The Shadow Speaker

, #1

by

Paperback, 352 pages

English language

Published March 24, 2009 by Hyperion.

ISBN:
978-1-4231-0036-2
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3 stars (1 review)

Driven by vengeance. Destined for peace. Niger, West Africa, 2070: After fifteen-year old Ejii witnesses her father's beheading, her world shatters. In an era of mind-blowing technology and seductive magic, Ejii embarks on a mystical journey to track down her father's killer. With a newfound friend by her side, Ejii comes face to face with an earth turned inside out—and with her own magical powers. But Ejii soon discovers that her travels across the sands of the Sahara have a greater purpose. Her people need to be protected from a force seeking to annihilate them. And Ejii may be just the hero to do it. This futuristic, fantastical adventure heralds a bright new talent on the YA fantasy scene.

3 editions

reviewed The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor

Shadow Speaker

3 stars

Shadow Speaker is the first book in a YA duology set in a future Africa where "peace bombs" have given people magic powers and changed the world in unexpected ways. Forests grow spontaneously, some tech has stopped working, other worlds are slowly merging into earth, plants are carnivorous, sentient whirlwinds attack people in the desert, and travelling alone has become especially dangerous.

I enjoyed reading this especially for the worldbuilding ideas, but it is also a YA travel romp--new places and people were constantly being introduced and I lost any greater sense of foreshadowing or closure as everything new and shiny shallowly whirled by. I'm interested to see where the second book's different perspective goes and if it can build a story that I find more satisfying on the grounds that the first one established.