Monday, July 2, 2018

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor




Akata Warrior is the sequel to Nnedi Okorafor's 2011 Nigerian-Inspired YA novel, Akata Witch (Review Here).  Featuring an Albino African American girl in Nigeria and her friends, as she discovers she has magical powers and belongs to the group known as Leopard People, the first book is advertised on Amazon as the "Nigerian Harry Potter."  But while you can see where that comparison comes from, these books are very much their own thing, generally for the better.

Akata Warrior begins about a year plus after Akata Witch, and begins with a quick 9 page recap of the setting and story so far (done in an incredibly cute way), so you can begin the series with this book if you want....but I'd still suggest otherwise as the nine pages isn't really a great substitute for the character development and story of the prior book, which this book does rely upon.  Still, either way, it's an often utterly charming YA fantasy book from a setting that is obviously very different from the usual European or American inspired settings of these books.  It's not perfect and won't be my choice for the (Not-A-)Hugo Award for Best YA SF/F Novel of 2017 - for which it is nominated - but it is a worthy nominee for that award.

 
--------------------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------------------
A year after Sunny Nwazue and her friends Chichi, Orlu, and Sasha defeated the serial killer Black Hat Otokoto and banished the most dangerous Masquerade, the being known as Ekwensu, from this world (for the moment), things have settled into a new Status Quo for Sunny.  She has continued to learn about her abilities as a Leopard Person (a person who can use Magic or Juju), been mentored by the legendary Sugar Cream, and has been learning to read the magical language of Nsbidi.

But things show signs of changing and not necessarily for the better.  A year ago, Sunny saw the apocalypse in a Candle Flame, which led her to the need to stop Ekwensu.  Now she has begun to dream nightmares about a smoking city.  And worse, her Lamb (non-magical) brother has started to draw that City somehow.  It seems clear to her that disaster is nearing for the world, with Ekwensu's return being the likely cause.  But when Sunny finds herself somehow split off from her Spirit Face, Anyanwu, what exactly can she do to stop the utter disaster from occurring without her legendary spirit self's abilities?   And can she do so without further estranging herself from the rest of her Lamb family, who can't be told what she is doing when she disappears?

As she attempts to find out, and as Sunny and her friends find themselves facing obstacles both magical and mundane, she will repeatedly be asked the question:  Who is Sunny Nwazue?
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Like its predecessor (Akata Witch), Akata Warrior is not structured the way you might expect from a YA fantasy book like this.  Whereas a Harry Potter story would have the main characters learning new skills in school and encountering new magics along the way with it all building towards a big overbearing threat that forms the basis for the climax and ending, this book simply features a time period in Sunny's life where her life as a growing Leopard Person continues (there's no time period given either).  So along the way in this book, Sunny has adventures unrelated to the grand overarching threat of Ekwensu (although the experiences she has along the way do tie into the overarching plot to some extent), and the book still have five chapters to go AFTER Ekwensu is defeated, not all of which are dedicated to wrap up in a direct way.  It's a very different approach and I'm not sure I'm describing it well, but it works.

One other really different thing this book does from other books of its ilk (I hate to bring up Harry Potter again here, as it's not the only book I'm comparing this series to) is that it has a very different conception of how a family of non-magical people (or "Lambs" as they're called in this series) will react to a family member involved in a secretive magical world.  In this setting, they're not allowed to know (Sunny is magically prevented from openly talking about the secret and will be punished if she intentionally or accidentally reveals the magic more openly).  In the first book, this was only a minor theme, as the only of Sunny's family members we dealt with were her mother and her father.  In this book, we deal with Sunny's two brothers, especially her older brother Chukwu, both of whom love her and worry about her - and vice versa.  It's honestly the darkest part of these books as Sunny struggles with dealing with her loving family (who are all good people at heart) without breaking their hearts and in addition to her own.

This is not to say this is an incredibly dark book - while this book deals with serious issues (a major plot point is Sunny suffering from severe anxiety about her place as a Leopard Person and whether she belongs, especially after Sunny's spirit face disappears), it's still got moments of lightness throughout (and ends on a very light note).  The worldbuilding remains fantastic - I'd be remiss if I didn't say in this review how much I wish I had a wasp artist - and expands here greatly, and the characters remain excellent - both the main quartet and the side characters both old and new.  As you might expect, unless perhaps you read a lot more Nigerian (or maybe just African?  I'm obviously not experienced enough to know the differences in myths and whatnot from different places of Africa, despite my best efforts), inspired SF/F, this series feels incredibly different from the typical YA family in setting and in character dynamics, to its great benefit.

The book is again not perfect - I enjoyed it a bunch and read through it really quickly, but felt perhaps a bit disappointed with the ending to the main plot (I felt for the second straight book Sunny managed to defeat the big threat too easily, and that the final confrontation again felt rather abrupt) and the cliffhanger teased in the ending is kind of mean - thankfully a third book is confirmed to be coming at some point.  And while I didn't notice it when I read the book initially, there's a bit of a squicky situation for me at least in a love triangle being setup involving a 15 year old and a 19 year old.

Still, Akata Warrior is well recommended, and an excellent place for those looking for YA Fantasy.
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