A Song of Legends Lost is the first novel in the African inspired science fantasy series The Invoker Trilogy, written by M. H. Ayinde, and published by Orbit Books. An ambitious and intelligent book, with a rich and interesting worldbuilding with some reminiscent of Horizon Zero Dawn and Final Fantasy and an array of well-written characters whose arcs invite the readers to lose themselves into the story, enjoy the ride and trust that their questions will be eventually answered while they are full focused on the destiny of the cast.

An epic story set in the Nine Lands, ruled by noble clans whose are the only ones that can call upon the spirits of their ancestors to aid them in battle; they are fighting against the Greybloods, pieces made of magic imbued metal called techwork, who are believed to have annihilated their creators, the Scathed, and that now threaten to wipe the humanity. However, a chain of events starts when a commoner, Temi, unexpectedly invokes a spirit, putting in motion many threads that will change the Nine Lands and reveal many of the secrets that are buried under the land.

From the start of the book, you can get a glimpse of how ambitious Ayinde's storytelling gets; five main POVs which contribute to create a full picture of the situation across the Nine Lands, from all the social statuses. Even if it might look overwhelming at first glimpse, Ayinde patiently weaves all of them together, slowly connecting those storylines and, in the process, making us care for those characters. Not only we have a reluctant and unconventional noble such as Jinao, a noble that was a disappointment for his family and that will need to confront a greyblood to save his people, learning how to use that bond with the ancestor that was always elusive to him, but we have an excellent underdog arc with Temi, the slum girl that bonds a spirit despite not being of noble blood, showing us also the hardness to survive as a family in such a complicated place under the control of the gangs (also why not, props to Not-A-Cat). Temi is a brave character, but also needs to do what's best to protect her family, her people, and even keep those of the same origin safe from poisoning, maintaining a difficult equilibrium between what the spirit tells her and what she wants.
Runt appears towards the half of the book, but his darker arc makes it incredibly compelling; and I really enjoyed Father Boleo's quest to rediscover the Scathed's ruins, and even gave us one of the best twists in the whole narration. It is true that having such a large cast introduces the possibility of not reading about a character for hundred of pages, but Ayinde always makes the effort to refresh our memory of the current situation of our character before jumping into the action.

The world of A Song of Legends Lost is another of the highlights of this novel: not only we have a refreshing African inspiration, that is reflected not only in the characters, but also in the land and their traditions, but the science part of this science-fantasy is introduced in a really organic way using one of my favourite tropes, a long-lost civilization. The wide cast plays an important role into developing this world, as we have the opportunity to observe all the social strata, and honestly, I loved how there's an order of monks working to "purify" the technology and how there's a whole religion woven around this concept.
Despite it is a relatively long book, the pacing is really neat, keeping you reading without realizing the time passing, as Ayinde's storytelling invites you to lose yourself into it.

A Song of Legends Lost is an excellent debut novel, perfect if you want to read a refreshing epic science fantasy story with starts an incredibly ambitious series; M. H. Ayinde is an author that has become part of my read whatever they publish list. Can't wait to see how The Invoker Trilogy will continue!