WhatInTheWorld

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Score: 8/10

Genre: African, Fantasy, Bildungsroman

Author: Tomi Adeyemo

Summary

The book is set in a Yoruba empire where magic is outlawed. Those born with magic gain their power at the age of 13, so those above this age were exterminated in a genocidal war years before.

The under-12s, known as maggots are subject to maltreatment and arbritrary imprisonment for their affliction.

The book follows a main protagonist 2 minor ones: Zelie, Inan & Amari.

Zelie is a child born of magic and continuous to receive training from an old lady, Mama Agnes who runs a sanctuary for the ‘maggots’. She is the main protagonist.

Inan and Amari are royalty, children of the King.

On a trip to Lagos to sell some fish and make some money for her family, Zelie runs into a frightened Amari in the market who pleads with her for protection. It is later revealed that she is wanted by the authorities as she is carrying a very important item. One that will shake the kingdom to its very foundations.

When you get to the end of the book, the author reveals that the story is an allegory for the treatment of unarmed black people at the hands of the American police state.

Review

This book continues my fascination with African literature. I am currently in a romance of sorts with African fantasy in particular. I will admit I’ve actually owned this audiobook for 3 years and I could never get into it. I tried on about 4 different occasions. It very much seems like books are about the right seasons.

I would recommend that before you reading (listening) to this book, or any book for that matter, you should read the Summary carefully and perhaps once or twice. It’s quite important that you preset your mind for what’s to come. A bit like preheating an oven.

For this book in particular, you have to really preset the scene, especially if you’re an African reader with some context of our villages and cities. One slight critique is that the story does take a few chapters to warm up. Given the main plot, some of the initial chapters seem rather unnecessary. You can imagine them being wrapped up in the first 3 minutes of a film.

Once you get into it, it’s a fantastic story. Each chapter follows its own protagonist so it’s always clear from whose perspective its currently being told through. I find all the characters fascinating in their own way and the story itself makes a lot of sense. I can actually see it being adapted into a good series.

The fantasy aspect is not overdone, it does not dominate the underlying stories and there are good twists to keep you engaged.

However, some might argue this causes the overall main protagonist to be somewhat crowded out.

There are minor elements of sexual tension between both characters which is fun for a mature audience. More than once I found myself smiling slightly when a particularly interesting racy section is read.

One of my favourite elements is the description of the action scenes. They are extremely graphic and detailed, you can really picture the violence happening. Even when hand to hand combat is being described, you can almost hear the clattering of the swords.

Conclusion

I probably should have read this book sooner. It’s one of the best books I’ve written and a book I would definitely read to my children (in bite sized chunks). While the fantastical angle of African stories is heavily explored (in that negative way), you don’t seem enough enjoyable and ‘mature’

I also think I would love to watch an adaptation of this book. I can definitely imagine the story playing out as a Legend of the Seeker type epic.

If you enjoy fantasy stories then I would recommend reading (listening) to this book.