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Akata Witch (The Nsibidi Scripts, #1)

Nnedi Okorafor

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Aug 25, 2011 Wealhtheow rated it liked it

Shelves: pocmaincharacters, fantasy, ya

Sunny has always been different. She's Nigerian, but was raised in America and has the pale coloring of an albino. And in adolescence, it turns out she's magic, as well. Although magic lets her play soccer in the sun and see wasps that create tiny fantastical scupltures, it also alerts her to grave danger. A magician named Black Hat is mutilating and sacrificing children, and only Sunny and her oha coven can stop him.

I like some components of this book much more than others. The background chara ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Jan 12, 2017 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

Shelves: children-s, fantasy-and-sci-fi, alternate-planes-and-histories, based-on-a-folk-tale, tween

This isn't what I expected. This is a fine children's story, in the tradition of magical children's quest stories (such as, yes, Harry Potter): a young girl, who has always felt somewhat ostracized, discovers that she really is different, and she has magical powers! and there is an entire magical world that she didn't know about! And she, alone, may be the one who can save the world, but not without the help of her friends ...

But like children's stories often are, this is very simple: there is g ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 25, 2015 Debbie is on Storygraph rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, library, young-adult, 2015

I loved this book so much.

I was trying to describe this to a friend, and I think I used the words, "like Harry Potter but in Nigeria," which I guess was kind of true but also an incredible disservice to Okorafor's amazing world-building and story-telling, which should never be implied as being inferior to or copying another work. But for somebody who has not read much non-Western based speculative fiction, that was the easiest way to describe it (both for me and for my friend).

This book defied ...more

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Sep 10, 2019 El rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: library-borrow, peer-pressure, hear-me-roar-and-gender, 21st-centurylit, fantasy, young-adult-n-kids, read-with-ears

There has been so much love for this first book in the Akata Witch series that I was eager to read it. I chose it as my next audiobook following Stephen King's Elevation and hunkered down with it.

My attention kept wandering. I don't think it had anything to do with the narration by Yetide Badaki because I actually enjoyed hearing her tell the story. The story, however, left a lot to be desired.

Twelve-year-old Sunny is an albino living in Nigeria. She wants to be a regular kid but is unable to be ...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Hannah added it

I'm doing some co-reading and co-blogging funtimes with this book:

http://mclicious.org/2012/12/15/co-re...
http://thecanaryreview.com/2012/12/15...
http://mclicious.org/2012/12/26/preli... ...more

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Jun 05, 2019 Janet rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, yanovels, not-weird-enough

Really enjoyable young adult fantasy. I love the Nigerian setting, both the everyday reality and the fantasy elements, which Okorafor clearly is at home with. I also liked the characters, and the emphasis of the four teens growing as a team.

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Sep 11, 2021 Ray rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Just read out loud with my 8 year old. Took about 3 weeks. We both loved it. And just started the second book in the series.

My only regret is the Chichi/Sasha relationship, which was just too fast for my kid.

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