioned like twice, and seems to be there just to say she wrote in a trans character. I found this incredibly disappointing and this could have been a really thoughtful and intentional opportunity to showcase the depth of trans identity - instead it felt empty and almost distasteful.
It's still to be seen if I'll bother to read the sequel when it comes out...

[Drea · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Waning is a really cool concept for a fantasy story that never fully reached its potential. (Rated 2.5)

I am not sure if this book is purposely trying to be part of the romantasy genre but it does not work. It has the same weaknesses as many other romantasy books do:

- The romance is under developed (tbh the weakest point of the story)
- The fantasy world building was clunky and lacked cohesion
- The plot felt like multiple different scenes without much connective tissue in between.

Ironically, even though the book is over 400 pages I think it could have used more time in building the characters and world around us. While I liked Meera just fine, I was never fully captivated by her journey and the battle against the evil king.

I will say that there is one scene in the middle of the book where the powers of the king are revealed that showcased how good the book COULD be.

TW: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and War

[Teresa]

DNF at page 123. This book has a lot of potential to be something really great. It could also use a good editor to help it get there, for line edits and big picture stuff like flow. The writing style was clunky at times. Conceptually, the world is interesting and I’m intrigued to learn more. The sense of setting is definitely there. There’s some body horror type stuff in the first couple chapters that I wasn’t a fan of. The characters are pretty interesting. I hope this goes the route of Atlas Six and gets picked up by a big publisher because I can really see how good this good be! It’s just not there yet, imo.

[Nicki Gunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF I just did not care about these characters or their struggles or the Waning. I tried. I failed. I got pretty far into it, more than half way. It was an ok book but it's not important for me to finish it.

[Steph (starrysteph)]

What would you sacrifice to take down an oppressive regime? The Waning is a story of violent patriarchal cycles … and those that are destined to break them.

Meera wants to kill her king. As one of five spirit sisters who contains part of the goddess of chaos, she sits in a peculiar position in the palace. They witness the hunger and greed of the nobles, the desperation of the Midzoners, and the devastation of the Endzoners.

The desert kingdom of Ile-Oja doesn’t remember the last time they saw rain, and the lake that they all rely on has been shrinking more and more with each passing year. While the royals squeeze up the tiny amount of resources of the region, the rest of the people labor, suffer, and starve.

When the high priestess is murdered, the four remaining women must prepare to undergo a dangerous ritual once more. Only one will survive, and that new mother of witches might just be powerful enough to defeat the king and restructure their world.

Dystopian regimes and magical cycle breakers aren’t new concepts, but this is a unique story all the same. The world and mythology were fascinating, and we definitely only put some of the pieces together. This is very clearly a society that has repeated the language of the victors again and again, and the truth of the creation of their world will still have to be unveiled.

I absolutely loved the emphasis on community care and how compassionate leadership and looking out for each other is the way to reshape unjust societies. The resistance (at its best) isn’t composed of scrappy individualistic fighters. It’s an entirely new way of existing with each other.

The prose is often clunky, and so is the pacing. Many sentences were structured awkwardly, and sometimes things were frustratingly repetitive. I also found the character development to be a bit weak, and I’m not sure I ever understood the inner workings of Meera. But I see the gem inside this story - I just think it needs a kick-ass editor.

There was also a really tough moment amidst the budding romance that confused me. There was this shock of sexual abuse thrown at us and then the love interest immediately loses faith in Meera. It felt a little needless and also out of character.

But this was a really exciting new fantasy story to me, and I was never quite sure where we were headed next. If you don’t mind a little bit of clumsiness, I would give it a try!

CW: death, murder, genocide, animal cruelty, vomit, kidnapping, body horror, rape, child abuse, classism, pregnancy, cannibalism, torture, slavery, colonization, fire

Follow me on social media for book recommendations!

(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

[Sandra F · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starting interesting, turned generic, stopped reading halfway through.

[Deandre Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Generational Talent

The Waning is right on the border between young adult and adult fiction. Great for those who find YA has become a bit too immature, too tropey, or no longer exciting but also find “adult” fantasy to be too slow-paced.

