Akata Warrior (Nsibidi Scripts #2)[January 1, 2024]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor starting on January 1, 2024.


Happy Reading!

[Nirkatze]

Thank you!

Series Schedule:
1. Akata Witch (Dec 1) [Link]
2. Akata Warrior (Jan 1)
Also #2.5 The Scenic Route ($0 on Kindle)
3. Akata Woman (Feb 1) [Link]

All three books are on Hoopla audio--and in various langauges.
https://www.hoopladigital.com/artist/...

[Tonari no Emily]

Read this one yesterday! I think it was a pretty good followup.. I also just want to say I love Yetide's Nigerian accent. I'm pretty sure she has an American accent, so I'm not sure why the choice to narrate the whole book in a Nigerian accent other than that's where it's set... But the MC has an American accent? Idk interesting choice. Either way I find the Nigerian accent very musical.

(view spoiler)[ I didn't like the love triangle going on with Chichi/Sasha/Chuku.. Also Chuku is way too old for Chichi.. I suppose we haven't really gotten her age, but if she's close to Sunny's age that's a 4 year difference...

We also have more suspension of belief here that the kids are responsible for saving the world.. But eh, most YA novels do this anyway.

I really like the "doubling" of Sunny and her Spirit Face and that basically Anyanwu is the aggregate of all of Sunny's past lives.. Reminds me a bit of Avatar TLA (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Started last night and about 3/4 in now, through Chapter 24--(view spoiler)[This book is just as gritty as the first one with the kids in life-and-death situations from the start...

Bringing in another Society to the story--showing that they can be cultish and murderous... a thoughtful reflection on Leopard Society, which is also cultish and murderous... how are the two different? Leopard Society also put Sunny through a horrible initiation where she could have died, it also has sent her out to kill people--albeit Black Hat Otokoto needed killing, but to send a child after him is a similar level of disregard and cruelty. Sunny defends the Leopard Society in her mind--and maybe the difference is that she would be a part of this world even without its protection and training, while her brother did not need to be pulled into the night-life... he and his bulging muscles can exist in the normal world without worrying about attracting the wrong kind of attention.

Anyanwu taking off and hanging out in the oil spill was a surprise--and that it would kill a normal Leopard person. I also didn't realize? remember? that the spirit faces had their own personalities, and even existed outside of time--that Anyanwu had been the spirit face of other people, other versions of Sunny. The split, the fact that Anyanwu can now jaunt off wherever she likes whenever, them coming together with more confidence... makes me think of how Sunny is a liminal child in a lot of ways. Growing up in America as well as Nigeria, albino and African, Leopard people and maintaining a normal life... Sunny also thinks on her dual nature--she is unique in a lot of ways, but that is a curse more often than a blessing...

The mentions near the beginning of Sunny having to contend with changes in her body--the book descriptions make it sound kind of like part of the magic, which is an interesting parallel to puberty and the changes all youth go through...

Part of that growth comes with romantic awakening--more for Chichi, who blatantly goes out with both Sasha and Sunny's brother and is completely unapologetic about it--but a little for Sunny too, learning that maybe she likes Orlu a little more than friendship... but not taking it as far as Chichi. Chichi's love-triangle is both a bit cringe but also feels very Chichi--she's very in-your-face and doesn't seem to care what other people think about her.

The growth isn't limited to her body either, or to Sunny. The relationship with her family is both the same and not--she still has to have a cover story, but her family has also come to accept that something is going on... and they aren't bugging her about it. Her brother thinks she's in traditional women's cult or something? I forget what the description was... but it also reminds me of growing up, of just walking out the door and telling parents you're heading to the mall or to play with friends, the freedom that comes when you're older... until you break that trust. I find it interesting that after being gone--locked in a basement--for three days, that her family didn't interrogate her within an inch of her life.

That basement was creepy. The red spiders would have freaked me out. (hide spoiler)]

I've been poking through the wiki for the series and finding it pretty useful and insightful, although it doesn't have a ton of information--for example, it has pictures of the money used by the Leopard people--looks like horseshoes--and that it is based on a type of old local currency... it also has some thoughts on Chichi's age--it never says how old she is, so it is not unlikely, considering her attitude and how she lives, that she's a few years older than Sunny & Sasha, making her closer to Sasha's brother's age...

