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A review by dandelionsteph
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
Did not finish book. Stopped at 3%.
I liked one of the author's other novels, Ikenga, so I had high hopes when it came to this book. However, it has several immediately-apparent problems, to the point it seems like it was her first book. (For example, two books by first-time authors have similar issues: Skandar and the Unicorn Thief by A.F. Steadman, as well as Adia Kelbara and the Circle of Shamans by Isi Hendrix)
The first chapter/prologue was in the first-person, but later chapters were in the third-person, giving a non-representative idea of the book's point-of-view. The first chapter portrayed important magical events in the main character's life out-of-order, in a disjointed way. There was also something off about the font or formatting which made it difficult to get immersed in the world. The narration has telling-not-showing problems, like describing how the protagonist feels instead of showing it in her actions or showing her internal dialogue directly. (e.g., p.7, "She felt like punching each of them in the mouth".)
The use of interstitial passages of nonstandard format, such as "Fast Facts for Free Agents", p.5., would work better if integrated into the plot, such as it being something the protagonists are reading.
The first chapter/prologue was in the first-person, but later chapters were in the third-person, giving a non-representative idea of the book's point-of-view. The first chapter portrayed important magical events in the main character's life out-of-order, in a disjointed way. There was also something off about the font or formatting which made it difficult to get immersed in the world. The narration has telling-not-showing problems, like describing how the protagonist feels instead of showing it in her actions or showing her internal dialogue directly. (e.g., p.7, "She felt like punching each of them in the mouth".)
The use of interstitial passages of nonstandard format, such as "Fast Facts for Free Agents", p.5., would work better if integrated into the plot, such as it being something the protagonists are reading.