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Book Review: Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor

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Keen fans of the Hugo Awards will be aware that 2018 marks the inaugural presentation of the World Science Fiction Society Award for Best Young Adult Book. The shortlist for this Hugo-adjacent award (which will, barring shenanigans at the AGM, henceforth be known as the Lodestar Award) includes Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor. This is the second book in Okorafor’s series, Akata Witch. It tells the story of Sunny Nwazue, a teenage girl born in New York City whose Nigerian parents have brought her across the Atlantic to live in their hometown. Sunny is a Leopard Person, someone with an affinity for juju and thus able to work magic. In Akata Warrior, she develops these abilities under the strict guidance of her mentor Sugar Cream and the tried and true method of getting into mischief with her friends. However, it’s not all fun and games. Ekwensu, the masquerade responsible for murdering Sunny’s grandmother (and also the only other Leopard Person in Sunny’s family) is still on the loose. Sunny and her friends must track down the masquerade before Ekwensu brings about the apocalypse.

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Comics Review: OK, maybe the real giant monster is also the real giant monster – KAIJUMAX Season 3

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Welcome to the latest installment of my comics review column here at Skiffy & Fanty! Every month, I use this space to shine a spotlight on SF&F comics (print comics, graphic novels, and webcomics) that I believe deserve more attention from SF&F readers. This month, I’m turning my – and hopefully your – gaze back to the latest collection of a series I reviewed last year, one of my favourite SFFnal comics currently in production, Zander Cannon’s epic giant monsters prison drama, Kaijumax. (This review contains spoilers!)

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Book Review: Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson

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In Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson writes what aspires to be the definitive colonization-by-generation-starship novel, with an emphasis and focus on the implausibility and folly of such a scheme. (Note:This review atypically spoils a lot of the book as it is a virulent reaction to a lot of the elements in the book I could not otherwise discuss.)

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Book Review: Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne

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Kill the Farm Boy is the literary love child of Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne, who partnered up to create a fantastical, trope-skewering romp of a Pratchett-esque novel.  That was a lot of words, but I promise they’re all accurate. Within the pages of Kill the Farm Boy, readers will find plenty of laughter and an abundance of interesting fairy tale problems, ranging from botched adventures to a nice-guy troll to a sand witch whose wand is the prettiest thing on the beach.  Even when you think you’ve finally grasped their mischievous style, Dawson and Hearne surprise you again and again with unique villains and intense violence. A tale of the hero’s journey it may be, but the journey itself is not typical in the slightest.  This book almost feels like a D&D campaign with a ridiculously imaginative DM and a fantastic group of players, and that’s the opposite of a bad thing.

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My Superpower: R.S Ford

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My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today we welcome A Demon in Silver author R.S. Ford. I’ve had to give this a lot of thought. What superpower could possibly aid in my writing? Most of the time, as most writers, I feel crushed under the colossal weight of a super-impediment rather than a superpower. At various points all writers will take on the role of Imposter Syndrome Boy, Captain Excuses or Procrastinato Woman. Life is full of things that hinder our creative flow. That stop those words spilling onto the page. That’s why there’s one superpower that we all share as writers. One we couldn’t be successful without.

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