2025 Winner of the Firebird International Book Award.
He's the most dangerous kind of differentâan outcast with a legacy no one understands, not even him.
In a post-human world where panther tribes rule and color decides fate, any cub born of mixed blood is left for dead.
Raza survives. But his golden coat, whispered of only in legend, marks him as more than an outcast. It makes him a threat.
Now, with tribal war looming and the old laws cracking, Raza must chooseâdisappear into myth or become the spark that burns it all down.
The Lost Color of Namiri is a dark, mythic fantasy perfect for fans of The Gilded Ones, Midnight Robber, and My Soul to Keep. If you love allegories of race, legacy, and rebellionâtold through lush worldbuilding and emotionally raw charactersâthis book belongs on your shelf.
In a world obsessed with color, can one panther prove that blood is the only shade that matters?
2025 Winner of the Firebird International Book Award.
He's the most dangerous kind of differentâan outcast with a legacy no one understands, not even him.
In a post-human world where panther tribes rule and color decides fate, any cub born of mixed blood is left for dead.
Raza survives. But his golden coat, whispered of only in legend, marks him as more than an outcast. It makes him a threat.
Now, with tribal war looming and the old laws cracking, Raza must chooseâdisappear into myth or become the spark that burns it all down.
The Lost Color of Namiri is a dark, mythic fantasy perfect for fans of The Gilded Ones, Midnight Robber, and My Soul to Keep. If you love allegories of race, legacy, and rebellionâtold through lush worldbuilding and emotionally raw charactersâthis book belongs on your shelf.
In a world obsessed with color, can one panther prove that blood is the only shade that matters?
âItâs your turn to check the Abandonment.â
The tormenting screams of a rejected newborn echoed throughout the distant trees, making it hard for Raza to recognize the sudden voice encroaching on his solitude.
He ignored the unnerving pitch of the babeâs cries as best he could while gazing toward the opening of his shelter.
From his resting place, he raised his head to pinpoint the member of his claw bold enough to command him on what he ought to be doing.
Although the cave was too dim for him to see Amani in her complete form leaping onto the ledge, he could make out her gleaming sapphire eyes slinking toward him as she closed in on his retreat.
She stopped short in the interior and bowed, awaiting his approval to continue closer. After gaining his nuanced approval to approach, she maneuvered towards his outstretched paws.
She sat before him on her hind legs, her mouth slightly open, while he stretched and let out a throaty exhale behind a curled tongue. She panted in rhythm, jolted by the sudden shift of the jungleâs wet heat to the mountainâs thin, arid air.
Empty-pawed, she had just returned from checking their meager gaming traps to the east.
Instead of repeating herself, Amani glared at Raza with her unsettling judgment as the newborn wailed in the distance.
Their staring contest stretched on until Raza could take no more and blinked, submitting to the conversation.
Countering in quickness, his voice was haunting and guttural. âYou know I hate that place. Why canât you go?â
He withdrew his focus back toward the depths of the dark cave, then lowered his head onto his crossed paws, pressuring her to take action in his stead.
Amani perceived that he was more interested in taking a lengthy nap and exploring another passage of his newly acquired cave than in rescuing and coddling an abandoned cub.
However, the fact remained that it was still his turn, and she would have him take it.
Raza continued his one-sided debate from his relaxed position, his head barely moving as the protests seeped out. âBesides, there is nothing to feed it. You want me to endure its cries until someone finds milk or meat? What am I to do with it until then, hmm?â
Amani stood to leave. âI have my responsibilitiesânow you have yours,â she challenged, slipping back to the mouth of the cave. Before she sprang down the side of the rocky, staggered mountain and disappeared into her own cave, she called out behind her, âIâve told everyone itâs your turn.â
Raza lifted at her departing words.
Amani had deftly played on his conceited thirst to live up to the clawâs expectations of him as their alpha. She left him no choice but to find the child and bring it into their Pariah fold himself.
Raza reflected on his desire to please against his objection to leaving his singular life behind. The other claw members took their duties more seriously than him, and he resented them all for it. Every day, they prowled through the Abandonment, noses low, ears pricked, searching for the soft mewls of cubs discarded by color-obsessed parents. No one was above the taskânot even the leader. That was the First Rule.
Raza loathed the Second Rule even more. Finding a cub meant raising it until it could hunt, a three-year sentence shackled to something weak, helpless, and hungry. The others called it a blessing, a way for the Pariahs to build a family where nature had denied them one. He called it a burden, preferring solitude above all else.
It never mattered much to him before todayâhis sporadic turns always passed without incident. But now Razaâs stomach knotted at the piercing screams of the unwanted cub.
His life was about to change, and he was not prepared.
Leaving his perch, Raza slowly lept down the short mountain in a zig-zagged pattern, causing small landslides of pebbles and debris as he went.
Barren and unshaded, the heat forced his pack into the coolness of the caves peppered throughout the short Kivasha mountain range. The mountainsâif they could even be called thatâwere more like a collection of rocky karst hills situated on the outskirts of the otherwise lush Wilds of Namiri.
As he went along, Raza noticed a few spotted heads peeking out of stray holes, watching his descent. He wondered how valid Amaniâs words were in warning them not to claim his turn.
