Akata Witch

Akata Witch
By Nnedi Okorafor
Viking, 2011. 349 pgs. Young Adult

Sunny is an albino American-born young woman of Nigerian parents and has been living in Nigeria for the last three years. When Sunny’s friends turn on her at school, one young man assists her and introduces her to a friend of his outside of school and they soon reveal to Sunny that they both possess magical abilities. What’s more, they suspect that Sunny has magical abilities as well. While this is shocking news, it begins to make sense to Sunny who has never felt like she belonged. Sunny begins training with her new friends; as they train, they learn that they will be called upon to defeat a man who is kidnapping and dismembering young children in the area.

This work of fantasy is refreshing in many ways, from the more exotic locale and richly described world of magic. Sunny feels real in her struggles to fit in at home and with her new friends and world. I was looking for something new and different and this met my high expectations.

MN