Akata Warrior, the long awaited sequel to
is out tomorrow (Oct. 3rd)! I’m happy dance all over, I adore Nnedi Okorafor’s books, and I loved Akata Witch*. All the characters are wonderful, as is their bond of friendship and their often prickly relationship with their mentors. When Akata Witch ended, Sunny was left with a direct communication from her grandmother, Ozoemena, and both she and Orlu decided they weren’t quite ready for second level. It left me wanting, very much, to follow along with the four friends, and now I’ll be able to do so.
*Some highly unimaginative people have called this book the Nigerian version of Harry Potter, or somesuch idiocy. Frankly, I think that’s an insult to Ms. Okorafor, who has one of the most splendid imaginations, and weaves real history and beliefs seamlessly into her worlds, and they bring Nigerian culture into a beautiful blossom, one that would be familiar to many, and a grand learning experience for others, like myself. Akata Witch is brimming with sly humour, intelligence, and heart.
Thank you! I was looking for a new book. The Kindle sample convinced me (for the longest time I resisted the digital book, but its convenience and font size converted me). Your Potter reference reminded me of a talk by Ursula K where she mentioned a review of the Potter books where the reviewer was amazed by the idea of a school of wizardry. I am already pulled into the etymology of Akata. Yea! I can picture my future self jealous of me cause I have not read it yet.
You’re welcome! If you haven’t read Nnedi Okorafor, you’ll soon be reading all her books! Like you, I resisted tablets for a very long time, but finally got a Nook. It took about 30 seconds for me to get addicted to e-books. I have around 2,000 paper books, and I don’t have room for more, but e-books -- they have their own light, you can highlight, make notes, bookmark, and look up any word at the touch of a finger. I don’t know from Kindle, but Nooks keep a record of all your highlights, bookmarks, notes, and look ups for each book. It’s difficult for me to switch to paper now.
Nnedi Okorafor explains the use of akata in both books, the second one has more detail, noting that the specific definition is not agreed upon, but it’s nasty and negative no matter what. Sunny is both American born and an albino, so there’s a lot of bigotry directed her way.
If anything, Akata Warrior is deeper than Akata Witch, the theme in general is darker, and it wasn’t lightweight in the first book.
Oh, Potter. Gods. I read them, and they were enjoyable, but hardly original, and they were terribly repetitive, the plot was basically the same in each book.