Akata Witch

I can appreciate that witches are the transition from horror to fantasy, however I've never connected with the witch genre very much but liked Akata Witch's more ethnic representation on it.

However I’m not impressed by the subject matter of Akata Witch but it's an easy read. In this youth novel there’s nothing of a broader nature really discussed either, other than embrace your imperfections and knowledge is power (and the intense hatred for cigarettes). However the Fast Facts for Free Agents “intermissions” are a nice break from the youth novel format. Granted, I probably would have enjoyed this more if I were 10 years younger.

The most remarkable thing about Akata Witch is the descriptive way that juju and the parallel, not alternate, dimension is described. The imagery is extremely vivid. The explanation of Sunny being initiated and her body coming back down to earth... I could feel that. I could feel Ekwensu arise from the earth; burrowing from the depths of an unknown Hell. However, her departure was anticlimactic and Sunny's triumph too heroic. Disappointingly, things resolved too quickly afterwards. It took the kids half an hour to get a car, half an hour to explain to the police about the missing children, and half an hour to explain to Sugar Cream...Convenient.

Although, I enjoyed some of the other worldbuilding elements, like the description of the Tungwas. These bags of flesh that serve as a random nuisance in the spirit world were interesting, and I wish this aspect of flora and fauna was explored more in the novel. Then came the description of the parallel dimension, it was playfully done. I appreciated this interaction, between the dimensions, where Leopard people can see animals/spirits within the human dimension. The scholars are probably the most fantastical element of the novel as their physical descriptions are often so exaggerated, they are surely beyond the human realm.

Something (else) that does bother me are the inconsistent rules of the other realm. Such as, not everyone is born with an imperfection or ability and the rules of Leopard people further become a little vague when we get to the Zuma festival and see an abundance of Leopard people. The festival raises questions like what is death in the leopard world? What does the afterlife consist of?

Anyhow, I really hate to have this thought about a book, but man this could absolutely be a movie. The arc, the characters' young adventures and challengers? Totally. The descriptive visuals could be brought to life for a Hunger Games-esque audience to enjoy while also promoting women with power. The emphasis placed on the community of women in Akata Witch is subtle, but important. Sunny hates her father, and it's clear that he his threatened by Sunny because of her knowledge and willingness to follow ChiChi, another girl who is unlike other young girls. Her father's disdain for her later increases as she gains knowledge from the books she’s reading, but her brothers continue to embrace her. It's also clear where her mother's loyalties lie, as she is said to only yell at the boys as Sunny's father only yells at her.

Sugar Cream's character, and the other high-level Leopard women, are also good examples to Sunny of strong women. But they're not written that way, they're written like normal characters, that have skills and power. Another lesson taught is that financial gain, or greed, is not the way of a Leopard person. Then the novel ends with Sunny reading the letter from her grandmother; a woman massacred by a man enraged with finding power through unholy means.