Akata Woman

, #3

Hardcover, 400 pages

Published Jan. 17, 2022 by Viking Books for Young Readers.

ISBN:
978-0-451-48058-3
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4 stars (2 reviews)

From the moment Sunny Nwazue discovered she had magic flowing in her blood, she sought to understand and control her powers. Throughout her adventures in Akata Witch and Akata Warrior, she had to navigate the balance between nearly everything in her life–America and Nigeria, the “normal” world and the one infused with juju, human and spirit, good daughter and powerful Leopard Person.

Now, those hard lessons and abilities are put to the test in a quest so dangerous and fantastical, it would be madness to go…but deadly not to. With the help of her friends, Sunny embarks on a mission to find a precious object hidden deep in a magical realm. Defeating the guardians of the prize will take more from Sunny than she has to give, and triumph will mean she will be forever changed.

1 edition

reviewed Akata Woman by Nnedi Okorafor (The Nsibidi Scripts, #3)

The further adventures of Sunny Nwazue

4 stars

The book is an adventure story to be sure, but at some points I was really taken by the calmness / centeredness of the main characters.

I was a bit tripped up by my expectations. From the title I expected a more drastic coming of age aspect (I understand that was a foolish amount to read into one word, but here we are), but it's really more a gradual evolution of the characters. I also thought the blurb about "coming back a changed person" was a bit overstated. Both of those points are more warnings to ignore the blurb (always?) and enjoy the book.

Another aspect that really struck me as unique both in this book and in Akata Warrior, is the physicality of the heroine. It seems like some kind of nerdy double bluff that not only is Sunny smart and talented, she is phsyically strong (and fast) in …