Twelve-year-old Sunny Nwazue, an American-born albino child of Nigerian parents, moves with her family back to Nigeria, where she learns that she has latent magical powers which she and three similarly gifted friends use to catch a serial killer.
Reading fantasy from a different part of the world is an absolute treat. I really enjoyed this story of juju, masquerades, and the bonds of friendship. 4.4/5
Unlike anything I've read. Loved it
A very interesting and fun fantasy perspective on voodoo and non-western witchcraft! I love Okorafor's writing, and its non-western flavor is always delightful and intriguing. This story had some American characters that served as a lens of sorts, and I almost wish it wasn't that way because being thrust into well-established worlds where you as the reader are initiated into it by reading is more fun to me.
Anyway, it's worth taking a look!
I'd had this book on my wishlist for quite some time. Binti became available at my library before Akata Witch did, and so I read that. After reading Binti, I added all of Okorafor's books to my wishlist. Her writing is engaging, her world-building is wonderful, and her characters are almost real. I found a copy at a used bookstore and onto my Mt. TBR it went.
While the title of the book draws some controversy, I can't speak to it as a white American. However, this is an excellent book and a discussion about people's feelings on the title should be a part of any book discussion.
I would highly recommend this book to anybody who enjoys fantasy or urban fantasy. If you like Harry Potter, as a child, adolescent, or adult, you'll probably enjoy this book. It is not a knock-off, the parallels run only so far as …
I'd had this book on my wishlist for quite some time. Binti became available at my library before Akata Witch did, and so I read that. After reading Binti, I added all of Okorafor's books to my wishlist. Her writing is engaging, her world-building is wonderful, and her characters are almost real. I found a copy at a used bookstore and onto my Mt. TBR it went.
While the title of the book draws some controversy, I can't speak to it as a white American. However, this is an excellent book and a discussion about people's feelings on the title should be a part of any book discussion.
I would highly recommend this book to anybody who enjoys fantasy or urban fantasy. If you like Harry Potter, as a child, adolescent, or adult, you'll probably enjoy this book. It is not a knock-off, the parallels run only so far as the themes and tropes of any YA/children's fantasy/urban fantasy. The book I would liken it to this year is "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" as a similar type of story that readers would enjoy both, although potentially geared to different age groups. I can verify that I am not the target audience for any of these books, but I enjoyed them all the same.
Akata Witch a lovely coming-of-age story about an amazing child who is doing her best in a true bind. (Spoilers: I though it was well done to have Sunny try to tell her mother what was going on, only to have the binding wrap her words in her throat and be unable. This lessened the inevitable child lying to adults theme that occurs in all YA coming-of-age stories.)
I've promised my copy to a reader via Bookcrossing and the USA & Canada Wishlist Tag Game 2019 . Before I finished, I checked out the next book, Akata Warrior. I finished Akata Witch today on the bus and have already started Akata Warrior.
Excellent YA but it needed a better editor.
A lot of fun, and with a beautiful sense of pace and timing, though at times the lessons feel a bit clunky. This book's made me very keen to read some of Okorafor's non-YA work.
A lot of fun, and with a beautiful sense of pace and timing, though at times the lessons feel a bit clunky. This book's made me very keen to read some of Okorafor's non-YA work.
