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Akata Witch (Akata Witch #1)

by Nnedi Okorafor (Goodreads Author)

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 · rating details · 950 ratings · 297 reviews

Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she’s albino. She’s a terrific athlete, but can’t go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits. And then she discovers something amazing—she is a “free agent,” with latent magical power. Soon she’s part of a quartet of magic students, studying t...more

Hardcover, 352 pages

Published April 14th 2011 by Viking Children's

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The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

Non-Caucasian Protagonists in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Paranormal Romance

29th out of 814 books — 661 voters

2011's Best African American Literature

10th out of 40 books — 76 voters

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Jun 24, 2012 Sarah Pi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult

This is a lovely YA novel. It contains some similarities to the author's adult novel, Who Fears Death: a strong female protagonist who is just coming into her own power; a band of young friends who need to take on a larger evil; an African setting (far-future Sudan in that case, present day Nigeria in this one). If I remember correctly, both also begin with first-person sequences in which the protagonist gets a hint of her own power, and then segue into third-person for the remainder of the book...more

10 likes · like · see review

Nov 04, 2011 April rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grade, multicultural, fantasy, cybils, library

Friends, Akata Witch by Nnnedi Okorafor is such a unique fantasy experience, much different from the quest oriented, Western based fantasy that I normally read. AND I LOVED IT. Sunny, main character, is kind of a weirdo, or rather she’s considered a weirdo in her Nigerian village. You see, she lived in America for the first part of her life then moved to Nigeria, which differentiates her from her classmates. Also she’s white. Not like Caucasian white, but albino white and her hair is kind of blo...more

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 29, 2012 Miriam added it

Shelves: unfinished, younger, fantasy

For a fantasy set in Nigeria, involving not only magic but violent serial murders, this book was remarkably dull. There was a lot of walking and expositing, and the setting, which could have been excitingly different from the genre-fallbacks, was oddly blank. Except for specific things which were described, I didn't get much sense of place. But my main complaint was the characters. I vaguely disliked most of them, but overall found them flat. Even when a teacher puts them in mortal danger they c...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Barb Middleton rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, ya

Sunny is a misfit who lives in Nigeria, was born in America, and is an albino. “Ghost girl,” the students tease at school. Her skin so sensitive to the sun that she has to use an umbrella whenever she is outside and she can’t play soccer – not that it matters – the males in her society always remind her that “girls don’t play soccer.” When Sunny is helped by the boy, Orlu, from being beat up by the class bully, they strike up a friendship that has Sunny meeting Orlu’s friends Chichi and Sasha. C...more Sunny is a misfit who lives in Nigeria, was born in America, and is an albino. “Ghost girl,” the students tease at school. Her skin so sensitive to the sun that she has to use an umbrella whenever she is outside and she can’t play soccer – not that it matters – the males in her society always remind her that “girls don’t play soccer.” When Sunny is helped by the boy, Orlu, from being beat up by the class bully, they strike up a friendship that has Sunny meeting Orlu’s friends Chichi and Sasha. Chichi recognizes magic in Sunny who becomes initiated into the Leopard People. Regular people who can’t use magic are called, Lambs. The group of four learns magic and must figure out how to stop a man who is sacrificing children to an evil spirit he is trying to raise from it’s slumber.

This book was so unique in how it captures Nigeria, its customs, traditions, languages, and superstitions. I also like how Sunny is an American living in Nigeria and what it is like feeling as an outcast. Sasha is in the same situation. Before each chapter there is a page that gives facts about the Leopard People and how they came into existence and use magic. Sunny is a likeable character who grows in confidence from the beginning of the story until the end. She is bullied in the beginning, wonders what her place is in the world, and by the end she stands up for herself so that her father can’t slap her, the bully can’t beat her up, and she can play soccer with the boys regardless of her sex. The plot is face-paced and entertaining. I did think the ending is setup for a sequel. I had more questions than answers at the end, especially after Sunny reads her grandmothers note. The author doesn’t explain the tribes and their history in a satisfactory way. I also thought the end scene with the villian was rushed. It should have dragged out more and shown more internal conflicts going on with the characters.

