This review originally appeared in New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine Issue #1, released on November 30, 2023.

Woman of the Woods

By Milton J. Davis – MVmedia, LLC – June 13, 2013

Review by Robin Marx

While Charles R. Saunders may have founded the “Sword and Soul” sub-genre of fantasy, Milton Davis has quickly become one of the field's most indefatigable contributors and promoters. Through his publishing house MVmedia and via collaborations with other creators (including Saunders himself, prior to his 2020 passing), Davis continuously works to create and lend a platform to African- and African diaspora-inspired fantasy and science fiction literature.

Set in the world of Uhuru, which previously appeared in Milton's Meji series, Woman of the Woods follows the adventures of Sadatina. Born to a member of the Shosa, an elite corp of spiritually-imbued fighting women who are forbidden from possessing families of their own, Sadatina is bequeathed to a warm but humble farming family. Even separated from her birth mother, Sadatina distinguishes herself from her adopted family with her superior athletic and hunting ability.

Tragedy strikes, however, when at the tender age of 13 she finds herself drawn into an inter-generational conflict between her people—the Adamu—and the Mosele. Driven from their lands by the encroachment of the Adamu, the Mosele have submitted to the dark god Karan. While the Mosele's counter-invasion was barely fended off long ago, ever since the Adamu have been plagued by sporadic attacks from Karan's servitors: demonic creatures called nyoka (“serpent” in Swahili). One such raid claims the lives of Sadatina's family. She vows revenge, making a home in the wilderness and hunting the nyoka with the assistance of her inborn martial ability and her loyal “sisters”: a pair of orphaned lionesses Sadatina has raised since they were cubs. Viewed with both awe and fear by the people of surrounding settlements, she becomes known as the “Woman of the Woods.”

Her solitary battle does not last long, however. Word of her nyoka-slaying prowess spreads as attacks intensify, and she is sought out by the Shosa as a potential recruit. Sadatina is suspicious of urban society and hierarchy, but the threat of Karan's nyoka grows by the day. Her own quest for vengeance and the needs of her people inevitably push her into assuming a central role in the conflict. Over time she gains new skills and weapons, but also heavy responsibilities and nagging doubts.

Gender is handled in a nuanced fashion in Woman of the Woods. The Shosa warrior women are an accepted and valued part of society, but they are also a breed apart. One must be chosen by the god Cha to join their ranks, and—while Sadatina is allowed an uncommon degree of autonomy—refusing to join is generally not an option for the average villager. They are the symbolic wives of the Adamu people's leader and, while celibacy is not required, bearing children is forbidden and harshly punished. Non-Shosa girls and women appear expected to adhere to traditional gender roles. As presented in Woman of the Woods, Uhuru is neither an egalitarian utopia nor a setting where only the heroine is allowed to occupy a place outside marriage and childbearing.

Religion also plays a central role in Woman of the Woods. The Adamu follow Cha, who is framed as a benevolent but demanding and occasionally distant god. The Mosele worship Karan, a malicious being of stone and magma. The Adamu deride Karan as a demon with delusions of grandeur, but where Cha is content to guide his people through ambiguous visions the divine aid Karan grants his supplicants is frighteningly concrete. His baboon-like ginanga nyoka act as terrifying shock troopers, while the cunning jackal-headed washaka strike under the cover of stealth. Karan’s most devoted human servants gradually gain physical aspects of their god, becoming the stone-skinned mjibwe.

While the story delivers exciting Sword and Soul combat in abundance, at times the war between the Adamu and Mosele is portrayed in an unusual light for such an action-oriented story. Milton makes it clear early in the book that the Mosele were already present in the river valley to which Cha is said to have led the Adamu. The two peoples coexisted for a time, until friction developed between the agrarian Adamu and the cattle-herding Mosele, as burgeoning farms absorbed grazing lands formerly used by the Mosele. While it is left unclear who sparked the original conflict, the Adamu certainly finished it, driving the Mosele out of their ancestral home and across a parched desert and into the mountains, ironically pushing them into the arms of the dark god Karan. As the Mosele return to the Adamu-occupied valley, bringing nyoka with them, the Shosa remain vigilant for Karan’s corruption.

The uneasy moral ambiguity at the heart of the conflict is highlighted by a point in the book where Sadatina herself leads a war band to an Adamu settlement showing signs of Mosele influence. She says “You will kill anyone or anything that approaches you. This is not a rescue. This is a cleansing.” This chilling passage and the massacre that follows seem to make the subtext text: this war is ethnic cleansing and the “heroes” are enthusiastic participants. While it appeared Davis was about to boldly grapple with ethnic cleansing in an Africa-inspired setting, this daring element of the plot is quickly and frustratingly dropped and the story returns to the fantasy genre’s more conventional human versus supernatural struggle.

While the story is exciting and the cover artwork by Chase Conley (director and storyboard artist at Marvel Studios) stunning, the book itself could have used some tighter editing. Words are occasionally omitted, and the early chapters of the Kindle edition include footnotes that appear to be editorial comments addressed to the author.

Editing issues and Davis’ apparent change of heart regarding the ethnic cleansing theme aside, Woman of the Woods is a worthy contribution to the Sword and Soul movement. I also appreciated his dedication to Saunders (“Dossouye has a sister now”), an acknowledgment of his mentor’s own groundbreaking woman warrior. Strong Black women remain a lamentable rarity in Sword & Sorcery fiction decades after Dossouye’s 1979 arrival, but Sadatina makes for a compelling African-inspired warrior, boasting courage, faith, and an indomitable spirit.

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