This reminds me of NK Jemisin’s 100 thousand kingdoms. Not in the plot or the story-line but in its skillful interplay of balancing real world issues with writing a fully immersive fantasy novel. NK Jemisin’s later works went on to become a huge success. I expect just the same for this author.

I found this book after the author posted about being rejected by multiple agents and deciding to self-publish on instagram. I’m impressed by just how capable she truly is. Usually, booktok and bookstagram recommendations are mediocre at best.

Lastly, the book is very well written. There are a few typos (even books published by publishing houses have some) but they were minor and few and far between. I did cross check another reviewer who found typos that I didn’t notice while reading. Of 23 instances of the derivatives of the word faith/fate, 2 were the incorrect homophone. I would recommend using the “peek inside” feature on Amazon to read the first chapter of the book if you have any doubts about the author’s talent or the quality of the book.

I plan on getting a physical copy as well partly because I’m almost certain the book will be acquired and re-published by a major publisher and I want to have a memento of the book while it was completely/entirely the author’s own work with no assistance.

It was a phenomenal read. I’m excited for the second book in the series and I can’t wait to see how the author grows!

(It was 4.5 ⭐️ but rated 5 because of how impressed I was by her talent)

[Jakori T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

I can’t even begin to put into words how amazing this book was , if you haven’t read this please do!

[Kristina · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a good original story but there are so many grammatical errors and incomplete scenes, and plot holes??? It is so irritating to read because it feels so unfinished. Please, please get a good editor.

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this book because I'd seen a few of the author's videos online, and I generally agree with her point of view.

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Pros:

The book seems to advocate balance between the fiery male Rah and the watery female Adara characters as a precondition for social and ecological well-being. This is an idea worth crediting or, at very least, sincerely exploring. The power imbalance between the sexes is mirrored in attitudes of patriarchy, classism, racism, ethnocentricity, colonialism, and the Scala Naturae, which ranks all life from amoeba to the Pope to some singular divinity.

This misleading taxonomy underpins many of the principles central to "Western" culture. The concept of an order of inferior to superior supports notions of eugenics, racial or caste systems, "progress" (constant change) for its own sake, infinite market growth, and the prioritization of humans (especially high-caste individuals) above all else on Earth. You could go as far as to say it heavily impacts the concept of linear time as well.

I'm also enjoying the story, broadly speaking. Mythology and story-telling are important vehicles for the transmission of cultural wisdom. By about 2/3 of my way through the book, I was engaged enough to look forward to picking the book up and eager to see how the story ends, and I enjoyed the message about an attempt to bring down the patriarchal monarchy.

By about 80% through the book, I was greatly enjoying the story and just trying to skate past the writing style and errors.

Without giving anything away, the part about the sky towards the end of the book is fantastic.

I'm not sure what the author's cultural backgrounds are, but the book summary mentioned the story was meant to represent Yoruba culture in some way. So, I imagine that represents at least a part of her cultural heritage. I appreciate the cultural value of myth making, which usually entails a romanticized (possibly fantasy) version of the past. Colonialism is a forced forgetting. Stories remember.

I partially agree with the book's assertion that the oppressed must grab power. In this, we hear echos of the anti-colonial ethos of Franz Fanon and Paolo Freire. Grand Chief Ronald Derrickson of the Okanagan West Bank First Nation may have successfully implemented an anti-colonial power grab that worked to the extent that the spoils were distributed back into that community. However, often for the oppressed merely to grab at power easily leads to cycles of oppression as the oppressed become the oppressor. It isn't the full story of how the oppressed build the sustainable autonomy of interconnected communities into a healthy society. Still, the assertion has many historical precedents.

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Cons:

In her videos, the author is practiced and articulate, but her writing seems inexperienced bordering on remedial. I'm willing to allow for the possibility that the author has a cultural or linguistic background that accounts for the difference between my expectations of prose and what I found in this book. But judging from her videos, the author's speech seems nearly identical to my own manner of speaking, so I'm disinclined to credit this hypothesis.

