Akata Warrior: A bad sequel to a bad book
Akata Warrior is the sequel to Akata Witch, a book everyone (besides transfers) read last year. I and many others disliked the book due to its poorly-written ending and overall plot. To recap, the book is about a girl named Sunny who discovered the leopard world (kinda like wizards), she meets some friends and they are tasked with defeating black hat Otokoto, who sacrificed himself to summon an evil spirit named Ekwensu. Akata Witch ended with Sunny's spirit face randomly appearing and destroying Ekwensu with minimal context. We never get to know why Sunny's spirit face, which was mentioned two or three times, is able to defeat Ekwensu when everyone else struggles to do so. I did not have good hopes when I started reading Akata Warrior, and my feelings were proven right quickly.
Akata Warrior is set a year after Akata Witch and it tells the story of Sunny and her 3 friends fighting Ekwensu a second time after it escapes from the spirit world. The story starts with Sunny having a vision of a burning city, similar to the first book. Then, similar to the previous book, Sunny breaks the Leopard rules and uses her Juju to scare away a cult that haunts her brother Chukwu. Despite saving her brother, she faces punishment from the leopard council for breaking the rules and fights a djinn that she eventually beats. While facing pressure from the leopard society, Sunny's abusive father also threatens to disown her because she keeps disappearing without explanation (she disappears to go to the leopard society). Sunny then gets attacked by Ekwensu, who emerges from the spirit world again, and her spirit face is separated from her. Sunny and her friends go to Udide for help and they eventually defeat Ukwensu again and the Leopard council forgives her for breaking the rules.
In my opinion, this book is as bad as the first book, and if not, even worse. The book repeats a lot of the first book. The book starts off with Sunny having another vision of a burning city, she has tension with her family, and she fights Ekwensu again. Not only did the book have a similar plot as last time, the struggles she faced, such as breaking Leopard rules, and family tension were all present in the previous book, diminishing Sunny's character development. In my opinion, good sequels need to stand out and show how it is different from the previous book(s) and Akata Warrior did not do a good job of separating itself from the previous book. Overall, I give this book a 3.5/10 and would not recommend people to read it unless they really liked the previous book.
-Henry G
I never thought a book could be worse than akata witch until I saw this :/
ReplyDeleteHi, Henry. First, I wanted to thank you for reading this novel and writing a blog post on it, despite the pain it must've given you. I think your opinion that the book is bad is well proven through your post. When reading your second paragraph where you briefly summarize this book, I could really tell how similar it was to "Akata Witch". Additionally, your definition of what a good sequel should be helped get the point across even better. Thanks for the great blog post.
ReplyDeleteHi Henry, last year I did not like Akata Witch, and from the way your describe the sequel, I would probably not read it away. Good review though!
ReplyDeleteHi Henry, Good Review. Your comparisons are good and make me understand how the similarities are between Akata Witch. I thought that Akata Witch was a pretty bad book and reading your review, I can feel that you think Akata Witch sequel was a bad book. Good Job
ReplyDeleteI also disliked Akata Witch, but there were still somethings I was vaguely interested in (mostly to do with the worldbuilding/magic). So, I was thinking of eventually reading Akata Warrior, although now I am not sure if I want to with some of the things you descried. I agree that, for the most part, a good sequel needs to expand on the world and themes of the original book (or really most form of media). Overall, I still might check it out just due to my curiosity (both of the worldbuilding and seeing just how bad it is), but I will make sure to lower my expectations. Good review!
ReplyDeleteHi Henry. I also didn't enjoy Akata Witch, since the pacing of the plot was way too far and the main character was basically a Mary Sue. However, the second book I found to be a bit better than the first, although the fact that dangerous entities attacking humanity occurring multiple times just makes it less threatening to me. Might just be me though.
ReplyDeleteYeah I thought the only saving for Akata Witch would be the sequel. Most of the first book felt like a preparation for epic sequels, but from this review it sounds like the second novel has as dull of a plot as the first one.
ReplyDeleteLike everyone else in this comment section, I didn't like the first book pleasurable to read. And I won't be reading the sequel anytime in the future. Thanks for letting us know not to read it!
ReplyDeleteHey Henry, I absolutely hated Akata Witch and it seems like this book is also really bad. The fact that the book is mainly about fighting Ekwensu again, which was very boring the first time around. Thank you for informing us of the atrocity of the book.
ReplyDeleteReading this blog, I can understand how boring reading the second book must be. If I saw that same repetitive theme in the second book, I would just ditch the book and move on. I hope you can find a more interesting book during your reading.
ReplyDeleteHi Henry, not surprisingly, I have the same opinions of Akata Warrior as yours before you read the book. The ending of Akata Witch was so dull and out-of-pocket, so I never thought of continuing the series. Now I am informed of its lackluster plot, I'll make sure not to give this series a second chance. Thanks for this very informational blog!
ReplyDeleteThere is no way that the the author actually thought she could get away with making almost the same exact book again and thought that it would have a positive review. I 100 percent agree with this review on it and I was thinking about reading the 2nd book for a blog, really dodged a bullet.
ReplyDeleteHey Henry, Like everyone in this comment section I didnt like akata witch very much and with the way you describe the book I would not want to read it either.
ReplyDeleteHi Henry, I absolutely agree. Akata witch was horrible, and I can see why you thing the sequel was also bad. The first book was horribly planned out, and from your review, It seems the second one's planning was just as bad. Thank you for this review and reading the book not many wanted to for us Henry!
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