From the Bookshelf of The Sword and Laser…

Akata Witch (The Nsibidi Scripts, #1)

Nnedi Okorafor

Start date: December 1, 2024

Finish date: December 31, 2024

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Akata Witch

AW: Disability and Albinism
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last updated Dec 12, 2024 10:19AM

AW: Writing for a Broken World - A Conversation with Nnedi Okorafor
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last updated Dec 06, 2024 05:00PM

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What Members Thought

Jul 21, 2016 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: africa2016, location-africa, ya, sci-fi-fantasy, read2016, location-nigeria

After seeing the author read from what will be Akata Witch #2, I realized I had overlooked a book I should seek out. Akata Witch soon pulled itself ahead of the other books in my tbr pile.

If you like books about magic, particularly teens finding out they have special abilities, learning to use them, and building a community with others like them, this is the book for you. Added to those well-loved tropes is a new landscape with new traditions and rules. Setting it in Nigeria, with Igbo people b ...more

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Feb 06, 2022 Brittany rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: yafantasy

This book is wonderful. It is beautiful, fun, and magical. I am glad that I found it. I am frustrated that I had to go looking for it, but I am newly devoted to looking for books from marginalized authors. Because if I’ve missed books like this for so long, what else am I missing?

There’s a line in books, no matter what the genre, that bookworms love to mock. It’s “I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding,” or something along those lines.

It’s obviously a trite trope, and it makes readers This book is wonderful. It is beautiful, fun, and magical. I am glad that I found it. I am frustrated that I had to go looking for it, but I am newly devoted to looking for books from marginalized authors. Because if I’ve missed books like this for so long, what else am I missing?

There’s a line in books, no matter what the genre, that bookworms love to mock. It’s “I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding,” or something along those lines.

It’s obviously a trite trope, and it makes readers roll their eyes. But maybe it is that way because it is such a universal human emotion. It’s a release of tension you didn’t even realize was there until it’s gone. Like you’ve been wearing a vest or a jacket that’s button too tight, clenching your lungs and hampering your arms, and you don’t even notice until someone takes it off.

To me, that’s what it felt like when I started noticing my favorite media diversifying. Books like this, or watching women and Black people and people of other races and abilities and ways of being, come into fandoms like Star Wars. Seeing those people on the screen, where before only white people—and usually white, straight men—suddenly I felt freer, happier, and more relaxed. Idiotic bigots can yell all they want, but I want those people and their stories on my screens and in my books, not to win any SJW brownie points but because it feels good. It makes the world feel more-wide open, a safer place, a more beautiful, wonderful, amazing place.

That’s how I felt finding this book. I read a lot and tend to just meander from book to book. I don’t tend to do reading challenges or themed reads. But a friend of mine is reading Black authors in February, which makes sense, and I started kind of bobbing along in her wake. That’s how I found this book, which feels like finding a whole world I didn’t know was there. I’ve spent of time looking for good stories in the fantasy, YA, and SF genres. It’s hard to find the good stuff among the chaff. And of course, what constitutes “chaff” differ from person to person. But what I’m horrified at is how many of these books by Black authors are absolutely fantastic – but were completely absent from any reading recommendation algorithm I have yet encountered. These books were hidden from me, and finding them feels like finding treasure.

I loved this book in particular because of the way it made me think about strengths and weaknesses, and how an "abnormality" doesn't have to be a weakness -- it can be your strength. ...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Serena rated it liked it

Likes:
-Original take on the magician school plot, set in a completely different place.
-Teachers have an almost jaded quality, in high contrast to the protective and coddling nature of those in other similar novels I might mention. This powerful group isn't the first to have come along and it certainly won't be the last.
-The book the protagonist's uniqueness as part of her special power/magic ability as a good coming of age novel should.

Dislikes:
-Peripheral characters were VERY one dimensiona ...more

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Jan 03, 2012 kvon rated it really liked it

In a way like Harry Potter in Africa. Except for where it's not. The heroine, Sunny, is an albino who burns too easily in the sun. She's from both Nigeria and America. She learns that she is magically gifted and goes to magic school with some mates (while still doing regular school too) and learns how to use the magic, and about her destiny to confront evil. There's sports and dances too. The African flavor of the story was well done, it made me want to know more about Nigeria.

The magic can be o ...more

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Jun 14, 2018 Laurie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018

This book is superb. It’s a rich take on teenagers learning magic. Definitely recommended if you are a fantasy fan - very original.

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 01, 2024 Dave rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, sf, middle-grade

Unusual setting and characters makes this standout from the YA crowd. Looking forward to the next book.

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Feb 27, 2021 travelgirlut rated it really liked it

A cute middle grade/YA book that takes places in Nigeria and is full of fantastical magic. It's has some similarities to Harry Potter, but not so many that you feel like you're reading and African version of it. It's definitely its own story. It was enjoyable and I'll read the next one in the series. ...more

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May 25, 2011 Beth rated it really liked it

I reread this on audio, and I really liked having the correct accent. It’s a good book with interesting worldbuilding both for the magic stuff and the exotic (for me) Nigerian setting.

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