There are some things you should know about when reading this story so you aren’t surprised. There is swearing by the four kids in the book and children are being killed by a serial killer so it is darker than your average fantasy story. There is violence from the serial killer with kids losing their eyes and a fight at a festival where someone is killed. I didn’t really understand why that was in there or how it advanced the plot. The kids are punished by being whipped. Also, Sunny and Orlu become boyfriend and girlfriend… sort of. And Chichi and Sasha definitely are boyfriend and girlfriend. They all kiss. Chichi and Sasha smoke cigarettes. People compare this to Harry Potter and while it has some plot parallels it is for a more mature reader than Harry Potter.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Oct 03, 2011 Wendy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-award-possibilities

I was ready to be all "This is like The Dark is Rising but with West African setting and mythology instead of British!" Skimming the comments below, I see that Harry Potter is apparently the proper comparison. Have I lost all credibility because I haven't read Harry Potter?

This is a long book. It isn't so much super-long as that it has a lot of stuff going on. I thought to myself halfway through "It is OKAY that this is so long, because maybe she decided it would be better as one long book than...more

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 09, 2013 Kirsten rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-or-ya, fiction, from-library, spec-fic

This is a fabulous fantasy, probably best suited to tweens (which is not to say I didn't enjoy it immensely). Some portions of the plot will feel awfully familiar: young teenage girl finds out she has supernatural powers, is inducted into a secret life, etc. There are a lot of comparisons to Harry Potter, but really what it reminded me most of, tone-wise, was Diane Duane's fabulous So You Want to Be a Wizard. Okorafor definitely makes the story her own, however.

Sunny's parents are Nigerian, but...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Melinda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: inclusive-scifi-fantasy

I really love Nnedi Okorafor's work! I mean I have been a fan since Zahrah the Windseeker and she just gets better. I appreciate the way she deals with the differential treatment between girls and boys. The reader knows that Sunny doesn't agree with all of the "but you're a girl" resistance that's thrown at her but she isn't constantly vocal about how not fair it is. It doesn't change her mind and with the support of friends it doesn't stop her from doing the things she loves. Oh and absolutely...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Cora rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: africa, fantasy, young-adult, nigeria

This young adult novel is set in contemporary Nigeria. Sunny was born in America to Nigerian parents. The family moved back to Nigeria when she was 9. She is an albino that has trouble fitting in at school. On day she sees something strange and frightening in the flame of a candle. That same day she makes some new friends, a boy in school named Orlu and his friend Chichi. Soon her friends help her discover that she is a Leopard person (someone with magical abilities) like them. Will learning to...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Ryan rated it 3 of 5 stars

It is hard not to compare books involving children and magic with Harry Potter, and I am guilty of doing so - this book compared favorably, though. Very interesting idea - Sunny was born in the United States, lived there until age 9, but her family moved back to Nigeria. That is an entire series on its own, without the magic! There are only minor references to adjusting to life in Nigeria. There was a great comment on the self-centeredness of Americans, though: "They don't teach them to understa...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars

Akata Witch falls into the same genre category as the Harry Potter or Percy Jackson series: a normal kid discovers that s/he is part of a supernatural community, learns his or her way around, and then becomes a key part in the community's survival.

In this case, the heroine is Sunny, a 12-year-old Nigerian of American background. She becomes part of the the Leopard people, a magical community rooted in African juju and tradition.

The storytelling is brisk, although the finale doesn't perhaps get t...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Lindsay rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-ya, favorites, not-the-lower-48

Sunny Nwazue doesn't have the easiest life for a 12-year-old. Born to Nigerian parents, she was raised in the United States until she was 9 when her family decided to return to Nigeria. As if it's not hard enough to get used to a new culture, Sunny's albino and can't go a day without her peers tormenting her. And on the day this novel opens, she sees the end of the world while staring into a flame, revealing another difficult side of her nature. With the help of a few friends, she comes to under...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 10, 2012 BAYA Librarian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Sunny Nwazue already feels out of place. For one thing, she lives in Nigeria but was born in America, unlike the rest of her classmates and her brothers. In addition, she is an albino and her light complexion causes her to stick out - and be teased by some of her nastier classmates. When three of her new friends reveal a big secret about themselves that includes her, Sunny begins understands how exceptional she really is. She is a Leopard person, which means that she has a natural ability to har...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 02, 2011 Cara M rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-modfantasy

