Review of Leaving Dahomey

[Mohamed Elsayed 1]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Leaving Dahomey" by Jude Shaw.]

---

2 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

During the 1840s, on the lands of the ancient African kingdom, Dahomey, which is a narrow stretch of land between Ghana and Nigeria, also known as the Republic of Benin in today's world, Adeoha entered the language of the drums society following her first friend's word, Sewextu, to join it with her. Only for Adeoha to participate in the three-day event and dance in front of the crowd in a way that would change her peaceful and steady life upside down.

Adeoha was born to a highly known and rich family in Atogon's village. Lord Tubutu, Adeoha's father, had a wealth that was surpassed only by that of King Guezo who was Dahomey's king at that time. While Adeoha's mother was Lady Lamtaala who had an independent wealth from her own business which she started when she was young.

Leaving Dahomey written by Jude Shaw is the first book of the friendlytown trilogy. The story talked about how culture and traditions may affect the human even if he didn't truly believe in it, and how small things that are done may lead to larger things that change the life of a human massively.

Jude Shaw did a nice job with the book. The history of Dahomey's kingdom and the culture of the African people and their way of living at these times were well researched and it was evident throughout the book with different sources being given at the end of several pages. Besides, the novel had a lot of characters, and while Adeoha is the main character in the story, she wasn't always the point of attention giving us a bigger picture of the background.

However, the author did let the book down multiple times. First, the time was almost forgotten at many times or stated wrongly, for example, the story started on October 1841 but ended on the 14th of February 1841 where Adeoha left Dahomey. Moreover, the story skipped multiple important events in the timeline, only stating that they happened casually through a conversation between two characters. Also, the story had a lot of punctuation errors especially quotation marks which were usually missing. Lastly, the author kept switching between first and third-person views without a hint which in turn made it confusing.

I would rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. Leaving Dahomey is a historical fiction book, so people who like this genre would enjoy it especially those interested in African culture, but anyone would enjoy reading it though.

******
Leaving Dahomey
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon