A review by katnortonwriter
Like Thunder by Nnedi Okorafor

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Here’s the thing: I usually enjoy Nnedi Okorafor’s writing, but I struggled with this one. In general, her writing style is somewhat spare, almost terse. The Desert Magician’s duology has this kind of random, eclectic Alice In Wonderland energy, in which strange and marvelous things happen at random and without foreshadowing. Between the somewhat chaotic events and the bare-bones style, I had a difficult time getting invested in the characters or the story.

This second installment takes a darker turn than the first book. I liked what the story had to say about dehumanizing and othering people who are different, and about modern-day slavery and mass production. I’m not giving this book a middling rating to suggest that it was inherently mediocre, but it was not a great fit for me, in large part because of the style and structure.

I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley prior to this book’s release, but ended up reading it in hardcover after the fact, for whatever that’s worth. 🙂