“Akata Witch” is a novel written by Nnedi Okorafor about a young woman named Sunny who lives in Nigeria. The novel is more than telling a slice-of-life story about growing up in Nigeria, Sunny has to confront the natural affinity for witchcraft that runs in her family while being thrust into a new and confusing world with little help from those around her. Everyone around Sunny holds secrets; her best friends, mother, grandmother, and other characters that Sunny meets in the novel. Each of these characters withhold these secrets from Sunny and she is forced to learn mostly by herself. “Akata Witch” attempts to fit themes of racial tension, witchcraft, and adolescence all into one novel, but how well is it executed?

“Akata Witch” draws a lot of similarities with the “Harry Potter” series, they both are about witchcraft/wizardry and both revolve around a character who is thrown into a new and magical world that they don’t understand. “Akata Witch,” however, falls flat when tasked with world and character building. In the novel, you’re meant to feel as if Sunny, the protagonist, is some sort of ultimate being and panacea to all problems. In the entire novel, Sunny learns two spells. She learns how to turn invisible and how to summon her “spirit face”  which is a physical embodiment of one’s spirit. The lack of spells and effectiveness of these spells are not what’s holding the novel’s protagonist back from being interesting, the problem is how much weight is put behind Sunny’s existence. Sunny’s grandmother was a very famous and powerful witch, or “leopard person” as the novel calls them, and is very respected among the community. Now enters Sunny, who is built up as being a naturally powerful leopard person who’s destined for great things because of her grandmother and status as protagonist. However, “Akata Witch” fails to deliver on the build up. The progression and character growth in this novel are often put aside to take breaks to look at the world Sunny has found herself in which isn’t too imaginative at best.

Sunny isn’t the only one in this novel to not get any growth or character, one of the main antagonists, Black Hat Otokoto, is barely developed and has little to do with the novel. He’s nothing more than a catalyst for the other main antagonist to be summoned and promptly defeated. Otokoto’s name is mentioned multiple times in the course of the novel as an extremely powerful leopard person who is kidnapping and performing summoning rituals on children. He’s mostly kept in the shadows until the climax when the protagonist and her friends confront him. He’s built up as an extremely powerful force that a lot of people have tried to defeat and failed. Then, in a cliche climax at best, one the characters kills him with one spell. There is little resistance besides Otokoto fighting someone else in the background. Not only was Sunny useless during this fight, a supposedly extremely powerful antagonist was defeated in a the span of a few sentences.

The climax of “Akata Witch” loses a lot of potential because of its characters and set up. Close to the end of the novel and the climax, readers are introduced to a new and even more powerful antagonist. One said to be even more powerful than Black Hat Otokoto and is the reason he’s been kidnapping children. After his defeat, Otokoto sacrifices himself to summon this new antagonist. The introduction of this new villain has been sprinkled with a lot of grandeur and color, making readers think about how the protagonist will defeat this new enemy. Is there a hard fought battle between good and evil? A clash of spells and witchcraft? None of the above options are correct, much like Otokoto the new enemy is dispatched of quickly. There are at least two pages of introduction for the antagonist, flaunting just awestruck our protagonists are at her enormity. Then, after all of the extravagance of the antagonists introduction is over, they are gone in a single paragraph. A climax is supposed to be gripping, it’s supposed to be the point in a story where everything comes to a head in an explosion of interesting and engrossing action. Why is it that in a story of witchcraft and magic that we never get any witchcraft or magic that pulls us into its world?

One thing that a novel, especially one in this genre, should excel at is building a world. “Akata Witch” contains various moments where the reader truly feels as if they’re taken to another place that is more mythical than our own. There are many times when Sunny is taken somewhere or experiences something that can bring the reader into the setting of the book, for example, when Sunny and her friends go to an arena of sorts with their teacher. This scene if full of magic and wonderment but also mystery and a not so subtle sense of dread. This is the most memorable action scene in the book, when two powerful leopard people duel each other in front of hundreds of onlookers, the reader is then hit with an impressive onslaught of spells and witchcraft. Moments like these can make the book excel, unfortunately when it matters, during the climax for example, “Akata Witch” fails to invite the reader into its world.

Should you read “Akata Witch?” Yes, you should. As you should with any and all books. Is it a gripping and exciting tale of witchcraft and adolescence that will keep you turning the pages? No, no it will not. “Akata Witch” does have its moments, there are times when the reader feels like they’re experiencing a new and wondrous world. However, these moments are few and far between, making the overall experience of the novel rather dull for a book about witchcraft. The characters never grow as people, the climax is a let down, there is never a real threat and any resemblance of a magical world is often squashed under the pressure of everything else that is running around in this novel. Still, after all of this has been said, “Akata Witch” is still worth a read because all novels, even bad ones, are worth reading and learning from.