Akata Witch (The Nsibidi Scripts #1)

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Average customer rating 4.5 (6 comments)

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I LOVE this book, I could not put it down and picked up the 2nd book (Akata Warrior) before I was even 1/2 way done with this one. Nnedi Okorafor creates an amazing world that feels real, multidimensional, and magical all together. She incorporates African mythology in a way that feels smart and seamless. She also does it in such a way that if you are like me and don't know a lot of African mythology you don't miss anything but it doesn't feel like she's over explaining.

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Akata Witch follows Sunny who is an outsider in every community she enters. She's an American in Nigeria, an albino among black people, a girl in a male-dominated household (and sport), and a free agent in the world of Juju. She ends up meeting friends who join her adventure through this new world of magic and learns that she (and her group) have the duty to fight a mass murderer trying to upturn the magical society. Okorafor introduces a western audience to an extraordinary culture with her use of language and allows readers to worry for Sunny as she gets thrust into various situation that test her abilities and teamwork. The diversity in the characters' personalities is compelling and entertaining.I'm a little older than the target audience so I understand that this book is meant to be relatable for teenagers and under (given that that's the main characters' age range) but I can't help asking why it has to be these kids. In most books, there's some haphazard explanation about how only the kids know about the villains or some prophecy that tells of how only the kids can fight. But in Akata Witch, the adults admitted that they sent several groups of kids to fight in the past but they all died. Not only that but they never explain why the adults couldn't fight either. Nothing other than the kids being expendable. Does it empower young readers? Perhaps. But I feel like there needed to be a reason other than that. I enjoyed the story nonetheless but wish there was some explanation.

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Akata Witch, though simple in how it was told, delivered a beautiful story that I connected deeply with. I’m not bothered by the dialect (as I believe it fits our young narrator and main character, Sunny), though I can see how older readers might find it too simple to pull them in. Nnedi Okorafor delivers a blended American-Nigerian story, showing the culture of Nigeria through an “Americanized” lens. The magic in Okorafor’s world is deeply individual, and adds to message that the things that make her characters unique are their strengths rather than weaknesses. Sunny’s relationships with her family and her found family challenge traditional ideas of where allegiance should lie, highlights the difference between respect and fear, and asks the reader to think about the masks they wear in their everyday lives that hide their true self. Sunny struggles with balancing her lives – the one at home, and the one outside of it – in a way that is deeply human and relatable, though her motives were supernatural. All in all, Akata Witch offers readers a wonderful story that is easy to get lost in, with dynamic and interesting characters. I never found myself bored, and I can’t wait to pick up the sequel, Akata Warrior, when I get the chance.

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As other commenters have noted, Akata Witch feels like a middle-grade novel, probably aimed at ages 10-13. However, its writing is digestible enough that a lot of younger kids could manage it, and likewise, its content is valuable for older readers too. As a twenty-year-old fan of YA and adult fiction alike, I found that this book definitely stood up to scrutiny. I would describe it as an African story in Western packaging: the style is very easy to read, with an ample helping of Western tropes, whether those are subverted or played straight — but the collectivist values nestled inside are totally unique from the ones you'll find in everyday American lit. You're presented with a protagonist who strikes you at first as the typical "chosen one" tasked with saving the world, but not even halfway through the book, her mentor straight-up tells her, "This world is bigger than you and it will go on regardless." Her friends take an equally active role in the action, and both knowledge and individual differences are highly celebrated. The magic in this book has an especially unique flavor to it. Each character has their own affinities or abilities that come naturally to them, tied to their shortcomings, that make you wonder what your own powers might be. After reading something like Harry Potter, the basic layout of the book is familiar, but everything else feels one-of-a-kind. I would recommend this book to anyone who's interested in it.

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I consider myself to be a rather avid reader of Y.A., and this book stood out to me more than other fantasy novels I've read. It's certainly more suited for middle grade readers, and possibly even some children younger than that. It's imaginative, the magic is well done and absolutely captivating, and the characters are all unique. It's well suited to being called the "Nigerian Harry Potter," and personally, I prefer it. However, there are sections of the book that, as an adult, I found both unnecessary to the plot and slow, pace-wise. I believe this book to be a very good response to the typical Eurocentric fantasy novel, but overall it falls just a little short of where it could land. That said, I intend to purchase Akata Warrior once I have time to read it.

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Akata Witch was recommended to me as a young adult book, but seems more suited for middle grade readers. Its language is fairly simple and easy to follow (“Sunny’s stomach sank as her classmates lined up before her. They all looked so angry.”). The transitional phrase “minutes later” also comes up a lot. And while the protagonist Sunny is characterized in depth, we don’t get a very deep view of other main characters like her best friend, Orlu. That being said, this book has a lot of merit in terms of its concept. The review on the cover is right to praise Okorafor’s imagination. Her take on the magical coming-of-age novel is one that most American kids probably haven’t read before, but one that they can easily dive into. It has the classic outsider, brought into the magical world, whose destiny is to defeat a dark force with the help of their friends. But Sunny’s world of exploding tungwas, secret spirit faces, juju knives, and currency dropped from thin air has to be read to be believed. There’s nothing about it that feels stale or overdone, especially in the collectivist way the characters relate to each other. Rather than individual power, the highest aim for these magicians or “Leopard people” is knowledge.