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skylarkblue1's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Representations: https://trello.com/c/K55VC7tP/119-onyeka-1-onyeka-and-the-academy-of-the-sun-by-t%E1%BB%8Dl%C3%A1-okogwu
I really loved the world of this, and Onyeka herself was such a strong protagonist! Unfortunatly though I think there was maybe a couple too many characters, and the way the plot was spread out and ended needs a revise. I wouldn't call how it ended a cliffhanger, it just felt unfinished and like someone ripped out some pages from the back of my book. I thought there was a lot left in the version I had, but it was just a long authors note, acknowledgements, and then an excerpt of book 2... really hate when publishers do that.
Onyeka was just such a compelling main character. She was strong, yes, but it felt believeable and not a "chosen one" situation at all. She also really just felt like a kid, I'm not sure why people are giving negative reviews based on an "unrealistic home life" and not believing Onyeka would just not know anything but like... it happens all the time with divorced parents, abandoned kids, etc? Kids don't want to believe the worst, and the remaining parent often doesn't want to make the other parent out to be a villain or something so lies are often told and believed.
The other characters were a mix though, Hassan and Adanna were the main 2 side characters that stood out to me and were memorable and the rest kinda merged together or I just forgot about until they popped up like Cheyenne. I'd have loved to read more of Cheyenne but she popped up just so infrequently and kind of at random that she was more of a memory in the book than an actual character despite being such a massive part of the first part of the book (before Onyeka goes to Nigeria).
Oh the world though, that world is fantastic! I've been consuming quite a bit of Nigerian content for a bit now and one of my favourite things is the beautiful mix of languages, and that comes across really strongly! Oh and that food, mmmm I got hungry while reading this for sure! Since it's also not mentioned at the start of the book (at least from what I can see/in my version), there is a glossery and language guide (for Pidgin English) in the back of the book next to the authors note! They're not massive, but I think they do a good enough job for anyone unfamiliar to any of it.
Though, I have no idea why it was set in 2025, it's a sci-fi but... a contempory sci-fi. Even though the book is a couple years old now, it's not that old aha..
The plot is a bit of an odd one, it feels like barely anything happens in this book, but at the same like too much is trying to be done. There's a whole tournament thing, a genetic mystery, character in-fighting, family drama and all sorts. Nothing really feels fleshed out too much (especially the tournament... why couldn't we have had more of that scene :'), and basically nothing is resolved by the end, it just opens up more questions.
I would still recommend it, but with a huge note of "this absolutely cannot be read on its own". I'm also super interested to learn more about the supposed movie that was meant to be being made. Not sure what happened to that, seems like it got announced in 2022 and then just.... never mentioned again sadly. Hopefully it's still in the works, it would make for a good film I think if done faithfully. Pacing would also fit a film much much better.
I really loved the world of this, and Onyeka herself was such a strong protagonist! Unfortunatly though I think there was maybe a couple too many characters, and the way the plot was spread out and ended needs a revise. I wouldn't call how it ended a cliffhanger, it just felt unfinished and like someone ripped out some pages from the back of my book. I thought there was a lot left in the version I had, but it was just a long authors note, acknowledgements, and then an excerpt of book 2... really hate when publishers do that.
Onyeka was just such a compelling main character. She was strong, yes, but it felt believeable and not a "chosen one" situation at all. She also really just felt like a kid, I'm not sure why people are giving negative reviews based on an "unrealistic home life" and not believing Onyeka would just not know anything but like... it happens all the time with divorced parents, abandoned kids, etc? Kids don't want to believe the worst, and the remaining parent often doesn't want to make the other parent out to be a villain or something so lies are often told and believed.
The other characters were a mix though, Hassan and Adanna were the main 2 side characters that stood out to me and were memorable and the rest kinda merged together or I just forgot about until they popped up like Cheyenne. I'd have loved to read more of Cheyenne but she popped up just so infrequently and kind of at random that she was more of a memory in the book than an actual character despite being such a massive part of the first part of the book (before Onyeka goes to Nigeria).
Oh the world though, that world is fantastic! I've been consuming quite a bit of Nigerian content for a bit now and one of my favourite things is the beautiful mix of languages, and that comes across really strongly! Oh and that food, mmmm I got hungry while reading this for sure! Since it's also not mentioned at the start of the book (at least from what I can see/in my version), there is a glossery and language guide (for Pidgin English) in the back of the book next to the authors note! They're not massive, but I think they do a good enough job for anyone unfamiliar to any of it.
Though, I have no idea why it was set in 2025, it's a sci-fi but... a contempory sci-fi. Even though the book is a couple years old now, it's not that old aha..
The plot is a bit of an odd one, it feels like barely anything happens in this book, but at the same like too much is trying to be done. There's a whole tournament thing, a genetic mystery, character in-fighting, family drama and all sorts. Nothing really feels fleshed out too much (especially the tournament... why couldn't we have had more of that scene :'), and basically nothing is resolved by the end, it just opens up more questions.
I would still recommend it, but with a huge note of "this absolutely cannot be read on its own". I'm also super interested to learn more about the supposed movie that was meant to be being made. Not sure what happened to that, seems like it got announced in 2022 and then just.... never mentioned again sadly. Hopefully it's still in the works, it would make for a good film I think if done faithfully. Pacing would also fit a film much much better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Racism, and Vomit
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Death, Blood, and Abandonment
dandelionsteph's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The themes, especially near the end, are a little too explicit and precise. For this young audience, having the character make a "today/this book I learned..." message near the end has some justification, but making her explicit, in-narration realization two sentences instead of about four would have been better. Given the message was built up throughout multiple passages in the book, including in-narration, going for four sentences to confirm it seems excessive, and brings the reader out of the narrative.
