Book Review: Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor

I am a BIG Nnedi Okorafor fan – the Akata Witch books were my introduction to her work and they are fabulous. I was delighted to see that she was writing another younger reader magical work with Ikenga, and was even more delighted to win a copy via BookishFirst. I dove in with glee. The book opens well, but then slowed up quite a bit for me. I stuck with it, because I love Okorafor’s writing and her evocative scene setting, and I’m glad I did because I really enjoyed it as a whole.

I do think my experience of the slowing pace was due to the fact that I am, in fact, NOT the target audience here, and reading it with the expectation that it would follow adult pacing and emotional presentation was a mistake. Nnamdi’s outbursts and emotions felt overdone (and were the source of my issues with the pacing) – until my 7 year old went into a melodramatic tailspin in front of me, reminding me that this is how kids respond to things, at which point my adjusted expectations and I enjoyed the rest of the story for what it was: a bit of a fable about power and responsibility and consequences that was lovely and lyrical and entertaining all at the same time.

Ikenga is a story about death and violence and crime, about loss and redemption and power. It’s dark, perhaps particularly for a middle-grade tale, but we live in dark times. I think Okorafor handles the darkness with a deft touch, weaving in oddly uplifting and hopeful bits out of even the darker moments, to create a story that I would have no issues reading with my daughter (a precocious reader, if I may say so myself). It would lend itself to thoughtful conversations, and that’s what I love the best about this type of story. When the storytelling is as evocative as it is in the hands of a talented writer like Nnedi Okorafor, everything is a conversation piece: from the Nigerian customs and foodstuffs, to the naming conventions and rituals of daily living, to the political and philosophical implications of corruption and power, to the strength of friendship and its ability to help us stay true to ourselves. Okorafor is a dab hand at crafting a world that jumps off the page and inhabits your head, combining action, characterization, and setting into a seamless whole that you fall right into. It’s a magic of its own, as powerful as any Ikenga, and one I look forward to sharing with my daughter for years to come.

Chalk up another win for the talented Nnedi Okorafor!

Thanks to the author and BookishFirst for my obligation-free contest win copy.