Reviewed by Ginger Robinson
270
By Vincent Ware
Julia House Publishers
ISBN: 0-9707804-1-9, Sept 2011
Like many conflicts between men this conflict begins with a woman; their mother. Mbala and Mbata were twin brothers born kings for a large African territory. The book begins with them seeing one another after many years. Mbata has an illness which required him in the past to be cared singularly by his mother, leaving his twin brother to be cared for by their people and his father. Mbala never got to see his mother again; she died when the brothers were four-years-old.
Years later Mbata and Mbala are to see one another and Mbala has to deal with the anger. He also has strong jealousy for his brother as Mbata is a strong warrior – the strongest warrior. When Mbala reaches his brother with two of his wives, one falls in love with him adding to their internal struggle. The differences, jealousy and dishonesty propel these two brothers into a struggle with violence of epic proportions. This was truly the best part of the book.
The rest of this tale moves in a somewhat confusing pattern throughout the generations with family members taking on the same struggle allowing history to repeat itself many times. I could see what the purpose of this book was which was to show the continual struggle however the book was so much more exciting and vibrant in the beginning with the initial conflict between the twin brothers. The names and references to other characters in this book were disconcerting to myself however I do not doubt that another reader could find this historic fiction a good read.
About the reviewer: Ginger Robinson writes and lives in Texas with her husband and children. She loves to read, write and be published.