The use of Pidgin was a puzzling choice. Hassan uses it frequently, but it is not translated in-text. There is a glossary in the back, yes, but I didn't know there would be one, so I didn't consult it as I read. I eventually felt I could parse some parts of his speech through context clues or phonetic similarity to different words, but other parts were beyond me. His speech was frustrating to read because it used some English words, even in an irregular format (e.g., "No like dark, smelly caves" instead of "I don't like dark, smelly caves"), but others were novel or apparently spelled phonetically (e.g., "dis"). Because Hassan's speech sounded like broken English or "primitive tribal speak", his choice (and the author's choice) to use it during particularly dramatic or conflict-filled moments was strange, and inadvertently lightened up the tone of the scene in a way that felt out of place.
As about half (or more) of his dialogue was hard to parse, I felt less able to understand him, and thus less able to connect with him. Making his distinct cultural heritage/identity aspect relate to making his speech often difficult to understand was a puzzling decision.
It's worth comparing his speech to Onyeka's speech. I occasionally noted the odd feel of her British word choices (e.g., I have to mentally-translate her use of "football" into "soccer" and "table football" into "foosball"), and thought it was at times excessive (she sure uses "proper" as a "very"-like intensifier a lot). Yet, 99% of her speech, as well as the narration from her perspective, is easy to understand. I do not feel her British word choices interfere with my ability to understand her. In fact, it's often easy to forget she's British, because she so rarely uses "Britishisms" like spelling things with a "u" (harbour, colour, etc.) or British swap-ins ("lorry" instead of "taxi", etc.).
Ultimately, if Hassan needed a language-related identity trait, toning down the pidgin or replacing it with another language that doesn't look like English would have been a better choice.
The use of Pidgin was a puzzling choice. Hassan uses it frequently, but it is not translated in-text. There is a glossary in the back, yes, but I didn't know there would be one, so I didn't consult it as I read. I eventually felt I could parse some parts of his speech through context clues or phonetic similarity to different words, but other parts were beyond me. His speech was frustrating to read because it used some English words, even in an irregular format (e.g., "No like dark, smelly caves" instead of "I don't like dark, smelly caves"), but others were novel or apparently spelled phonetically (e.g., "dis"). Because Hassan's speech sounded like broken English or "primitive tribal speak", his choice (and the author's choice) to use it during particularly dramatic or conflict-filled moments was strange, and inadvertently lightened up the tone of the scene in a way that felt out of place.
As about half (or more) of his dialogue was hard to parse, I felt less able to understand him, and thus less able to connect with him. Making his distinct cultural heritage/identity aspect relate to making his speech often difficult to understand was a puzzling decision.
It's worth comparing his speech to Onyeka's speech. I occasionally noted the odd feel of her British word choices (e.g., I have to mentally-translate her use of "football" into "soccer" and "table football" into "foosball"), and thought it was at times excessive (she sure uses "proper" as a "very"-like intensifier a lot). Yet, 99% of her speech, as well as the narration from her perspective, is easy to understand. I do not feel her British word choices interfere with my ability to understand her. In fact, it's often easy to forget she's British, because she so rarely uses "Britishisms" like spelling things with a "u" (harbour, colour, etc.) or British swap-ins ("lorry" instead of "taxi", etc.).
Ultimately, if Hassan needed a language-related identity trait, toning down the pidgin or replacing it with another language that doesn't look like English would have been a better choice.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Violence, Vomit, and Abandonment
Minor: Cursing, Death, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Colonisation
One character mentions he put his friend in an indefinite coma because of his ice powers when he was six. I don't recall if the word "racism" or "racial prejudice" was used in the book, but given Onyeka's negative experiences in Britain about people reacting to her (afro-textured) hair, it seems at least partly applicable. Onyeka vomits from the nausea of using her powers more than once, including multiple times in one chapter. Brief mentions of slavery (due to something in Nigeria's distant past). The side effects of using superpowers [spoiler]aren't a terminal illness in the conventional sense[/spoiler], but I'm marking it anyway. There are a few instances of out-of-place cursing (or, depending on how you define it, just extraneous crass language). There are some questionable elements of the Academy, such as bringing in kids who are 4-8 to their own section of what is effectively a boarding school. It believe they aren't allowed to leave until they graduate. At least one of them has no parental contact. Since there isn't a tag for "technically prison-like boarding school", for lack of a better descriptor, I'm putting in "forced institutionalization".mattyb's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Chronic illness, Vomit, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
Minor: Child death, Death, and Blood
uranaishi's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, and Colonisation
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Racism, Terminal illness, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
emily_mh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Oh my god what an incredible book!! This book promised X-Men and it delivered. I loved the Academy and the worldbuilding re: the superpowers. The story had a great balance between character development and relationships, and action and intrigue. Speaking of the relationships - the way Okogwu depicted friendship in this book was so wholesome yet still so realistic. My one criticism overall is that I wanted to see more of Onyeka training to master her powers. But this is really just a minor critique as on the whole I thoroughly enjoyed this read and cannot wait for the sequel to come out.
As a side note, I listened to the audiobook for this one. At first I was nervous as I didn't really like the narrator's (Nneka Okoye's) performance for Within These Wicked Walls. But Okoye did a great job with this audiobook!
As a side note, I listened to the audiobook for this one. At first I was nervous as I didn't really like the narrator's (Nneka Okoye's) performance for Within These Wicked Walls. But Okoye did a great job with this audiobook!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Blood, Medical content, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Graphic warning for missing loved one. Moderate warning for drowning and misogynoir. Minor warnings for disordered eating, the undocumented migrant experience, climate change/global warming, fainting.
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