I went with the three stars - I liked this book - because I did like it, I think. It was interesting, clear, and plainspoken, and a window into a world that could have been utterly foreign, but instead was instantly familiar, because it was familiar to the narrator. As a linguist, I loved the depiction of languages in this book, Igbo, Efik, Yoruba, English, French, Arabic, Hausa, and the way all the languages touched, the way people spoke Igbo with a Yoruba accent, or needed a translator between...more I went with the three stars - I liked this book - because I did like it, I think. It was interesting, clear, and plainspoken, and a window into a world that could have been utterly foreign, but instead was instantly familiar, because it was familiar to the narrator. As a linguist, I loved the depiction of languages in this book, Igbo, Efik, Yoruba, English, French, Arabic, Hausa, and the way all the languages touched, the way people spoke Igbo with a Yoruba accent, or needed a translator between English and French, and especially the way the scholars/governing officials switched from one language to another as easily and casually as if they were pouring themselves a fresh drink. Knowledge was worth money, and the ability to communicate worth more than anything else. Also, the responsibility of learning to speak the language, learning to communicate, is a shared one. It's brilliant to see a worldview where people are pressed and encouraged and respected for learning more languages rather than trying to force everyone to speak the same one.

Basically, what kept me from really loving this book was its realism. I loved its realism, but the very thing I loved kept me from sinking deeply into the story world of the book. It opens with the vision of the apocalypse, an unavoidable apocalypse. It repeatedly emphasizes the corruptibility of human nature, the lust for power. Even in the four children who we are supposed to sympathize with we see an aggressive carelessness, a need to prove oneself, a selfish disregard for others. That made the characters undeniably real. All of them were undeniably real. But I never quite knew what to think. Because yes, an unavoidable apocalypse is coming. As humans we are failing in our ability to make peace, to protect the world, to plan ahead. The adults talk and talk and talk and then do nothing. I feel helpless and afraid. This book reminded me of my fear, and then abandoned me with it. Even a catharsis of violence and loss would have been acceptable. Instead we had the evil character kill himself, put satan back in hell, and brought the dead to life, all without any real impact, without any real importance except a putting off of the final day still to come.

As I was reading this book I spent some time wondering where it was going, and I think I was right to wonder, because there was no meat to it, no deep underlying mystery pulling at you, making you need to know the answer. It was like a folding screen: beautiful and intricate and absorbing to look at, but paper thin, with no way to step inside.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Sep 30, 2011 Kim Miner rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

So torn on this one about giving it a 3 or 4 star rating.

Pros: Love that the story is set in Africa, with African and African American main characters, as well as an albino. Also, it goes the Percy Jackson route of explaining that what we call "learning disabilities" like ADD and dyslexia, are just bi-products of their uniqueness as magicians. The world building is fantastic. We often see magic from a European point of view and it was really cool to see this fresh take.

Cons: When I was told that...more

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Jul 21, 2011 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars

So, first of all, holy crap, a fantasy novel about an albino girl in Nigeria that doesn't spend its time exoticizing albinism or Africa! (I could have simply written, holy crap, a fantasy novel about an albino girl in Nigeria, but the fact that it was done right made me really happy.)

This book's greatest strength is definitely the worldbuilding. I loved the magic and magical community in this book; Harry Potter comparisons can be made simply because both authors have a flair for inventing vivid...more

8 likes · like · see review

Jun 03, 2011 Gwen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: children, ya, fantasy

SPOILER ALERT

Great character development... I fell in love with all four characters, especially Sunny. Even the mentors were well developed, so that I felt like I knew them as well as the kids did. The elements of juju remind me alot of the wizardry in Harry Potter, but the juju isn't nearly as well developed. Where Harry Potter leaves us at least somewhat understanding what happened at the end of each book (who did what and how they did it), Okorafor left me feeling at the end like I had no ide...more

