I stumbled across this book by chance really, one of the amazing women I follow on Twitter said it was going to be the next book read and discussed for our Twitter Book Club. As always, I’ll never turn down a book with the promise of discussion after so I bought it for my Nook immediately and dug in.

I finished it that night and promptly re-read it the next day. At 200 pages, it was a quick, engaging read that took me completely by surprise.

It’s no secret that I love “third world” authors, so I had high hopes. Akata Witch exceeded what I’d come to expect from a book, discussing culture and superstition in a very normal, every day way.

Akata Witch follows the story of three four people, but really focuses on Sunny an American Born Nigerian who is albino as she discovers her own buried history and her own abilities as a Leopard person to stop the student of her Grandmother who was a powerful witch in her own right. Sunny’s family moves back to Nigeria which puts her at a great advantage to find herself and her family’s secret.

Sunny goes from playing football (soccer for you Americans) at night so as to not aggravate her sun sensitivity to moving in-between worlds. It’s a fascinating coming of age story for someone that doesn’t fit in to become so essential for stopping evil.

The way the story is weaved is quite remarkable, it was a good pace for an introduction of the supporting characters. I was drawn in from the first page. There is something very alive about this book that I can’t translate to this review so I will encourage you to read it.

I’m glad to see a woman writing the kind of stories I hope to one day write. This kind of melding of culture, fantasy, superstition and is a perfect fit for any kind of reader. I look forward to more by Nnedi Okorafor and I can’t wait to discuss this on Twitter Book Club.