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A review by ramreadsagain
Shigidi: and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi
Did not finish book. Stopped at 54%.
Ah man, I really wanted to enjoy this: Yoruba gods stealing back an artefact from the British Museum? Sign me up!
The main thing I couldn’t get past was the treatment of women. Apart from the main female character (more about her later) every woman existed solely to be sexualised, usually in the form of waitresses wearing skimpy clothing, or else just exists as the ‘hag’ trope.
But Nneoma is our main female character; she is a succubus. I’m not against the use of these in fiction but I’m not convinced this book progressed beyond the misogynistic origins of the succubus myth. Despite being the second main character, Nneoma’s role consists of having sex and mentioning a mysterious loss of her sister. They need someone (a man) to help them in their heist? Don’t worry! Here’s a flashback where Nneoma had sex with a guy and now he owes her a favour. Oh and the sex is never fully consensual by the way, the first time this happens, it’s with Aleister Crowley, who is gay, and she magically seduces him right in front of his male partner, which was such a nice way to treat your queer characters (/s). The second time this happens, she quite literally rapes a man while he is saying “No, please” and crying thinking about his family. He then dies. This was the moment I DNF’d.
Beyond that, our main character Shigidi did not have enough characterisation for me considering I was at the 54% mark, and the writing style also wasn’t for me - way too many adjectives and adverbs man 😩 I don’t need a paragraph of what the sky looks like every time we change scene.
The main thing I couldn’t get past was the treatment of women. Apart from the main female character (more about her later) every woman existed solely to be sexualised, usually in the form of waitresses wearing skimpy clothing, or else just exists as the ‘hag’ trope.
But Nneoma is our main female character; she is a succubus. I’m not against the use of these in fiction but I’m not convinced this book progressed beyond the misogynistic origins of the succubus myth. Despite being the second main character, Nneoma’s role consists of having sex and mentioning a mysterious loss of her sister. They need someone (a man) to help them in their heist? Don’t worry! Here’s a flashback where Nneoma had sex with a guy and now he owes her a favour. Oh and the sex is never fully consensual by the way, the first time this happens, it’s with Aleister Crowley, who is gay, and she magically seduces him right in front of his male partner, which was such a nice way to treat your queer characters (/s). The second time this happens, she quite literally rapes a man while he is saying “No, please” and crying thinking about his family. He then dies. This was the moment I DNF’d.
Beyond that, our main character Shigidi did not have enough characterisation for me considering I was at the 54% mark, and the writing style also wasn’t for me - way too many adjectives and adverbs man 😩 I don’t need a paragraph of what the sky looks like every time we change scene.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Sexual assault