The Leopard's Daughter: Lee Killough

On the Sahara Plains, in spite of being the niece of their King Mseluku Karamoke, her Dasa of the Imbu tribe always held Jeneba Karamoke in contempt because her sire is a shapeshifting leopard man. Still Jeneba is a loyal strong warrior woman and would die for the Dasa, especially her family. However her prayers to become accepted through brave deeds fail even when she rescues her warrior peers including her uncle from monstrous half-human cannibals because everyone blames her for their original plight instead of the man who failed the tribe Tomo Silla. Ironically Tomo's action including his disappearance has turned him into a martyred hero instead of a betraying deserter. Outraged and disappointed, Jeneba decides she must find Tomo and force him to speak the truth to the Dasa. She begins her personal mission, but instead she finds she must lead losers on a quest to save the people of the missing city of Yagana that abruptly vanished; failure means the end of life as she knows it on the Sahara plains. THE LEOPARD'S DAUGHTER is a terrific refreshing fantasy based on the African mythos. The location and the various fantastic species make for a vastly different quest that readers will appreciate. Jeneba is a wonderful protagonist who must save the world she knows when all she wants is to prove herself worthy to her people. Her companions are delightful as there are not heroic Tolkien heroes, but instead include Tomo and a half-man who should be her enemy. A solid short science fiction murder mystery "Afterburn" is included though it is seemingly out of place with the prime tale as a bonus that showcases the vast talent of Lee Killough. Harriet Klausner

(First I am going to type in the synopsis from the back of this book, and then I will write out my reactions to the book.)THE LEOPARD'S DAUGHTER, by LEE KILLOUGHHer mother is a princess. Her father is a leopard. Her allies are the wild hunting beasts of the night.FEAR JENEBA - THE FIERCEST WARRIOR OF THE DARK JUNGLESeeking vengeance against the man who betrayed her tribe, Jeneba rides into unknown forests haunted by invisible demons, murderous spirits, shapeshifting creatures and wizards' curses ... only to find that she must join her quest to another.For the fabled city Yagana has vanished in a clap of thunder, leaving its people helpless before an invading horde. And an ancient prophecy decrees that to save Yagana, Jeneba must lead a coward, a traitor, and a monster. Past cannibal armies, an insane demigod, a hideous messenger of death, and into the cavernous bowels of the underworld...to find a mystic lost harp carved from a dead man's bones.If Jeneba fails, it will cost her the lives of her party, the freedom of whole tribes, the fate of an empire --and, as important...her honor as a warrior.~~~~~~~This book is a mass market paperback, and it is 218 pages long. The Leopard's Daughter was published by Popular Library, which is published by Warner Books, Inc., in 1987. I bought my copy used.~~~~~~~I really liked this book, Leopard's Daughter, by Lee Killough. I don't read a lot of fantasy, because most fantasy books always seems to be some sort of Tolkien rip-off, ultimate good versus ultimate evil, the secret heir to the throne, celtic or gaelic or european mythology; the story unfolding over thick volume after thick volume. And it always seems to come out in trilogies or long series of some kind. A two word phrase that I have come to dread is: "Epic Fantasy."However, this book was fantasy, but based on African mythology. I bought a book called Dark Matter, which is a collection of african american science fiction. I read the introduction to Dark Matter, and it mentioned and recommended Leopard's Daughter, by Lee Killough. So, I picked it up used, and I just finished reading it. I loved it.The main character is Jeneba, the daughter of a Dasa princess, who is the sister of the king, and a leopard-man shapeshifter. Jeneba is very strong, trained as a warrior, who is betrayed and then sets out to clear her name. Perhaps not the most original plot, but it had some unusual choices, the characters acted in unusual ways, and the ending was unexpected, the fate of several of the characters came off quite different than I thought they would.The freshest, most interesting thing about this book was the setting and mythology - african, rather than the usual celtic/british isles landscape and mythology that most fantasies seem to use. There wasn't an elf, a dwarf, a unicorn, a dragon, a castle, a secret prince to be seen. There were man-bushes, thorn magic, familial and tribal facial tattoos, and mystical hyenas who interrogate the dead.