This book is AWESOME!!! When I first read the back of the book I kinda thought it was going to be like another book I read called Obernewtyn because both of them are set in worlds that have 'magical powers' because of an old war. That said, I really really enjoyed a lot of the parts of the novel, and would pick up a sequel in a second, hoping for improvement. Third, I was really put off by the *very very overt* construction of the evil chief's fatness as proof of his icky evilness. Second, the magic is a little too powerful and convenient for the stakes to feel at all risky. First, the prose is clunkier and less sophisticated than the story it's trying to hold up, and the difference is jarring.

The novel doesn't quite manage to come together for me, though, for a number of reasons. The characters are intriguing and respond in very nuanced ways, and the worldbuilding is very interesting, if a little overblown at times. I also really enjoy the fact of Queen Jaa's unconventional family arrangement (and the way other people-like her first husband's parents-respond to it), and would have loved more exploration of it. She's timid and unused to taking control in a way that's quite well done, and her efforts to overcome that are satisfying. The protagonist, Ejii, is very likable, and though her magic is possibly too immediately powerful to be satisfying, she does struggle with it and with her newfound role as a game-changer on a grand scale in a believable and endearing manner. It's a post-apocalyptic dystopian future fantasy set in West Africa, starring a teen girl with magic powers who goes on a quest with a really kickass warrior queen, the queen's two husbands, another teen with magic powers, and some talking animals. Learn more about Nnedi at and follow Nnedi on twitter (as Facebook and Instagram. She lives with her daughter Anyaugo in Phoenix, AZ. Her debut novel Zahrah the Windseeker won the prestigious Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature. Her many works include Who Fears Death (winner of the World Fantasy Award and in development at HBO as a TV series), the Nebula and Hugo award winning novella trilogy Binti (in development as a TV series), the Lodestar and Locus Award winning Nsibidi Scripts Series, LaGuardia (winner of a Hugo and Eisner awards for Best Graphic Novel) and her most recent novella Remote Control. Born in the United States to two Nigerian (Igbo) immigrant parents and visiting family in Nigeria since she was a child, the foundation and inspiration of Nnedi’s work is rooted in this part of Africa.

The more specific terms for her works are africanfuturism and africanjujuism, both terms she coined and defined. Nnedi Okorafor is a New York Times Bestselling writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults.

The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor