Spoiler Light: POV, Pacing, and Some Themes Discussed

Way More Than Your Average Faustian-Bargain Tale

Akwaeke Emezi’s new romantasy Son of the Morning has a fast-paced, pressure-cooker plot with a multi-POV structure, and it’s fun as hell. I liked how I felt a little out of breath as I read.

Here’s why this book gets so hot and propulsive. The devil, who goes by Lucifer Helel¹, is in big trouble. He needs to save the world within the next 48 hours or all hell will literally break loose. On top of that, Lucifer needs to convince Galilee, the woman he loves, to hand over her soul to him asap.

The pacing of this story is such a great choice for readers who like a little subliminal irony and thematic contrasts. Let me explain. On one hand, we are given this tight, urgent present-day timeline in the book. But at the same time, we are slowly shepherded through millennia old backstories of the immortal characters. The contrast is delicious and a little tense. To put it more metaphorically and visually, readers get to simultaneously watch an active volcanic eruption while also seeing how the pressure built up inside the volcano over a thousand years. For me, the chance to decompress during the long, slow backstories was essential, especially after being hurtled through the present day timeline’s drama.

The themes of love and found family are AMAZING in Son of the Morning.

This novel also adds depth and nuance to the classic Faustian-bargain tale. The heavenly, human, and hellish twists on the Faustian bargain were so subversive and cool. That’s all I can say!

I LOVED the prevalence of nature and garden scenes in the book. Galilee has a beautiful connection with the land, and I really enjoyed seeing how some of the garden scenes had Garden of Eden elements. Innocence is definitely lost as knowledge is gained in some of these garden scenes. In general, this book shows how good Akwaeke Emezi is at creating modern Christian mythologies and retelling biblical stories with modern spins and modern characters. If Son of the Morning wasn’t enough proof of this talent, one only needs to read their debut poetry collection Content Warning: Everything for future proof. That came out in 2022 with Copper Canyon Press.

The multi-POV structure was really interesting, especially since one unnamed POV is mysteriously told in the first person–while all the others are done in third person. I’m still thinking about the artistic choice behind this and why Emezi chose to put us intimately inside the head of one character via a 1st-person POV.

Just like in their other books, Emezi created loveable fully-fleshed out side characters. I especially liked Galilee’s friends, “the princess and the storyteller.” Bonbon, the storyteller, is a horror author, and let’s just say she got a lot of material for her future books from being friends with Galilee. I mean, how could you not when your friend’s life gets all mixed up with the devil and his hell princes?

Annotations I am so excited to do in my finished copy of the book:

There are many things I want to annotate deeply once I get a finished copy on release day. Some examples:

1. I plan to scribble down so many margin notes about the full-circle imagery that connects the ending to the beginning.
2. I’ll need about fifty tabs of the same color to track the hunger, hunting, prey, and food themes, which were thick and gorgeous and multilayered. In a finished copy, I cannot wait to annotate actual food, food-related scenes, and the different physical and emotion appetites that are explored.
3. I will definitely be choosing a tab color just for all the moments with Galilee and her bees!
4. I’ll also be marking pages that get into themes of adoption, found family, and memory (both personal and collective)

More SPOILERY reflections about tropes and themes

• I thought it was super poignant to have a why choose trope within a novel about Heaven and Hell, which you can’t choose between.
• Hunger was such a cool theme to focus on, given the biblical undertones of the story. It’s impossible not to think about The Garden of Eden; Eden eating the apple; and the carnal knowledge that replaces Adam’s and Eve’s innocence given how this story is full of temptation and evil. There’s also some very snake-like villains who have been laying in wait to strike at just the right moment.
• Kpop Demon Hunters is very much the movie of the moment right now, and I’ve got to say it was a delight learning that the Kincaid family is a family of demon hunters! There’s some other interesting loose parallels to draw between the two stories too. I personally think Galilee has some Rumi traits!
• I really appreciated how one character has the power to stop time. Thematically this was gorgeous because time is so important in this book!
• I loved the subversion of the Faustian bargain tale in Son of the Morning. The actual deal with the devil at the beginning of the book is lighthearted. But there are other far more serious, life-altering deals with devilish entities that matter and mean a lot more in this book. Such an interesting twist!

Thank you of NetGalley and Avon books for this e-arc in exchange for a review!

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1. This name is a tie-in with the title. In Hebrew, ‘Helel’ means “morning star.” ↩︎