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reviewed Akata Woman by Nnedi Okorafor

Akata Woman (Hardcover, 2022, Viking Books for Young Readers) 4 stars

From the moment Sunny Nwazue discovered she had magic flowing in her blood, she sought …

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 …