Reviews

Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun is a story about Onyeka, who lives in London with her mother. They are from Nigeria, but Onyeka's mother refuses to talk with her about their home country, or about Onyeka's father. She is very protective of Onyeka, which Onyeka (predictably) rebels against; she feels out of place at school and in London as a whole, especially because her wild hair garners a lot of unwelcome attention from strangers. Luckily, Onyeka has her best friend Cheyenne to hype her up and support her.

The story begins with Onyeka and Cheyenne at the pool, where Cheyenne nearly drowns; Onyeka's hair becomes sentient and saves her. This leads to Onyeka's mother telling her the truth about her heritage: Onyeka's father was a Solari - someone with special powers known as Ike - and Onyeka is too. Her father was an important researcher in Nigeria, but disappeared when Onyeka was young, prompting Onyeka's mother to flee to London for safety; now, however, they're going back to Nigeria to find Onyeka's father so he can teach her about her powers.

When they get to Nigeria, Onyeka ends up studying with other young Solari at the Academy of the Sun, or AOS. She learns to accept herself and control her powers, eventually bonds with her roommate Adanna, and befriends several students; but at the same time, using her Ike is beginning to make her sick. Onyeka and her friends work together to get to the bottom of that, and several other, mysteries.

Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun has major superhero vibes; I really enjoyed the twist on the school of magic trope where instead of doing things the old-fashioned way, students at AOS have access to super high tech devices. Because of this, the story had a sci-fi element to it, but mostly it was reminiscent of a superhero story. (It's set in a futuristic Nigeria, so it will draw comparisons to Black Panther/Wakanda there.) Onyeka is a relatable narrator for many young readers, especially Black girls; her feelings of being out of place no matter where she is will probably resonate with lots of middle schoolers.

All that being said, for me personally the pacing of this story was all wrong, and it really interfered with my reading experience. It started off so slowly, and then once everything was set up, the pacing got really fast; every chapter ended on a cliffhanger to the point that it was hard to parse out what were supposed to be the most climactic or important moments of the story. I understand it's a series opener and there's a lot of world building that needs to be done so this and future installments make sense, and I was very interested in the mythology around the Solari and AOS, but overall the pacing was very distracting. It also felt like the writing was doing a lot of showing rather than telling - things that felt like they could be implied were explicitly spelled out a lot, and Onyeka would often change her mind on something multiple times in the span of a few pages, which did not help with the pacing/consistency issues. For the target age audience, this might not be a distraction, but as an adult reader I wished more things had been left up to the reader's interpretation.

Overall, a solid middle grade fantasy, especially for those who like superhero stories and series readers, as I'm hopeful book two will have less exposition to cover which will rectify some of the pacing issues. I won't personally be picking it up, but I'm sure there are many readers who will!

starsight's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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