Akata Witch

By: Nnedi Okorafor

Narrated by: Yetide Badaki

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she has albinism. She's a terrific athlete but can't go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in. 

And then she discovers something amazing - she is a "free agent" with latent mystical power. Soon she's part of a quartet of students studying the visible and invisible, learning to change reality. But will it be enough to help them when they are asked to catch a career criminal well-versed in powerful juju?

©2017 Nnedi Okorafor (P)2018 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"Nnedi Okorafor is opening doors into strange and beautiful new worlds. Her heroes are beguiling, her magic firmly rooted in real places and real things. Rich, mysterious, and convincing, Akata Witch takes fantasy in a haunting new direction." (Jonathan Stroud, New York Times best-selling author of The Bartimaeus Trilogy)

Better for kids

The magic system seemed a little off and the fact that these kids were sent to fight a murderer was ridiculous. Like, they even asked a couple of times why they were being sent and never really got a good answer.

The pacing was also really off. It spends most of the book as an "outsider learning magic for the first time" book and then they're sent to fight a serial killer AND the demon he wants to release. And then it gets resolved so quickly. I just wish the plots had been integrated better.

#magic #nigeria #kidsbook #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

Dialogue driven story with poor dialogue

The narration is fine. She moves effortlessly between accents. The story arc could be great, but even the scenes that should be exciting are not. The major problem is the dialogue. It is simple, cumbersome, and often boring. It does not effectively move the story along or create emotion. Any emotions expressed come across as forced or empty. Probably a good book for young teens.

Boring!

This book is so boring. I thought it would be similar to Children of Blood and Bone. However, it was far from it.

Not what I expected

I think this book was for younger persons. I didn't finish it but to me, it sounded like children fairy tales.

Not worth it

I wasn’t able to really get into it... the accent was off.. in and out and the story was hard to follow.. in the end, after falling asleep on it too many times, I just refunded my credit back...

Just ok...not great-

I bought this book because I loved the Bindi series by the same author (5 star review) and was hoping for something as good. Even though the story line itself was intriguing, the telling felt flat and disjointed. This is for a younger audience, but that alone wouldn’t affect my enjoyment. The ingredients were there for a good read with magic (“juju”) and friendship and personal growth- but it seemed rushed and very superficial. The narrator was a bit erratic too as it seemed she couldn’t decide which accent to give to which character and the voices bounced around. This is a series but I won’t be listening to anymore of them - it’s not horrible - just not that good.

imaginative!

Harry Potter like, but set in Nigeria. Plot moved at a great pace and the narrator was EXCELLENT. So nice to have someone who pronounces names and reflects accents properly.

Was this written by a child?

A delightful story many ways. The narrator had such a lovely delivery. Reading it I get the impression of a very gifted young writer submitting her first piece. I predict wonderful things to come!

A truly amazing story.

The story already stands out, but the voice actor brought it vividly to life. This is a story worth listening to repeatedly.

Not Harry Potter

This isn't anything like Harry Potter with the exception of underage magic. I think the author set out to make her own story come alive (which she has done beautifully) but this story definately should not have been compared to Harry Potter. That being said I thought it taught wonderful life lessons, introduced a whole new world of Sunny and et. company, and I enjoyed the book, mostly. Will definately pick up the sequel, Akata Warrior.