Akata Witch - Nnedi Okorafor

Akata Witch

By Nnedi Okorafor

  • Release Date: 2011-04-14
  • Genre: Fantasy for Young Adults
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 158 Ratings
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Description

Affectionately dubbed "the Nigerian Harry Potter," Akata Witch weaves together a heart-pounding tale of magic, mystery, and finding one's place in the world.
Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she's albino. She's a terrific athlete, but can't go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in. And then she discovers something amazing—she is a "free agent" with latent magical power. Soon she's part of a quartet of magic students, studying the visible and invisible, learning to change reality. But will it be enough to help them when they are asked to catch a career criminal who knows magic too?

Ursula K. Le Guin and John Green are Nnedi Okorafor fans. As soon as you start reading Akata Witch, you will be, too! 

Reviews

  • Spectacular

    5
    By bbsfresh
    Absolutely wonderful, loved the way the author combines the magic with every day life, it really makes the reader fill the magic in this book can actually takes place in real life. This story feels just a tad bit like Harry Potter but with an African flavor. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series Akata Warrior

  • Stunning novel

    5
    By Esq_4POC
    I constantly read, however this is the first work that has compelled me to write a review. Simply amazing! In 2018, when Black Panther and Afro Punk are trending, this book stands out as timeless. Nnedi, thanks. After reading the Binti series I was hooked.

  • 2.5 Stars - cool world building, lacking plot.

    2
    By Caroline_AA
    This is a really difficult book for me to review. There were pieces I loved as well as pieces I didn’t. On a whole, the story just never came together into a coherent storyline. The setting of this book is very cool. It takes place in (what I imagine is) modern Nigera. I know absolutely nothing about Nigera, so it was a little bit of a culture shock for me to read about this area, but it was also cool and enlightening. As Sunny discovers her Leopard (their word for magical people) abilities, we get to know more about that sub-world, which was also cool, if a bit…odd. The writing of this book feels middle grade, but there are so many situations the characters find themselves in that are beyond the maturity level of middle grade readers. Being touted as “the Nigerian Harry Potter” I feel like they missed the mark a touch. The first two Harry Potter novels, which I would consider to be lower YA/Middle Grade, did not have themes as dark as the later books. Akata Witch dove right in with the very dark themes. So much of this book is spent building the world and magic system that the plot seems mostly forgotten. At one point we learn that Sunny and her Leopard friends are supposed to take out a Leopard man who has been kidnapping and murdering children. Instead of, you know, training the kids to take on this task… they’re given little tasks that don’t really do a whole lot to train them. The book starts out with Sunny having a vision. And then that vision is pretty much forgotten throughout the whole book. It’s kind of a big deal, especially if it were to come true, but everyone just brushes it off. All of the adults/mentors/leaders in this book are pretty useless. They’re mostly mean and more often than not, NOT helpful to these 12/13 year old children. There’s also talk of Sunny’s mysterious (dead) grandmother. There’s very little talk of her throughout the story until the end. I feel like there was a missed opportunity, not making more use of her. I’d actually rather read her story than Sunny’s! Do I recommend this book? I don’t know… this book was just all over the place for me. I liked the idea, but I think the plot needed to be tightened. Unfortunately it’s a miss for me. If you want to explore a magical world / culture that is pretty unique, this might be worth reading for you.

  • If you love Harry Potter, you will love this!

    5
    By Swiminducky5
    This book is engaging, easy to read, and will transport you to a similar fantasy world that Harry Potter fans seek! Very entertaining and fun read.

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