A review by erine
Serwa Boateng's Guide to Vampire Hunting by Roseanne A. Brown

The first 95%: Serwa has been training to be a vampire hunter her whole life. Isolated, but close with her parents, they travel from mission to mission protecting civilians from creatures of black magic. When their safe house is breached by an old enemy, Serwa and her parents go their separate ways. Serwa to a normal, magicless middle school and her parents to defeat the enemy.

Unfortunately, Serwa finds herself awash in typical middle school challenges: bullying, rude teachers, disciplinary issues. None of which she is prepared for. And the elements of magic she thought she left behind start to appear right where they shouldn’t be. To navigate these challenges, Serwa must rely on friends both old and new, and on her own capacity for courage and strategy.

There are mini adventures within a larger mystery, all of which are fun. Detentions, run-ins with Ghanaian (NOT European) vampires, battle training, visits with an influencer god, a trip to an underworld rock concert with ghosts, and a very nasty teacher. Elements of racism, the legacy of slavery, the challenges of immigration all show up here, alongside more mundane tween struggles.

I really loved as Serwa gets to know her new friends, with all their flaws and strengths. Details of Ghanaian culture permeate the story, and Serwa is a main character I couldn’t help cheering for.

The last 5%:

Spoiler

in an absolutely ENORMOUS secret-keeping-leading-to-misunderstanding-or-conflict plot point, Serwa’s parents have not told her she has elements of black magic as well as divine wisdom in her heritage. The discovery of this is devastating for Serwa, but also for this reader, who could only watch as Serwa rages against her parents, erases her friendships, and runs away into the arms of everything she thought was evil. And then the book ends.

One of the most dynamically chaotic endings to a book that I’ve read in some time.