A review by booksweet
The Stolen Daughter by Florence Olajide, Florence Olajide

adventurous emotional inspiring tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

 
Mid-19th century West Africa is at the height of the slave trade. Villagers are constantly raided by enemy tribes of captives to sell to the white man, and one evening, our protagonist Ṣìkẹ́mi’s village is raided. She is captured along with her neighbors, and she is sold to Madam Tinúbú, a powerful woman, who is the wife and sister of kings.  Desperate to see her parents and brother again, Ṣìkẹ́mi is determined to survive this life of slavery and make her way home.

This was an interesting historical story, and since it is based on a real person, it made me eager to read the actual history of this person. Unfortunately, the history was the only interesting thing about this book. Ṣìkẹ́mi is very courageous and skilled, and always stays true to herself, but all of this is told to us from her own thoughts and actions. We are told that she does brave things, things no one else would do, but we don’t really see how others view her or why they respect her so much. The only times that it feels emotional is when Ṣìkẹ́mi is remembering her family, otherwise it feels like she’s just moving through the story.

There are a lot of sudden time jumps, and not enough action on page. We’re told about the raids that she conducts and the dangerous situations she’s in, but it never really felt like she was in danger. Actually, there was only one time, when one of Ṣìkẹ́mi’s plans utterly fails, but even the aftermath of that incident is a letdown because what happens to her is completely out of her hands.

I love this story for telling  me about a part of Nigerian history that I didn’t know before, and for having an inspirational main character. I really enjoyed the writing style (it was very memoir-ish, and it made me curious to pick up this author’s memoir), but I just wanted more action and passion from the book.

  Thank you to Netgalley for the digital ARC. 
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