Scan barcode
susanatherly's review against another edition
3.0
If I break this down by parts:
Part 1 - *****
Part 2 - ****
Part 3 - **
Author's Notes - *****
This novel has important things to say. About child soldiers. About civil war's devastating impact on ordinary people. About the choices governments make after civil wars. About colonialism. About the Biafra/Nigerian Civil War. I consider it important enough that I think it should be read in high schools.
So why 3 stars? I have personal experience living through civil unrest. I have personal experience of not having a childhood and of being a child forced into an adult role too young. I am happy the author never went through that.
Most readers won't feel what is missing because he did his homework and knows people who experienced this first hand. It was probably the right choice to write a softer take on reality. Maybe knowing what is missing just made me sad.
That said, the story has lots of action and great characters, and while I won't be reading the sequel, you probably should.
Part 1 - *****
Part 2 - ****
Part 3 - **
Author's Notes - *****
This novel has important things to say. About child soldiers. About civil war's devastating impact on ordinary people. About the choices governments make after civil wars. About colonialism. About the Biafra/Nigerian Civil War. I consider it important enough that I think it should be read in high schools.
So why 3 stars? I have personal experience living through civil unrest. I have personal experience of not having a childhood and of being a child forced into an adult role too young. I am happy the author never went through that.
Most readers won't feel what is missing because he did his homework and knows people who experienced this first hand. It was probably the right choice to write a softer take on reality. Maybe knowing what is missing just made me sad.
That said, the story has lots of action and great characters, and while I won't be reading the sequel, you probably should.
obstinateheadstrongcurl's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? No
4.0
oddity123's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I wanted to like this more than I did. It has all the ingredients I should like, but I found the pacing and character development very inconsistent, and the plot not entirely clear or believable, especially the antagonist’s actions at the end and the ending was unsatisfying
dlberglund's review against another edition
4.0
“Action packed” is not too strong of a descriptor for this book, set in the 22nd century in the disputed land of Biafra and Nigeria. Much of the book involves the fighting involved in a guerrilla war, plus a war for survival, plus the kind of fighting that happens when the fighting is over, plus there's....war. It was too much violence for me for a lot of it, but I really wanted to see what Onyii and Ify, two sisters separated by kidnapping, would do next. The perspective shifts between them, but I still never felt completely connected to Ify and what she was going through. i could never predict her actions, and she felt distant to me. But Onyii, who becomes more and more Augmented by embedded tech, felt more alive to me.
There's a lot to dig into in this book- the ethics of different sides of a war that goes on for generations, the stripping of resources, nuclear fallout, independent young women creating a home that is actually a battle station, chosen family, coloirsm and tribalism, limits/boundaries of technology and humanity, AI......there's so much in this book! It's definitely a fresh take on Afrofuturism and speculative future-history blend. I enjoyed Onyebuchi's other books better, however, because the action movies sequences in War Girls overwhelmed the characters for me.
There's a lot to dig into in this book- the ethics of different sides of a war that goes on for generations, the stripping of resources, nuclear fallout, independent young women creating a home that is actually a battle station, chosen family, coloirsm and tribalism, limits/boundaries of technology and humanity, AI......there's so much in this book! It's definitely a fresh take on Afrofuturism and speculative future-history blend. I enjoyed Onyebuchi's other books better, however, because the action movies sequences in War Girls overwhelmed the characters for me.
eiver517's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
sephyy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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? Yes
4.0
biblioemily's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. I wish I had read the author's note first, as it provided helpful context, but I did ok without it. Positives: the cover artwork, interesting premise, almost non-stop action, learning more about a portion of Nigerian history, etc. Not-so-great: I felt slightly detached from the narrative and the characters at all times, and occasionally found the details of the plot difficult to follow. Overall, I'm glad I read it, and I'm glad this book exists! I think I'd recommend it to 8th graders as well, with a caveat about the amount of violence.
criticalreader's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting afrofuturism book, dealing with a lot of series themes of what it means to be human, what is a just cause and how one identifies.
Set in a futuristic Nigeria where augmentations, androids etc are common place and uses the Biafra war of independence where Igbo people created Biafra and were fighting Nigeria for independence, but set it in the future. I liked how it portrayed the actions of both sides and showed how war makes villains of all. I enjoyed reading about the psychological impacts of the war on the main two girls, and other interesting side characters and following their paths. At times it felt like things were too connected/too coincidental but I am intrigued to see where this goes in later novels.
Set in a futuristic Nigeria where augmentations, androids etc are common place and uses the Biafra war of independence where Igbo people created Biafra and were fighting Nigeria for independence, but set it in the future. I liked how it portrayed the actions of both sides and showed how war makes villains of all. I enjoyed reading about the psychological impacts of the war on the main two girls, and other interesting side characters and following their paths. At times it felt like things were too connected/too coincidental but I am intrigued to see where this goes in later novels.