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dandelionsteph's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
I found the use of "y'all" annoying for how often it was used, particularly by Aliyah early on in the book. This choice of nonstandard dialect really popped out in a book that otherwise used very few 'Southernisms'. Part of that is the fact that all the other characters are Chidani (basically Nigerian, if in a fantastical way), who don't use "y'all".
For comparison, in Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun, Onyeka (a British-Nigerian character) used only a few Britishisms, and I don't think she used them outside of a few words referring to objects (perhaps "crisps" instead of "potato chips/chips"). Every time the characters used "y'all", it in some sense felt affected or fake. They were from Atlanta, a major and modern city in Georgia, not some rural area. It's like having characters from the major city of Austin, Texas say 'howdy' at every opportunity. (We get it, they're from the South.)
I was disappointed that the bonded-griffin element was similar to bonded-dragon elements in other books, but the griffins (despite being built up in-universe) could not talk. Unlike Skandar and the Unicorn Thief, which was also a disappointing take on bonded creatures, the griffins didn't even have discernible personalities. If the griffins were going to basically act like normal horses that could fly and could be telepathically summoned, I wonder why they were given cool-sounding names and were given a distinctive bonded-creature worldbuilding convention.
There's too much telling-not-showing in this book, which is particularly egregious when it comes to the point of view. While the book uses the first-person perspective, I believe it would have been more enjoyable if written in the third-person. Unlike other first-person middle-grade fantasy novels, such as the Percy Jackson series, Cameron Battle doesn't have a clear and strong personality that would make the first-person point of view worthwhile. For the most part, the reader does not get to read his direct thoughts. For example,
"Pushing them away, I walked towards the dais, trying to ignore the pain. By now it felt like my skull was cracking in two. But I still continued. I placed both my hands on the dais and grasped the crown. The pain ceased as soon as I touched it."
On a sentence-by-sentence basis, the narrative is rarely riveting. I think it has something to do with sentence length not varying enough, not even in action sequences.
I'm disappointed that Cameron can't simply be best friends with Zion, but must be in a romantic relationship with him. (It's not confirmed - no one says "gay" or "bi" or "queer" or such - but the emotional intimacy, use of the word 'love', and physicality is clearly building up it, and the author specifically talks to queer black boys/men in the author's notes) Yes, there's a lot of a cultural backlog for LGBTQ+ relationship representation in media, which might be justification for the high density of queer relationships in children's media these days, but this also feeds into the trend of amatonormativity and the devaluation of friendship, even among children (I believe the protagonists are 12 or 13). Rick Riordan (and Mark Oushiro's) The Sun and the Star dealt with this better, although perhaps this isn't a fair comparison because the protagonists of that book had a lot more time to build up their relationships and identity "on-screen" (whereas this book's pre-plot background largely consists of saying Cameron and Zion knew each other since they were six).
For comparison, in Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun, Onyeka (a British-Nigerian character) used only a few Britishisms, and I don't think she used them outside of a few words referring to objects (perhaps "crisps" instead of "potato chips/chips"). Every time the characters used "y'all", it in some sense felt affected or fake. They were from Atlanta, a major and modern city in Georgia, not some rural area. It's like having characters from the major city of Austin, Texas say 'howdy' at every opportunity. (We get it, they're from the South.)
I was disappointed that the bonded-griffin element was similar to bonded-dragon elements in other books, but the griffins (despite being built up in-universe) could not talk. Unlike Skandar and the Unicorn Thief, which was also a disappointing take on bonded creatures, the griffins didn't even have discernible personalities. If the griffins were going to basically act like normal horses that could fly and could be telepathically summoned, I wonder why they were given cool-sounding names and were given a distinctive bonded-creature worldbuilding convention.
There's too much telling-not-showing in this book, which is particularly egregious when it comes to the point of view. While the book uses the first-person perspective, I believe it would have been more enjoyable if written in the third-person. Unlike other first-person middle-grade fantasy novels, such as the Percy Jackson series, Cameron Battle doesn't have a clear and strong personality that would make the first-person point of view worthwhile. For the most part, the reader does not get to read his direct thoughts. For example,
"Pushing them away, I walked towards the dais, trying to ignore the pain. By now it felt like my skull was cracking in two. But I still continued. I placed both my hands on the dais and grasped the crown. The pain ceased as soon as I touched it."
On a sentence-by-sentence basis, the narrative is rarely riveting. I think it has something to do with sentence length not varying enough, not even in action sequences.
