I’m finally getting somewhat caught up on some of the more recent Sword & Laser book club picks – this time one of the first YA novels (that aren’t light novels) that I’ve read in a while – Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor.

Akata Witch, as a book, moves very quickly and introduces its world very well. On the Sword & Laser Discord, there were some comparisons to Harry Potter that I think were very unfair, because the things they were comparing over were things that earlier works like Earthsea had done before Harry Potter had. That said, Nnedi Okorafor recognizes in this book that Harry Potter assumes that the audience of those books is coming from a place where the author assumes White British Middle-Class culture is something everyone is familiar with and doesn’t bother to explain it, and writes about the life of the protagonist, Sunny, in Nigeria the same way. Even though Sunny was born in the US (specifically New York City), the book doesn’t waste time going “This is what life in Nigeria is like” – and instead we just see it happen.

This shouldn’t need to be a breath of fresh air. This should be the default – people from cultures and backgrounds outside of the White Anglo-American norm shouldn’t need to explain their culture. Readers should be able to go to YA fiction and easily encounter stories with characters outside of their experience, and readers outside of the White Anglo-American Cisgendered Heterosexual norm should find themselves in fiction. However, writing this in advance of Donald Trump’s second term in office, and looking at waves of book bannings, including attempts that have come to my part of Oregon, which target books with BIPOC protagonists, including characters and stories set from outside the US, this needs to be highlighted.

Especially considering this book is really damn good. I’m being vague about the plot details because I don’t want to spoil things, but this book is about teenagers getting introduced to a magical world and learning about magic, where the magical and mundane worlds commingle in fun ways. The characters are engaging and all have interesting inner lives, with enough left around the margins to be fleshed out in sequels (and there are two sequels out already, so you don’t have the “Netflix Season Finale” problem if you’re worried about that). The book’s finale has some real “oomph” where once you hit the last couple of chapters you’re not going to want to stop for anything.

This is the part where, if I was going to raise a complaint, I’d say “I wish the book was longer” – but as I mentioned earlier, there are two sequels (which I’m going to need to get around to eventually) – so when I’m ready for more, there’s more to read.

Akata Witch is available through Amazon.com and Alibris, or you can support your local booksellers through Bookshop.org. Buying anything through those links helps to support the site.