Therefore, I feel obliged in a fair literary review to say that the book is best characterized by misspellings, questionable word choice, and grammatical mistakes, compounded by awkward sentence construction, a dearth of visual description, repetitive language, hackneyed metaphors, and a disjointed temporal narrative. In short, the book comes across as an unedited rough draft by an inexperienced writer.

That's harsh, but it doesn't mean I think the author is a bad writer. She has a compelling story to tell. In any case, she is many times more accomplished a novelist than everyone who has never written a book, myself included. I hope she continues writing. I only wish she had spent more time editing and revising.

The story she wants to tell in this book could be good. The world and the protagonists in the author's mind are interesting, but what this book really needs is thorough editing, followed by rewriting and then more rounds of revision.

I enjoyed the story, but it's not the smoothest read. It took about 10-20% of the book to become familiar enough with the characters and background to become invested. More details on the characters and their backgrounds would have helped the reader. Halfway through the book, we could summarize in one or two sentences each what we know about the rebel groups, the character' backstories, and the story's setting.

The reader stumbles over the word choice. For instance, the repetition in the following sentence is awkward: "Sade and Iyanu leave the room, leaving me alone with Aris." The sentence could have been more smoothly composed with further editing. More concise writing would have freed up room for further description: As Sade and Iyanu left the cold room, I risked a hunted glance at Aris.

Here's another example: "We have nowhere to go or anyone to go to." This is an elementary writing blunder, characteristic of the whole text. Remove the conjunction and decide if it still makes sense: "We have anyone to go to" should be "we have nobody to go to." With basic word choice cleared up, we could next focus on improving the grammar and style.

How about this one? "A flash of light runs through the sky, followed by a thunderous sound." We call that thunderous sound thunder. The author could pair down the redundant language by simply saying the lightning was followed by thunder. Again, that leaves room for more sense-stimulating descriptions.

Some of the writing is carelessly edited: "My mouth stays so firmly shut, I don't think a pair of pliers open them." Obviously, there's simply a word missing in this sentence. But it trips up the reader badly during an otherwise emotional scene. After inserting the missing word, the beleaguered reader turns to the glaring grammatical mistake: mouth is singular, so the pronoun should be it, not them. The reader may then ask whether pliers fit into a starving desert culture with no obvious manufacturing industry. Lastly, the reader accepts the hackneyed metaphor and moves on, hoping for better writing ahead.

I encountered several other instances of missing words. For example: "I turn back to Torrin, trying to get rid of the images of Aris pressed into earlier that are now running freely through my mind." I believe the mislaid word in this sentence is "me".

This one still has me stumped: "The palace entrance doors come into view, and with the, Aris and Sasha." Are there some words missing here or is the letter m missing from "them?"

A name is omitted here, so I'm not sure what to think: "When he raises his hung head, it's none other than ' smirking a cocky smile." Thanks, narrator.

Similarly, I came across other incongruous phrases, such as bringing a mounted animal to "a screeching halt," an expression that makes no sense in a non-mechanized desert culture with neither automobiles nor the vehicle breaks from which the expression is derived.

The book is also peppered with misspelled words. Pampered nobles enter a hall where they witness an unexpected, frightening fracas. After momentarily scattering, they "wearily" return to their seats. There is no reason for nobles to be weary, as they have not exerted themselves. The author may have intended to say they warily (not wearily) returned to their seats, suggesting uncertainty bordering on fear. That would have made more sense. The author leans hard on the use of this adjective in the book, but misspells it every time but one, so the reader has to judge from context whether the feeling should be exhaustion or trepidity.

How about, "My face dampens with the sweat pouring out of my pores, but the power pores out of me"? Sweat pours out, but power pores out... of her pores?

A lot of the descriptions leave something to be desired as well. In chapter 14, we encounter plant-shaped plants: "plants resembling the flattened stems of plants." In chapter 18, we learn the tunnels are reinforced with "tree things," which the same paragraph calls "cactus wood," never mind that cacti aren't trees.