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May 29, 2011 Uche Ogbuji rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nigeria, friends-and-family, culture

I'll just quote fromt he conclusion of my TNB review:

What I personally love best about the novel is how well it plays on the confusion of identities that affect so many Nigerians, especially those who've split time between Nigeria and the U.S. or Europe as children. I certainly remember returning from America to Nigeria at the age of ten, after seven years abroad, and encountering hostility and ridicule as an outsider, feeling as if I didn't really belong on any of the three continents I'd calle

...more

4 likes · like · see review

Apr 13, 2011 Joseph rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: witchcraft, around-the-world-in-80-books, read-in-2011-04-april, young-adult, printers-row-shopping-list

This book reminded me a bit about The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John and Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey and had its pros and cons for me.
Pros: It was nice to read a book about magic-users that didn't take place in the US or UK. It seems that so many, almost too many, do when there are so many more magic-users all around the world.
Cons: It started out really well with an interesting premise and building up the world of these four Nigerian teenager magic-users, or Leopard People, very much...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 22, 2012 Kam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mythology-and-folklore, urban-fantasy

When I was an undergraduate, our professors were very determined to make sure that us students had as well-rounded a reading background as possible. They made and encouraged us to read as many literary classics and award-winners as we could, to explore as many genres as we dared, and if we chose, to pick a handful we would specialize in so we could go into more in-depth reading. Most of us had already read many of the classic Greek and Roman material (if one hadn't read Homer, at the very least,...more

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Feb 20, 2012 K. Bird rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sunny was born and raised for many years in the United States, but her parents are from Nigeria and now they have come back to live.

Sunny is albino, and with her yellow/white coloring and her US background, she is an instantly recognizable target to the school bullies. (They call her "Akata", a derogatory term for an American of African descent) She is alone and sad, until one day, a bookish classmate, Orlu, walks her home.

He introduces her to another friend, Chichi, and together with yet anothe...more Sunny was born and raised for many years in the United States, but her parents are from Nigeria and now they have come back to live.

Sunny is albino, and with her yellow/white coloring and her US background, she is an instantly recognizable target to the school bullies. (They call her "Akata", a derogatory term for an American of African descent) She is alone and sad, until one day, a bookish classmate, Orlu, walks her home.

He introduces her to another friend, Chichi, and together with yet another friend, Sasha, Sunny is introduced to the world of the Leopard People; those who can see and work juju.

Sunny's albinism is a clue to her own natural inborn gifts, just as Orlu's dyslexia is a clue to his power to undo magic. The four begin seeing a powerful Leopard Person, Chichi's mentor, in a village of Leopard People called Leopard Knocks. Each visit has real and terrible dangers the four must work together to overcome.

For these four have a greater purpose than just to learn their powers-- a Leopard Person of great power is killing children in the villages nearby and the four friends are meant to stop him.

No condescension, no over-explanation, no sensationalizing of the Nigerian/West African world in this book. We get hot pepper soup, multi lingual gatherings where language have to be identified and dealt with, masquerade and spirit knives, as well as termite mounds emerging from the earth to spit forth powerful spirit beings. And it is all presented in such a way that the reader can understand. The author has the knack of creating Sunny's world without having to exotify or "other" ize the food, customs, and people within it.

It helps to have pages from the somewhat tongue-in-cheek "Fast Facts for Free Agents" book about Leopard People sprinkled throughout the text.

The plot about the serial killer is slow to build, and in this book it doesn't matter. Like Alice in Wonderland or Wizard of Oz, we are content to follow Sunny in her discoveries of Leopard Knocks and the great festival because it is so much fun (and oftimes scary) to follow her there.

Along with her magic learning, she must deal with a violent father who assumes she is up to no good, school bullies whom she cannot use her juju on to extract revenge, regular school studies, and forming friendships with the other three. Sunny grows with each turn of the page, and it is a satisfying growth that leaves you wanting to see how far she can go even beyond the last page of the book.

This Book's Snack Rating: A plate of freshly fried and sugar powdered Chin chin (beignet like donuts) seasoned with oranges and cinnamon for the flavorful spice of Nigerian food, tongues, and juju throughout a buttery sweet melt-in-your-mouth goodness of the wonderful characters.(less)

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Apr 27, 2011 Ranting Dragon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: caleigh

http://www.rantingdragon.com/akata-wi...

Akata Witch is a young adult standalone novel by the award-winning Nnedi Okorafor. Our protagonist is twelve-year-old Sunny, who grew up in America but lives in Nigeria. Though she has West African features, Sunny is also albino, so she doesn’t quite fit in anywhere. But then Sunny meets Chichi and Orlu, and Sunny learns that there’s a whole magical community known as the Leopard People hidden in her town. Sunny – a “free agent,” a person born with magical...more

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Oct 26, 2011 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, fantasy, ya, not-graphic

It seems much fantasy is (often rightly) accused of being derivative of either Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings or, more recently, Rowling’s Harry Potter books. That can’t be said of this one. True, the protagonist is a young teen who has just discovered she belongs in a world of hidden magic and has become a student learning to tap her potential, but there are no wizards, wands, swords, elves, goblins, dwarves, or any of the other things we’re familiar with from the usual fantasy books. That’s becau...more

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Sep 01, 2011 Jenn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Brief summary: Sunny is an albino girl growing up in Nigeria, although she has also lived in America. Due to her condition and her being American, she has difficulty fitting in. She becomes friends with Orlu and Chichi, and discovers she is a Leopard Person.
I really enjoyed this book. Okorafor's writing style is great--you can tell that this book would immediately draw in the young adult audience it is written for, even "reluctant" readers. The background and all the information on juju and Nige...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Alyssa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: multicultural-commentary, awesome-girls

I really liked this book. I appreciate what it is doing and the lovely images Okorafor gives us in introducing a completely new mythology and kind of magic to readers. I love the idea of Leopard People and the ways in which their society is exclusive and encompasing of all the magical societies with whcih readers might already be familiar. I enjoyed the languages, the code switching, and the cultures, and that (BIG PLUS) this is a book with protagonists of color!!!

That said, I really wish that t...more

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Jun 30, 2012 earthy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ccbc-choices, fantasy, ya

THIS is what we need: more fantasy by and about POCs! I loved the matter-of-fact, realistic way Sunny's world is portrayed--as an albino in Nigeria, she feels like an outsider, but at the same time, the multiple cultures, languages, and mythologies in her everyday life are a huge part of who she is and how she interacts with the world. The magic Sunny and her friends encounter and work with is firmly situated within Nigerian culture without being particularly exoticised, which is extremely refre...more

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Feb 11, 2012 Kevin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Compared to the other books Nnedi has written up until now, I think this one was probably her most "polished". You can really tell that she's taking what she learns from previous books and applying it to new ones.

It also seems like the book hopes to change the minds of future generations of kids towards the real world plight of Africa's "witch children", who suffer horribly at the hands of misguided religious fanaticism. But aside from one dialog/narration from the main character than came about...more

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Feb 02, 2012 April Steenburgh rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, ya

"My name is Sunny Nwazue and I confuse people (Akata Witch, pg 3)."

Sunny is a young girl who is a kaleidoscopic of impression and definition. She was born in America, though the rest of her family was born in Nigeria, where they relocated back to when she was nine. She has African features covered with an albino's complexion. She loves soccer, but can only play at night with her brothers, her skin far too sensitive for the sun and other boys her age would not let her join in regardless.

Sunny see...more

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Jan 22, 2012 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 24, 2012 Melissa Proffitt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, own, modern-setting-fantasy, favorites

Twelve-year-old Sunny is a stranger wherever she goes: an American born to Nigerian (Igbo) parents, raised in America but now living in her ancestral homeland, an albino whose fair skin and blond afro hairstyle make her the butt of her schoolmates' vile humor. Almost by accident, she learns that she's also one of the Leopard People, a magical community that spans the globe; that her unique appearance is a blessing rather than a curse; and that she and her friends are destined to prevent a great...more Twelve-year-old Sunny is a stranger wherever she goes: an American born to Nigerian (Igbo) parents, raised in America but now living in her ancestral homeland, an albino whose fair skin and blond afro hairstyle make her the butt of her schoolmates' vile humor. Almost by accident, she learns that she's also one of the Leopard People, a magical community that spans the globe; that her unique appearance is a blessing rather than a curse; and that she and her friends are destined to prevent a great disaster that will devastate the world.

