One of the best books I've read this year, maybe even one of my new all-time favorites. With The Maid and the Crocodile, Jordan Ifueko has cemented her place as perhaps the best current writer of YA fantasy. She is phenomenal, and I cannot wait to see what she writes next.

Small Sade is a teenage girl living in Oluwan City, ten years after the events of Redemptor. Her time at the orphanage has come to an end, and she is sent out to figure things out for herself. She seeks work as a maid and spirit cleaner for anyone looking to hire. She quickly finds herself involved with a mysterious figure called the Crocodile (if you've read Redemptor, you will know who this person is almost immediately, but this book can easily be read as a standalone).  She gets a job at an inn and finds herself making friends and finding her place in the world--before, of course, things shift around again.

Small Sade is an incredible central character and narrator. The entire narrative plays out as a story she is telling to someone in-universe, and oral storytelling plays a major part in the story as a whole. Sade starts the story as small as she can be, in every way, and Ifueko shows us exactly how she got so small and what is needed for her to get bigger.

The Crocodile is a revolutionary from a privileged background, and his theory bro tendencies, good intentions, and incompetence with all things practical form an incredible contrast to Sade (and other working-class characters in the novel).

Jordan Ifueko weaves together a brilliant story about storytelling, belonging, class, gender, family, mothers and daughters, and so much more in this beautiful little novel. Despite some heavy content and themes, I would still recommend this novel to fans of more layered cozy fantasies like Howl's Moving Castle as well as fans of literally anything Tamora Pierce. Please read it.