Phrases like "every bit of everything" or "painstaking cries of pain" make me want to scream out that readers need description, not repetition or misused words, if we are to imagine what the author has in mind.

The reader must pick up the considerable slack in the writing to make sense of inconsistencies, fill in the gaps, and figure out the sequence of events. For example, read these lines from chapter 10: "As I stare at its form, a humming bird lands on the creature's head. Its wings buzz wildly, and its small body whizzes when it changes direction." How can its wings buzz wildly as it changes direction if it has just landed on a statue?

How about "their bodies colliding to the ground as they hit the wall behind them?" Look, the word as indicates that two things are happening simultaneously. How can their bodies "collide to the ground" (a creative use of either a verb or a preposition) while simultaneously hitting the wall behind them? I have to pause my reading to puzzle this one out.

Here's another: "He gazes at the floor between my feet, his elbows still on top of his thighs, palms still touching, and his chin still resting against his palms." How is he sitting so that his palms are together AND his chin is resting in his palms?

The description of the world could also be a bit further fleshed out. For instance, we meet a creature called a hamel, but without a description of the animal, we only know it seems to be a largish creature that can go long stretches without water. I guess it's basically a camel, but then why change the spelling?

I think we are supposed to be in a post-apocalyptic future, so it's plausible that the word camel has changed to hamel, but the language in conversations among the characters is basically casual American early 20th century English. Surely, if basic animal names have changed, then the language would also have changed.

Adding to the confusion over setting, two of the large noble families have the well-known oligarchic American surnames Berkshire and Hathaway, so I suppose this is within a couple hundred years of today and also based on this universe rather than a totally fictional one.

That said, this world also has a creation story that seems to date back just about 500 years in which the Egyptian God Rah physically exists. Also, the characters have some magical abilities. So the reader is unsure whether this universe is meant to be ours or else completely fictional.

A third noble family has a Korean surname, leading the reader to wonder whether the story takes place within an American, Egyptian, or Korean context or whether perhaps there was a global population collapse that concentrated the world's human population in the area of a large city state. The reader is left to guess where and when the story takes place, and the author doesn't seem particularly interested in filling in the gaping holes in the canvas as she paints.

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I'm not sure if this last section of the review should fall under the pros or the cons. I'm almost entirely ignorant of Yoruba culture, so I'm not a good judge as to how the book represents the culture and whether I learned anything about the culture or just read a flight of pure fiction.

I was excited about reading a story from a Yoruba cultural perspective. I enjoy reading books from cultures outside my own. But I'm not sure I understand anything more now about Yoruba culture than I did before picking up the book. I've googled Yoruba cosmology and read a little bit about the Oyo Empire, but I see no connection with this book. Oyo-Ile was the capital of the Oyo Empire, and that sounds similar to Ile-Oja, so I guess that's something, however tenuous and insubstantial.

Ra is the Egyptian sun god. Atarah is a name from the Abrahamic religions. Adara is a language in Nigeria and a trope from DC comics, but I can't find any connection with Yoruba culture here either. There is a male-female bitheism in Babylonian mythology, as seen in the Enuma Elish, and water is a central theme of that story. But these mythological components don't seem at all connected to the Yoruba culture.

With a bit of online searching, I did see someone talking about a ritual in Nigeria in which the incoming king eats the heart of the dead one, so it's kind of cool if that's reflected in the story as an element that may possibly be associated with Yoruba culture, but I guess it's hard to tell while reading the book what might reflect Yoruba culture and what might not.

That said, cultures are very fluid, and the area represented by Yoruba culture has (I learned with internet searches) been influenced by Babylonian mythology via Abrahamic mythology via Christianity. Also, I'm sure DC comics and the "Korean wave" have washed through the people to some extent, too. So perhaps the book reflects modern Yoruba culture, which just happens to be very similar to the global homogenized culture.

Oh, also, the tentacle porn took me by surprise.

