AKATA WITCH Book Review— By Oluwatobi Elegbeleye

As I started and progressed through this book, first on my mind were the several warnings I received as a child not to read books on witchcraft, sorcery and the like. It is believed that such books influence the readers negatively in a spiritual way. I believe their concerns were genuine and may be based on maturity. Well, thankfully, after reading this book, I can say I’m still very much Christian.

This would be my first Sci-fi book, and I must confess that I enjoyed it. Nnedi is such a creative writer. Some scenes got me questioning how her mind worked, and how she was able to spin out this story.

The start of the book was good. I like the way Sunny was introduced. It made me want to know more about her so I kept reading. Going further into the book though, the excitement dropped as the progression became too slow and almost boring. I was starting to wonder if there was any point to the story.

However, I kept reading, and I’m glad I did because Nnedi brought life back to the story and kept me glued to the pages. I could hardly wait to get to the end.

In talking about the main characters of the book; Sunny, Orlu, Chichi and Sasha, I found it a little hard to believe that they were as young as the book claimed they were. Their actions and words in the book made them seem a lot older, more like in their late teenage years or early twenties. This also made the love story between the pairs incredulous, especially that of Sasha and Chichi. I kinda saw Orlu and Sunny’s love story coming but I expected it to be something discussed in a later sequel, and not right now.

One thing I really loved though, was how she infused general knowledge and made them into supernatural abilities. Like the way she made natural disabilities look like a good thing by attaching superpowers to them. Beyond the surface, it carried a message that people can achieve great things despite their natural disabilities and deficiencies.

Another thing I took out of the book is the importance of mentorship. The main characters each had a mentor to guide them through their leopard life. This drives home a key fact which is that, youths will always need the counsel and experience of older, more, experienced and more knowledgeable folks. Mentorship can never be overrated as it makes life easier to scale through, and reduces the chances of making a disaster out of one’s life.

Taking about suspense, Nnedi did a wonderful job with the revelation of Ozoemena, Sunny’s grandmother. She kept us wondering from the start about the woman and by the time she decided to open her up, it was like “Boom! This is getting interesting!” Her connection with Black Hat made perfect sense. I loooved it.

I did not anticipate Black Hat’s ending in the story. It was nice. However, I felt she whetted our appetite about Ekwensu for nothing. With the fear communicated when Ekwensu was first mentioned, I expected that she’d allow us to have a little taste of her evil at least, but my expectations were cut short. I felt she was in a hurry to remove Ekwensu and end the book as well. However, we might expect to hear from her again in the next sequel, judging from what Sugar Cream said. Still, I loved the fact that Sunny was the one who sent Ekwensu back. I am glad she finally learnt to use her powers courageously. The scene was inspiring and heroic and gave me a few goosebumps.

In all, Akata Witch is a good read, very enjoyable. Nnedi Okorafor did an awesome job and I look forward to reading the sequel(s).

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