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greymalkin's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I enjoyed the first book in this series, the world is rich and interesting, and the non-Eurocentric mythology is wonderful. But I did not enjoy this book. I was very uncomfortable with all the sexual behavior of the main characters. Sunny is 12 years old and is kissing boys in a romantic way and it's assumed that she must be romantically and sexually interested in the her best male friend. The book coyly talks about how no one knows how old Chichi is, but she acts the same as the her friends, so I would guess she's between 12 and 15. Which makes her relationship with Sunny's college-age brother uncomfortable (I assume he's 18-19). Especially with Chichi also getting naked with Sasha who is 15 (I think?). I know that kids play at relationships and such at any age, but this felt more like all the drama of teenagers, not tweens. I don't know why the characters had to be so young. Why couldn't Sunny and Orlu be 18? That would still be young, but then it's not quite so weird that they are running around kissing and then I'm supposed to assume that they all sleep chastely on their many unsupervised trips?
I also didn't care for Sunny in this book. I felt she had a very justified resistance and paranoia in the first book but in this one she actively and for no known reason, would decide not to share very important information with her friends. She also didn't seem to ever care that she upset those she loved for very long. She'd pay lip service to feeling badly for worrying them, but then it seemed to be like "oh well it's fine." She agonized in the first book over not being able to tell her parents about the Leopard Peopel stuff and in this book it was like "well they have sopped harassing me about it so it's all fine now and they're fine with it. Except that she'd note that her parents would stay up all night until she came home or would try their best to find out if she's okay. I really didn't like that change in her.
The other characters were annoying too. Well, Orlu wasn't annoying but he was barely in the book, I think he had like a dozen real lines but essentially was just Dr. Doolittle when they needed him to be. Chichi got boy-crazy and I wish that she wasn't so careless with their feelings or time. Sasha was reduced to jealous hangdog follower and that's a disservice to his much more defiant personality in book 1.
The plot was also tiresome. Everything would be set up to be so difficult or scary or hard, and it was, and then they'd be miraculously saved by either some previously-unmentioned power, or by some other being.
I did like the subplot with Sunny's older brother. Not because the con-fraternity torture was enjoyable (it was awful) but because there was actual emotional growth for the characters. Briefly. Which immediately went away, due to being tortured by the Leopard Council because for some reason Sunny decided not to tell the truth of what happened. Despite her knowing, after book one, that such things make a difference in their judgements.
For a world that is based on being rewarded for learning, the characters did remarkably little learning from their mistakes or adventures. Very frustrating.
The only thing I liked in the whole book is Della the wasp artist. Della seemed like the only reasonable and truly supportive creature in the whole book.
I don't think I'll read anything more in this series.
I also didn't care for Sunny in this book. I felt she had a very justified resistance and paranoia in the first book but in this one she actively and for no known reason, would decide not to share very important information with her friends. She also didn't seem to ever care that she upset those she loved for very long. She'd pay lip service to feeling badly for worrying them, but then it seemed to be like "oh well it's fine." She agonized in the first book over not being able to tell her parents about the Leopard Peopel stuff and in this book it was like "well they have sopped harassing me about it so it's all fine now and they're fine with it. Except that she'd note that her parents would stay up all night until she came home or would try their best to find out if she's okay. I really didn't like that change in her.
The other characters were annoying too. Well, Orlu wasn't annoying but he was barely in the book, I think he had like a dozen real lines but essentially was just Dr. Doolittle when they needed him to be. Chichi got boy-crazy and I wish that she wasn't so careless with their feelings or time. Sasha was reduced to jealous hangdog follower and that's a disservice to his much more defiant personality in book 1.
The plot was also tiresome. Everything would be set up to be so difficult or scary or hard, and it was, and then they'd be miraculously saved by either some previously-unmentioned power, or by some other being.
I did like the subplot with Sunny's older brother. Not because the con-fraternity torture was enjoyable (it was awful) but because there was actual emotional growth for the characters. Briefly. Which immediately went away, due to being tortured by the Leopard Council because for some reason Sunny decided not to tell the truth of what happened. Despite her knowing, after book one, that such things make a difference in their judgements.
For a world that is based on being rewarded for learning, the characters did remarkably little learning from their mistakes or adventures. Very frustrating.
The only thing I liked in the whole book is Della the wasp artist. Della seemed like the only reasonable and truly supportive creature in the whole book.
I don't think I'll read anything more in this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Body horror, and Torture
Moderate: Emotional abuse
zombiezami's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Torture, Kidnapping, Violence, Death, Body shaming, Body horror, Gore, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Cursing, Racial slurs, Car accident, Slavery, Suicide, Vomit, and Infertility
Colorism, Hazing, Environmental disasterannalisaely's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this a lot more than Akata Witch - maybe the characters are more mature, or the author has gotten better at their craft, but I had a delightful time even though the first book wasn't as much for me. I really liked getting to further explore the magic system, getting to know Sunny and Orlu more, and exploring more of the world. Chichi is even more annoying in this book, though, so that is a bother.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Racial slurs
There are many spiders and descriptions of arachnophobia.
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