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

You can tell the author knows how to write and the story itself is a really good idea. But I can’t help feeling like it’s still in its second or third draft as opposed to actually being in a publishable state. I’m constantly being told things instead of shown, there are often grammar mistakes (feels like every other page if not more) and some scenes seem to bounce around without being truly thought out. I really really want to like this book but I’m finding it hard to.

Coming back to this review when I properly finished: it’s honestly quite disappointing. I think the story is genuinely so strong, but my rating remains the same because the author did not give enough care and attention to it before publishing. Spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes, using the wrong words for what she means, having clunky passages from scene to scene. Not to mention the odd and sudden ending. Is there meant to be a second part? I really enjoyed the story, I wish the author have given it the love it deserved :((.

[Abigail Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! The story is exciting and challenging.
I agree with some of the other reviews that more world building could have been helpful and that some editing would have made it easier to read but given that she self published and therefore was her own editor, this was a damn good book.
Honestly can’t wait for her next!

[Al :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the history of this world with their gods and ways of life. It touched on a lot of important topics that were seamlessly blended into a story beautifully told. The ending definitely has me hooked for book 2 when it comes out. Easily in my top 3 books I’ve read this year!

[Jayde Heckendorf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant premise, hopeful the storytelling improves

I loved the premise of this book, the parrelels being drawn and the characters themselves are excellent. But the "show don't tell" element of good storytelling is somewhat lacking. Often vague descriptions and repetitive sentence structure, quite a few typos that would pull me out of the story. It was not so confusing that I didn't still quite enjoy the book though, and as a first novel I'm confident that the author is only getting better. Looking forward to the next one.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was amazing.
I like it because starts very slow but then is a non stop and all the questions you can have, they’re answered in the book. Fact that I love.
I also found very interesting the detail the author gives to the parts it needs to be detailed.
And of the sort itself, I’m just fascinated. Can’t say too much without spoilers

[Anyelly Herrera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captiving and Entertaining

I was entertained with most of the book and the mythology. I was able to follow the world for the most part and the magic was described very well in my opinion. I thought the characters were complex and never felt like one-dimensional. We had different people with different motivations colliding for a common cause and we got to see them develop through it.

However, I was frustrated with the main character’s lack of empowerment, since that’s what I was promised. I still think we had good growth but I would have loved to see more of her power and defiance. Like we had the other characters come to it before her and I was waiting. When it came I didn't think there was enough anger considering everything she was put through. At some point, I did feel like I was more angry than Meera. I wanted female rage and we only got a tiny bit of that, it seemed like she was refusing to learn from her mistakes.

Overall, it was a strong debut and hopefully the first of many.

I would give this a 3.6 but I’m rounding up. It’s still very good just needs some editing. Hopefully, this gets picked up and we can continue to learn more about these characters.

[Capricious_Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was awful. The writing was elementary, there were entirely too many typos, missing words, and incomplete thoughts. There is a random pegging scene that has no business being written as it added nothing to the plot. Characters were introduced with no need, explanation, or development. Save yourself the time.

[acarmel · Rating 2 out of 5]

the concept is so cool and would've won my heart if only it was edited for grammar and plot and conciseness.

reading reminded me of the importance of taking your time and not rushing for rushing's sake.

[Kayla · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cool concept with a lot of potential. But ultimately it felt very poorly written.

[Aisha Willis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Story is Great! (Needs an editor though)

First of all, read this book for the story. I recommend the Waning and look forward to future installments.

The world Aramiji builds pulled me in and I understood the caste system in place and know what the characters are working towards. I was rooting for them as they worked through their external and internal conflicts, and as their weaknesses led them down winding and uncertain paths.

The story started strong and fast and hit me with mystery and questions quickly. But it didn't take long for things to start unraveling, not because the story/plot wasn't there, but because this book is self-published. If it was edited, it was done so haphazardly or by someone with little experience.

There were moments when grammar mistakes and continuity errors pulled me out of the world of Ile-Oja and into reality. It was like walking along smoothly, then suddenly finding myself looking up from the floor and wondering how I tripped and got there.

There were moments when I re-read a passage more than once to fully grasp Aramiji's intentions. Usually, I (think) I figured out her intentions, but being knocked out of the flow made it difficult to pick up again and move on. The pacing wasn't consistent, but again, that's due to the lack of editing. It's fixable once a publishing house picks her up. And I believe this work should be picked up.

That said, she's created diverse characters and a world I am invested in. The lore, the rituals, the factions, and the relationships are well established. And the different levels of intimacy between characters are at times revealed beautifully.

There are well-placed breadcrumbs along the way. Certain scenes could use massaging, but the plot is enjoyable and it's incredibly nice to see African stories and fantasy world-building with gods, heroes, villains, and savior characters who are representatives of Global South populations.

As I said in the beginning, I recommend The Waning and I hope Wunmi Aramiji gets the opportunity to continue this story with a publisher who will take care of her. For a self-published first outing, I am impressed.

[Gracie George · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m unsure of how to rate this. 3.5 rounded up to 4? The story in and of itself was beautiful and creative. It takes the best of fantasy, science fiction, and apocalypse literature to create a world that is like none I’ve ever read about before.
It loses points for me because of the editing. Whole words are missing from paragraphs. Phrases are repeated more than once in sentences. Incorrect pronouns and erroneous punctuation often make the story hard to follow. Every time I came across one of these I was confused and it took me out of the world of the story.
There were many times within the story that I was shocked by a twist or turn. I love it when that happens!! I truly cared about the characters and the pending revolution in the land of Ile-Oja, a society carefully crafted by the author to portray the modern capitalism and class warfare around us.
I can’t decide if I loved or hated the whole Meera/Aris subplot? It was good for Meera to have a sexual relationship with someone who saw her as an actual human. I do see that as part of her development in the story. But the primary relationships in the story are definitely between Meera and her Galed sisters. I loved the development of the relationship between Meera and Iyanu.
The author prepared readers perfectly for a second book, and I’m excited to read!!

[Courtney · Rating 1 out of 5]

TRIGGER WARNING: This book has an explicit rape scene. (And if this was supposed to be consensual BDSM or something, it absolutely did not come off that way and the author should be ashamed either way for not treating either topic with more respect and clarity.)

I absolutely hated this book. Normally I wouldn't be so harsh in a review because I want to respect the author, but that scene around 70% in was so unnecessary. The book itself is just not edited well. There were so many typos and confusing formatting. The romance was atrociously bad (not just with the MC but also the side characters). Every single character sucked. There is no one to root for. There are no real emotions. The author told us what was happening and what physical effects they were having on Meera, but I never felt anything. The world building was also poorly done and the Waning and the whole purpose of this book didn't get nearly enough explanation.

[T. M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, something out of the trends and tropes. But none the less captivating. I like how real many characters and interactions seemed to me.
There is a couple of spicy scenes in the book, but they are well integrated and appropriate to the story. Maybe the first connection of Main characters seemed a bit sudden, but it still served to the plot.
Generally descriptions of bodies and appearances is very nice. I feel like too many books really locked in on very specific heights and shapes, and lengths which is not a healthy fenomen. And here everything is much better.

And the amount of details about the world is just optimal: large enough to make it interesting and create some ground rules, but not as much to make it hard to grasp easily.
There were some scenes that lacked details of actions and I sometimes was loosing myself in surroundings of some scenes, but I am sure that it is something that can easily be improved in later books

[Amber Celestaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hallmark of a 5-star read for me, is when I have to pause my reading all I can think about is picking up the book again and this book was that for me. I was instantly pulled in by the story and the characters. The world is harsh, realistic, and timeless. The story is engaging and entertaining.

It’s an epic tale. It’s a treatise of true and effective leadership. It’s a story of sisterhood and friendship. It’s a a tale as old as time about humanity and the inhumane way humans often treat one another. It’s womanism embodied.

The personal note from the author at the beginning of the book endeared me to the what lay in the pages beyond and I was not disappointed. This is such a wonderful story and I can’t wait for the next part.