I'm disappointed that Cameron can't simply be best friends with Zion, but must be in a romantic relationship with him. (It's not confirmed - no one says "gay" or "bi" or "queer" or such - but the emotional intimacy, use of the word 'love', and physicality is clearly building up it, and the author specifically talks to queer black boys/men in the author's notes) Yes, there's a lot of a cultural backlog for LGBTQ+ relationship representation in media, which might be justification for the high density of queer relationships in children's media these days, but this also feeds into the trend of amatonormativity and the devaluation of friendship, even among children (I believe the protagonists are 12 or 13). Rick Riordan (and Mark Oushiro's) The Sun and the Star dealt with this better, although perhaps this isn't a fair comparison because the protagonists of that book had a lot more time to build up their relationships and identity "on-screen" (whereas this book's pre-plot background largely consists of saying Cameron and Zion knew each other since they were six).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Blood, and Violence
Minor: Racism
The details of the horrors of slavery are very vague, but this background detail pops up a lot, as it's so important to the conflict in the book.theeuphoriczat's review against another edition
4.0
This is was just so good and most importantly very easy to read. I read the whole book in about 3 hours and I am ready for the next book now. I cannot wait to see what Zion, Aliyah and Cameron will get up to in the next book.
Cameron Battle our titular main character is still grieving the loss of his parents (i.e., he knows that his parents despaired), so one day when he decides to go to the attic where is grandmother has hidden away The Book of Chidani, which happens to be a magical book that is handed down in the family. Just has Cameron and his friends start to question the strange occurrences around them, a portal opens and suck them in.
The softly land into an entirely new world hidden away and frozen in time to protect its habitants. This is where Cameron learns about his parents and the power that his mother held before she was killed. In this world, the Queen is trying to hold onto power even when her sister is doing everything in her power to take over. Even learning to fight and becoming the book (the passage way of power) would not save Cameron and his friends. They have to go on an adventure to find the three powerful artefacts that would help them stop Amina. This leads them to fighting old gods, flying on gryphons, hanging lucidly in the past and in the future.
It was a whole as ride and I really enjoyed it. I just loved the culture oozing from each page of the book. As a Nigerian, I just felt so much pride being able to imagine and relate to the characters!
Thanks to #pridebooktours for making this book available to me.
Cameron Battle our titular main character is still grieving the loss of his parents (i.e., he knows that his parents despaired), so one day when he decides to go to the attic where is grandmother has hidden away The Book of Chidani, which happens to be a magical book that is handed down in the family. Just has Cameron and his friends start to question the strange occurrences around them, a portal opens and suck them in.
The softly land into an entirely new world hidden away and frozen in time to protect its habitants. This is where Cameron learns about his parents and the power that his mother held before she was killed. In this world, the Queen is trying to hold onto power even when her sister is doing everything in her power to take over. Even learning to fight and becoming the book (the passage way of power) would not save Cameron and his friends. They have to go on an adventure to find the three powerful artefacts that would help them stop Amina. This leads them to fighting old gods, flying on gryphons, hanging lucidly in the past and in the future.
It was a whole as ride and I really enjoyed it. I just loved the culture oozing from each page of the book. As a Nigerian, I just felt so much pride being able to imagine and relate to the characters!
Thanks to #pridebooktours for making this book available to me.
nerdysread's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
At first, I was... more than perplexed. But I started enjoying the book. Is it perfect? Not really. The pacing was off sometimes and the author lost me. But the characters are good and we get attached to them. I just wish we saw more of Alilyah and Zion. Especially the first one. Kind of hard to understand her
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent and War
isabelle_rosewrites's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
bibliobrittish's review
3.0
3.5 - I'll definitely want to read the sequel, but had a really hard time falling into this the way the synopsis/pitch would've suggested to me. I loved the way Jamar wove the mythos through this world, the close-knit friends, and subtle hints at queerness.
readingismagical's review
3.0
The pacing didn't always work for me, but I really enjoyed the characters and the world of the story. Would recommend for fans of Tristan Strong, the Bookwanderers, and Amari and the Night Brothers.
tosmeabook27's review against another edition
5.0
Such a vivid and colourful tale showcasing the best of Nigerian ( Igbo) history/mythology. This is just the type of book I prayed for growing up. Thank you to the author for delivering this for future generations to enjoy. I read this in one sitting and honestly I NEED MORE! The ending had me siting with my mouth open.
Zion was my favourite character, his growth within this book was amazing, his connection with Cameron was beautiful, and he was all-round the funniest person in the book which was refreshing considering the heaviness of some of the books topics. BUT ol boy had hunger make him think like a THEIF! HE REALLY SAID *" A smell like that can't mean anything evil."* FAVE, WE ARE IN HIGH STAKES YOUR STOMACH CAN WAIT
Zion was my favourite character, his growth within this book was amazing, his connection with Cameron was beautiful, and he was all-round the funniest person in the book which was refreshing considering the heaviness of some of the books topics. BUT ol boy had hunger make him think like a THEIF! HE REALLY SAID *" A smell like that can't mean anything evil."* FAVE, WE ARE IN HIGH STAKES YOUR STOMACH CAN WAIT
adriannawaters's review
adventurous
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
3.75
mochimustreads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75