Review: The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko

Blurb:

A romantic standalone fantasy set in the world of Raybearer, from New York Times bestselling author Jordan Ifueko

The smallest spark can bind two hearts . . . or start a revolution.

In the magic-soaked capital city of Oluwan, Small Sade needs a job—preferably as a maid, with employers who don’t mind her unique appearance and unlucky foot. But before she can be hired, she accidentally binds herself to a powerful being known only as the Crocodile, a god rumored to devour pretty girls. Small Sade entrances the Crocodile with her secret: she is a Curse Eater, gifted with the ability to alter people’s fates by cleaning their houses.

The handsome god warns that their fates are bound, but Small Sade evades him, launching herself into a new career as the Curse Eater of a swanky inn. She is determined to impress the wealthy inhabitants and earn her place in Oluwan City . . . assuming her secret-filled past—and the revolutionary ambitions of the Crocodile God—don’t catch up with her.

But maybe there is more to Small Sade. And maybe everyone in Oluwan City deserves more, too, from the maids all the way to the Anointed Ones.

Review:

There are so many excellent aspects to this story and I could talk about it for hours. 

In a nutshell, we have:

Disability rep

LGBTQIA+ rep

Found/built family

Speaking up 

Sisterhood 

All in the world of Raybearer and Redemptor which I was desperate to go back to. 

Like I ended my review of Redemptor with “Jordan, please give us a story set later in their lives and let us see how they've grown!” And while I’m certain that pleading final sentence is not what drove The Maid and the Crocodile into existence, I am also not going to complain because I didn’t think returning to this world would happen. But it did, and now we all have this gorgeous book and are all the better for it.

So yes, it is set in the same world as Raybearer and Redemptor, and in fact takes place nine years later, it is still very much its own story. You don’t have to have read the previous two books from Jordan Ifueko, but having read them adds to the details and background of this beautifully magical story. (Also if we keep reading her books, she will have to keep writing them and I would like that, tyvm.)

Part of what makes The Maid and the Crocodile so beautifully magical is the rich world, which is built on old empires and enduring issues in society, the characters that are small in the world but not in their impact (also they are not ashamed of their jobs/roles because they know they are important. They’re just tired of their broken system), and the layers of lore and culture threaded throughout. Admittedly, the other part of the beautifully magical world is the magic itself, but you’d hope that goes without saying. I’ll say it anyway. Love the magic, it is gorgeous. Sin/Curse eating is something we should get more of in books. I loved the different varieties of spirit silt/creatures, grief-gnats, ambition-spores, envy-beetles, egorust, guiltworms, joy-moths. 

Also under-appreciated is the use of second-person voice in books. The narrative of Sade telling us the story as if we're a part of it, which becomes clear later as to why that is but up until then it just adds to the feel of the story. Sade is telling us her story, rather than just us reading about it or your usual first-person narrative. And throughout were these sprinkles of other fantasy stories that are so beloved. There is a sentence on this in the Author’s Note (and also apparently in the blurb, which not gonna lie I didn’t read because I saw ‘Jordan Ifueko’ and just went for it), but I made the comparison to Howl’s Moving Castle on a completely different part. I stand by it but I can also 100% see where Jordan was pulling the inspiration from as well. 

“You didn’t really talk about the characters much.” Because we will be here for literally hours and no one will read an essay on all the reasons I loved everyone but Mamadele and the nobles visiting the inn. This was already more than a page.

I think Jordan wrote a timeless book in The Maid and the Crocodile. There are always ants and Giants but the ants have a voice, even when they think they don't. I loved Sade and her heart breaking but triumphant story was exactly what I needed. 

If I sign this off with another request to spend more time in this world do you think we’ll get another book in it? I’m not going to throw a young woman to a god to be eaten but I’d consider some small sacrifices…a box of chocolates or something.