I really, really liked this book, so the next part of the review is hard for me to write because the last thing in the world I want to suggest is that it's derivative in any way. So bear with me, okay?

You may have noticed that some of the points I touched on in that summary sound sort of familiar...sort of like another book series about a magical kid? Who doesn't know his heritage until he's eleven? Who has a unique destiny and something weird about his appearance? Let's add the existence of a place you can only get to if you have magic powers and a sports event at which our hero excels, and...let's just say that if you're a casual and, I might add, extremely stupid reader, you could dismiss Akata Witch out of hand.

But here's the other point that I can only make if I point out the similarities: This book is so much more mature, so much better than that nameless other series, while being about roughly the same things, that every time I came up against one of those similarities, I thought "This is way better than that nameless other series, and it's too bad that nameless other writer didn't think to do this instead."

For one thing, magic, in this world, is dangerous--not just to use, but to even learn about. There are age limits on who can learn which levels of magic, because if you try to advance and fail, the results can be catastrophic. This alone gives Akata Witch depth. Using magic to attack an enemy, even if it's justified, can turn on you. People die because of magical creatures; being young is no defense. One of the things that impressed me was that the adults of the magical community make absolutely no allowances for age, however much they might want to. One of the first things Sunny faces after learning about the Leopard People world is a walk through Night Runner Forest, where she and her friends are nearly killed by malicious creatures, simply because they've been summoned by one of the adult masters. No allowances, because treating them like children could get them killed later.

Another thing--if a Leopard Person reveals his or her magic to a Lamb (normal person, and hey, who doesn't like a little suggestion of the lamb not being able to lie down with the leopard?) that person is punished. Severely. Physically. Not simply because of the need to keep this community hidden, but because the Leopard People swear with a binding oath not to tell anyone else about themselves. I love that oaths matter to them, that they create community in the oldest sense, because this in turn means that the Leopard People who remove themselves from the community do damage not only because they use their powers wrongly, but because they've broken from their family.

And while magical destiny is certainly an essential part of the story, it's not because Sunny is some kind of Chosen One; it's her Oha coven, the group of four young people she's part of, who bear the destiny. All of them together. I'm a fan of superhero teams because I like seeing people's weaknesses become strengths through the support of others, everyone contributing to the whole. Okorafor goes one better by establishing that for the Leopard People, imperfection is the key to one's magical nature. Sunny's albinism leads to her understanding her own secret power.

And the sports thing? I'm always going to love a girl who kicks butt at soccer. Football. Call it what you want. My inner feminist likes seeing cocky boys stomped into the ground by a skinny girl with fast feet. (view spoiler)

Bottom line: I'm looking forward to the rest of this series. There's a lot of room for the Oha coven to grow, and I anticipate that the next book will be every bit as interesting as the first.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Aug 02, 2011 Mickie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: made-me-forget-about-death

So far this book is really different and refreshing! An albino Nigerian girl discovers her latent magical powers and a whole new world of magic hiding in plain sight. I want to call her the Nigerian Harry Potter, but that feels wrong. This book is so new and different it is nothing like anything I have ever read, but it still has that magiccal feel of discovery that makes HP so fun.

Also the setting is so rich: mud huts and albino skin, red stew and dark earth, red blood and white bone--every se...more

3 likes · like · see review

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About Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor (full name: Nnedimma Nkemdili Okorafor. Also previously known as Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu) is a novelist known for her complex characters and weaving Nigerian cultures and settings into speculative narratives.

In a profile of Nnedi’s work titled “Weapons of Mass Creation”, The New York Times called Nnedi’s imagination “stunning”.

Her YA novels include AKATA WITCH (an Amazon.com Best Bo...more

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“There will be danger; some of you may not live to complete your lessons. It's a risk you take. This world is bigger than you and it will go on, regardless.” — 2 people liked it

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