[Nirkatze]

Finished! I also think the narrator does a great job, with all the accents--it is indeed interesting that she does a Nigerian accent for the main narration, even though she gives Sunny a primarily American accent...

I like your Avatar TLA comparison! (view spoiler)[Sunny's Wasp Artist companion makes me think of the bee in Wandering Inn... the little tidbit at the end, about how Wasp Artists are very dramatic, and will sting their patrons and then commit suicide in front of them if neglected was half-horrifying half-humorous--which is true for much of the tone of the book. I am glad this didn't happen, that would've been a sour note to end on.

Chukwu finding out about Sunny's world also was half-funny half... well, not horrifying, but annoying. Him trying to protect Sunny is sweet--but him assuming he has the right to deny her actions is annoying and insulting. She was the one to get him out of trouble, not the other way around. And the way he said "witch"--like something evil... I would hope he knows his sister better than that, but then the way Sunny has talked about him, he hasn't exactly been the best brother all her life. Maybe that will change going forward. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Around Chapter 26 or so, forgot to write this thought down--(view spoiler)[I find it very mature, how Sunny's worst memory is not just something done to her, but her realizing that she has the power to hurt others... and having empathy for the very people who were abusing her. Her insightful questions--why do the downtrodden turn inside and find someone in their own community to hurt? Why do they hurt each other? Isn't there enough pain from outside already?--I could practically feel the author trying to reach through to today's youth with that segment. You have power. Be kind. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

I was panning through Dan dos Santos's website, like one does, and his homepage has this upcoming cover on it:

(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]

At first glance, I seriously thought it could be an adult Sunny, maybe for a book 4? But poking around a bit more I found it was for Warrior of the Wind... I do have the first book in that series on my TBR...

[Tonari no Emily]

Nirkatze wrote: "Around Chapter 26 or so, forgot to write this thought down--[spoilers removed]"

Oh yeah that was pretty powerful. I want to say a lot of Sunny's being liminal is directly related to Okorafor's childhood experience as a Nigerian-American. She felt she never really fit in entirely in either country.. I remember following her on twitter around the time the first and second were published and she kind of talked about it there...

[Tonari no Emily]

Nirkatze wrote: "I was panning through Dan dos Santos's "

Oooh I like the covers for both of those books!

[Tonari no Emily]

Nirkatze wrote: "Started last night and about 3/4 in now, through Chapter 24--This book is just as gritty as the first one with the kids in life-and-death situations from the start...

Bringing in another Society t..."

Hmm could be true about Chichi's age... (view spoiler)[ I also thought the budding romance for Sunny and Orlu was sweet and age appropriate LOL (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

Nirkatze wrote: "Started last night and about 3/4 in now, through Chapter 24--This book is just as gritty as the first one with the kids in life-and-death situations from the start...

Bringing in another Society t..."

Re the two societies (view spoiler)[ I'd say they are very different... One is actually a cult and uses power to hurt people... The Leopard people on the other hand are based on magical people hiding in plain sight from everyone else... While the decisions of the local elders are very baffling and cruel, I don't think cruelty is the point like what Chukwu got involved with (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Makes a lot of sense about Okorafor's background--I also hear similar things from my friends and students who are half-something or who grew up in one place but parents from another... not enough of either side to satisfy the "pure" community, never quite feeling like they fit in... It's nice to see more characters who let those readers know they are not alone... and it's interesting in how many different ways Sunny straddles lines... I saw another note somewhere about how Sunny is based on a friend of the author's from when she was a kid, too...

Also agree about the societies... I was just thinking about how when I tried to stop and think of what made them different, I couldn't figure out how to put it into words... since they had a lot of similarities--in the end it comes down to what you said--cruelty not being the point...

[Tonari no Emily]

I think there might be some more differences, I just was also having a hard time putting it to words.. One of those things that when you know, you know? lol

[Nirkatze]

Tonari no Emily wrote: "I think there might be some more differences, I just was also having a hard time putting it to words.. One of those things that when you know, you know? lol"

I know, LOL! Me too! Like, I could feel it, but I couldn't explain it.