Either way, he moved with careful dignity, his posture stiff and regal, his expression conservativeâeach step crafted to exude benevolence.
His late adoptive father, Hakim, taught him that control was not seized through force alone but maintained through delicate perception.
That truth was drilled into him until Hakimâs three-year watch ended.
Razaâs mentor and father figure remained the alpha of Pariahs until his heart failed. He, and only he, embodied the unparalleled certainty that a true leader was more than fearedâhe was seen as necessaryâand the Pariah claw understood necessity better than most.
They made the most of their miserable lives scrounging on the edge of civilization, barely finding enough game to hunt or water to drink.
Forced into desperation, Hakim and the Pariahs devised and constructed elaborate funnel traps for wayward deer and other minor herd animals, but even those yielded a limited return.
Their access to fresh water on that side of the Pantera River was also fraught with aquatic predators, demanding speed and cunning for even a single drink. This way of deliberate living forced every member to think and shape themselves into crafty, silent stalkers.
Hakim instilled in them that every move was a matter of life and death. He taught them how to survive and thrive in that understanding. Even in his old age, his mind was sharper than mostâno one ever challenged his authority.
Raza followed the cries, picking his way down the crumbling path where jagged stones jutted out like broken teeth.
Heat radiated off the bare rock, curling under him like a suffocating sauna, but he didnât hurry.
The jungle emerged ahead, a dark tangle of green where the air transformed into condensed humidity. He headed towards the only place where the past threatened to swallow himâthe familiar place of rejectionâthe Abandonment.
Raza lingered on the mountainâs base, where dust clung to his paws, and dry wind pelted his back. With a final wayward glance to the wasteland behind him, Raza stepped forward, swallowed by the trees.
He relished in the sudden atmospheric contrast. His paws pressed into the damp earth as he wove through the dense treeline. The jungle sprawled in all directions, rich with the scent of moss and leaf decay.
The Abandonment was located where the abundance of the jungle ended, and the danger of the outskirts began. It was a short walk to the place, but his pace stalled. He told himself he was simply savoring his last moments of freedom.
Raza thought about the best area to check first.
One old kapok tree, in particular, was a favorite forsaking spot. The tree looked like a perfect sacrificial bassinet with its outstretched above-ground roots. The treeâs curved root system overhung the Pantera River, making it ideal for a quick end if the cub ventured out.
Raza veered towards the tree as the echoing cries became closer and louder. He scampered through the pockets of foliage, pushing vines out of the way with his nose. Suddenly, the wails morphed into a faint scream and then a gurgling noise.
He took off in a full sprint, leaping over exposed roots and springing through low ardisia bushes to get to the kapok tree.
When he reached the spot, Raza thrust a paw into the tangled roots, searching through the damp nest of leaves. His claws scraped against nothing but soggy debris. His chest tightened. His breath stalled, shallow and sharp, as if his body refused to let the truth in.
He jerked his attention downward, scanning the murky water below. Thenâthere. A flash of white fur drifted in the most unnatural manner upstream, where the river snaked beneath the treeâs roots. The newbornâs face surfaced for a fleeting moment, pale against the dark current, black-ringed eyes sealed shut.
Raza prepared to brave the risk of piranhas to save the babe, but just as he crouched, muscles tensed to leap, the river stirred. A shape shifted beneath the surfaceâdark, ridged, and fearsome.
The cubâs lower half disappeared into the jagged jaws of a black caiman.
Gosh, I did enjoy this book, made all the sweeter because I was sceptical about whether I would. I'm glad I took a chance.
Enter the world of Namiri, the dominion of panthers. But this is not a place of harmony. Far from it. Rival tribes seek to annihilate each other, named Obsidians, Alabasters and Pariahs respectively. Purity is valued here and if you're not flawless you are cast out...or worse.
We follow Raza, reluctant leader of the Pariahs who has problems with the role he has: self doubt, immaturity, lack of sense of self. He has been chosen but is he necessarily the best one to lead the Pariahs? Amani, his second, has faith in him and his qualities but she seems like a far better prospect to be a strong leader. When Raza retreats to his cave, ostensibly to escape the perceived weight of his responsibilities, he encounters something surprising there which changes his course of action, and his thinking.
This is a thought-provoking book dressed up as animal parable, a bit like Orwell's Animal Farm although not as politically pointed. Questions are proposed about race and colour by the rivalry between Obsidians (black) and Alabasters (white) as well as what constitutes good leadership, all issues relevant to our times as they have been in times before. There is sacrifice, both personal and ritual, and excruciating moments that mark the brutality that can arise when understanding has been lost. This may be about panthers but the situations that Fowler creates can be applied equally to humans in society today.
This is a well-drawn world of tension and threat but with an underlying message of hope. Fowler creates characters who interact convincingly, who are more than just components of an allegory. They have flaws, weaknesses, family history, megalomania. There is also the examination of myth and how much we should follow traditions at the expense of mutual benefit; traditions which divide and which have become constructs to keep you in your place, as decreed by a leader not necessarily interested in your wellbeing.
I thought this was really well-written. I also think it was really well-edited, for pace, continuity and the right amount of detail to keep a reader enticed and interested.
I have no doubt that I will be reading more by Fowler in the future and can thoroughly recommend this book. A high four star read!