Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on July 25, 2023 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.
Abeni's Song is a middle grade fantasy novel written by award winning fantasy author P Djèlí Clark (A Master of Djinn, Ring Shout). The novel is I believe Clark's first foray into younger fiction and features a novel set in a West African-inspired world, as a 12 year old girl Abeni finds herself the only survivor of an attack on her village by a magical army...one which uses a strange song to hypnotize and kidnap all of the other kids. And so begins a story where Abeni is first taken away by the old woman - thought to be a witch - whose magic saved her from the same fate and then embarks on her own journey to try to save both the others in her village from the magical army's evil leader, the Witch Priest. Along the way Abeni winds up allying with a magical man made of straw, and a pair of animal spirits as she grows, learns and develops into the person needed to save her people.
It's in some ways a fairly standard story, but Clark tells it very well, with a West African backdrop in both its magical setting and its less magical parts (White Slavers are implied to be a threat who are never actually seen or understood) that makes this stand out amongst other similar fare. Some plot elements are rather predictable, but our lead character is an excellent protagonist and the story is both very satisfying on its own and at the same time promises a sequel that I (and younger readers) would be pretty interested in reading.
Plot Summary:
Abeni wakes up happy on her 12th birthday. She has a good life in her village with loving parents (both well respected in the village) and a loving brother, and a best friend in her troublemaking friend Fomi. She admires the slightly older (and very handsome) boy Ekwolo and dreams of the next year, when she will take the first rites of adulthood. But for now, she simply wants to enjoy the village's annual Harvest Festival festivities.
But then the Old Woman who lives near the village - the one rumored to be a witch - returns with a message. 12 years ago the Old Woman was involved in helping Abeni's parents give birth to Abeni. But now, she comes to tell the Village that they have ignored her warnings too long, and that they need to leave immediately...or else it will be too late. But the Old Woman's words are ignored once more, and an army of strange "storm women" attacks the village soon after, using strange powers, magical ropes, and a haunting song that enraptures all of the children and leads them to their capture. All except for Abeni, who escapes thanks to the Old Woman and her strange magic.
Desperate to return to her village and to find her loved ones, Abeni frets and searches for a way back. But she will soon learn that the only way she will ever be able to find her friends and loved ones again is to actually listen to the Old Woman - to learn that there are things and spirits in the world like she'd never imagined....
Abeni's Song is well, Abeni's story, with the entire narrative after the first chapter (which is basically a prologue the book returns to in its final act) taking place from Abeni's third person point of view. The story follows Abeni as she loses seemingly everything after her village is attacked, has to learn about the world and all that features in nature and the spirits that dwell within it, and then goes on her own quest to save her village - especially the kids who were once taken from it by the army of storm women and the goat-masked man with his magical song. And of course along the way Abeni meets new allies and people, especially a pair of animal spirits who she encounters and befriends along the way.
The result is something that most readers will have seen before from other Middle Grade works - the story of the child having to save her people and thus, after training, going on a quest to save them and picking up new allies/party-members to join her who will help her make a difference in the end, the prophecies she hears that eventually make bigger sense once secrets are revealed, and how Abeni as the protagonist learns and grows into a different more mature person along the way. This is all standard fare and such that middle grade readers probably will have encountered all of this before.
But Abeni's Song still distinguishes itself - both by doing this plotline extremely well, such that you care very much about the characters and are still eager to find out what's been coming next and through its West African inspired setting. The setting isn't overt about using being from a single West African people or religion (we don't see Orishas for example here) but its use of spirits and animal people and talking pots and objects is all seemingly inspired by West African lore; as is its antagonists. Most notably the setting is clearly inspired by slave-trade era West Africa, with its whole cast generally being Black (one antagonist is described - to the protagonist's shock- as an albino and she's never seen that before) with "Ghost Ships" being given adult people from the continent to be taken away - clearly to be slaves of Europeans elsewhere in this world. It's a setting that's different from what many Western readers will have expected, but one that works really well at grounding this story just a bit differently than the usual many readers will have come across, and it fits in nicely.
All in all Abeni's Song does what you want to be an entertaining and effective middle grade novel and it ends in a way that is quite satisfying while at the same time it leaves open various plot elements for a sequel to follow up on. So middle grade readers who read this will probably both enjoy and find themselves a new series to look forward to in maybe a year's time or so.
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