Akata Witch (The Nsibidi Scripts, #1) in Into the Forest

Jan 31, 2018 Melanti rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, library, group-reads, young-adult, 2018

Sorry, I wish I liked this but I don't. I normally love Okorafor's writing, but this particular one is terribly written and poorly edited.

I really enjoyed the setting (Nigeria) and use of African culture and magic, but it really suffers from being too formulaic and derivative - it takes a huge number of its plot points from Harry Potter. Don't get me wrong, I loved Harry Potter, but I don't think this one did its own thing nearly enough.

For instance, the Leopard (wizard) kids took a magic train Sorry, I wish I liked this but I don't. I normally love Okorafor's writing, but this particular one is terribly written and poorly edited.

I really enjoyed the setting (Nigeria) and use of African culture and magic, but it really suffers from being too formulaic and derivative - it takes a huge number of its plot points from Harry Potter. Don't get me wrong, I loved Harry Potter, but I don't think this one did its own thing nearly enough.

For instance, the Leopard (wizard) kids took a magic train (Knight Bus) to a market (Diagon Alley) that Lambs (muggles) couldn't see. They then went to get the Free Agent (muggle born) main character her own juju knife (wand) which she gets from a quirky and strange man (Olivander) who muses about how curious her knife is - but never explains the significance of this particular blade - and further, this is the only possible knife she can get cause the wand chooses the wizard.

And that's only a couple of chapters... There's dozens more parallels in the book.

Frankly, really meaningful, emotional things seem to have no consequences... The kids witness someone dying and are upset - but within a page, they've seemingly forgotten all about it and have started enthusiastically playing an elaborate soccer match. More time is spent on this ultimately pointless soccer match than is spent in the climax of the book!

In the climax, the adults of the book push the kids towards a confrontation, without any real effort to give them training to help them win, nor any real consideration for the kids' survival or safety. The main character is 12 for crying out loud. They had no business to do that.

Finally, there's some pretty horrible editing errors. Sunny is from New York - but in the prologue she says she's from Chicago, and in another section she implies she's gone to school in Nigeria since she was 5. Her aunt simultaneously lives in Atlanta and works in NYC. Sunny caught malaria when she was 2 - yet she couldn't have caught it when she was 2 because she was living in the United States at the time. So, unless she took an unmentioned vacation, malaria would have been impossible.

So, in general, this is just a huge, huge disappointment for me.
It'd probably read better for the target audience (lower end of the YA scale) but just doesn't hold up to my adult skepticism. ...more

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Nov 16, 2012 Mir added it

Shelves: younger, unfinished, 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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Dec 14, 2021 Lois Young rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

An amazing middle grade story by one of my favorite authors! If you're looking for a magical tale infused with realism, then read this book (and the rest of the series).

Seriously, whoever believes this book is "identical" to HARRY POTTER needs to retake a literature class/course!

Complete RTC! ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Jan 02, 2011 Julia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: magical-realism, ya, based-on-folksong-myth, urban-fantasy, fantasy, best-book-i-read-in-2012

I wanted to not read this immediately after Wild Seed, because there are similarities between the books. Beyond that both are amazing. Sunny, the main character here is even named Anyanwu (in tribute to that book and Octavia E. Butler?) “her spirit, her chi, the name of her other self, (to) guide her.” (326) This is the kind of inventive, amazing, magical book I was hoping the Harry Potter series and Grossman’s Magician series would be, but are not. This is the real deal and I hope it finds the ...more

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Feb 14, 2018 Katy rated it liked it · review of another edition

A nice quick fun read. Well done and enjoyable.

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 08, 2018 Lacey Louwagie rated it liked it

Shelves: youngadultfantasy, youngadult, fantasy, middle-grade, 2018-pop-sugar-challenge

I did find the fact that this book is so reminiscent (derivative?) of Harry Potter to be pretty distracting ... but then I kept reminding myself that Harry Potter is itself derivative and that it is so popular because it incorporates all sorts of fantasy elements that people are already familiar with (flying broomsticks, wands, magical creatures, etc.) Still, I really like that books like this exist -- middle-grade fantasy that makes use of African rather than European mythology. Some of the ima ...more

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Dec 28, 2020 Chelsea rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, black-sff, middle-grade

I love Nnedi Okorafor and I love middle-grade fantasy, but I just didn't love this book. The imagery is great. The Nigerian setting is great. Some of the magic system and world-building is great. I like the spirit faces, the juju knives and powders, the odd animals, but didn't like how vague it was. What are the actual powers possible, both ones inherent in the leopard people and ones that they can learn? Who knows! The characters were flat and uninteresting. The plot was even worse. It was a st ...more

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