Reviews

Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor

sadscorpxo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

loganmathewjohnson's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

bookswithdizz's review

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

1.75

This book was originally published in 2007 and republished with new material in 2023. So why did Nnedi Okorafor choose to keep the m slur (derogatory for people with dwarfism) in the book. The quoutw even reads "m slure, little person". So she had the proper termanology and chose to be offensive regardless. 


I listened to the last 25-30% of this on audio 2.25 apeed drifting in and out of sleep but I will say the second half of the story is more expansive and less interesting. I will not be reading the second book.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism

Use of m slur

megnut's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Animal death, Child abuse, Violence, Misogyny, Slavery, and Trafficking

miada001's review against another edition

adventurous challenging fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

ugh i want to love this so bad. overall amazing concepts and it was fun to read in the first half and then the plot gets muddled and the characters fall totally flat. i loved the whimsical magical elements and mysticism but the main conflict was just really missing something and the protag was too flawless. also weirdly strong dose of fatphobia at the end when the villain is finally revealed? he fatted fattily in a fat way because he was evil greedy and fat fat fat and a fat emotional eater kind of vibe. like wtf

tigger89's review

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

riceballartist's review

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

dreamreader's review

adventurous dark emotional fast-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

A strange book. Nnedi Okorafor is not afraid to get a little strange and a little weird in her work, which I always appreciate. The characters stand out to me more than the plot in this book. I really liked Ejii and Dikeogu and Jaa and her two husbands. I will read the sequel just to spend more time with these characters. But the plot didn't really do much for me. The end felt a little too abrupt, and the novel overall struck me as too short to fully explore the awesome ideas that are present within it. Which is why I'm glad there's a sequel! 

chelseareads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

gooddorian's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5