In the great walled city of Kos, the people's sins cause sickness and death... unless they can afford a mage to draw it forth, giving it tangible
substance, and an aki to kill and swallow the shadowstuff. Though the aki are essential, they are seen as untouchable, unclean, the marks of the sins
they've eaten burning into their flesh like tattoos and the guilt of other people's misdeeds eventually driving them mad - all except for Taj. Known
as Skyfist or Lightbringer among the other aki, Taj is among the longest-lived of his kind, and his sin marks never fade. He attributes his longevity
and continued sanity to not caring about anyone but himself; if he focuses only on keeping himself alive and fed, on sending money home to the family
he can never see again, he believes he can avoid the terrible fate of the rest of his kind. But when he is called to eat a sin of Kos's royal family,
both Taj and his best friend Bo become part of a greater, deeper conspiracy, one that could see the aki raised from the shadows and brought into the
light... or one that could see the whole city burned in the name of purification.
Review
I previously read (and greatly enjoyed) another book by Onyebuchi, his brutal examination of the human cost of war and environmental devastation
War Girls. So I looked forward to trying this, which was apparently his debut novel. The concept and setting certainly sounded intriguing.
Unfortunately, I found Taj a rather dense main character to follow around. He insists he does not care about anyone, yet almost as soon as we meet
him he's taking in an orphan, a new-minted aki, and showing him the ropes of his new life as both the lowest of the low and the city's only defense
against the sickness of its sins... and against monsters out of legend, who will tear the city apart to cleanse it should the stain of sin grow too
strong. He has flashbacks that show him very specific things, yet takes far too long to recognize said things when he sees them again. He has
experiences that should drastically change how he views everything, even how he handles the shadow beasts... then he inexplicably forgets all about
them until the very last minute. He also spends far too much time not really doing anything. Yes, he fights sin beasts and deals with the
frustrations of his pariah existence, but he doesn't actually do much except react to things done to him. And yet somehow he's potentially the most
important aki, possibly the most important person, in the city of Kos, and everyone seems to be fighting to control him and his destiny... especially
the women, who too often feel like they exist solely based on their interest and usefulness to Taj. (This was especially disappointing given how much
I enjoyed the fiercely independent and rounded women and girls of War Girls, who may have had terrible things done to them but also had some
agency and were able to make their own decisions regardless of whether they benefited a man.) Then the story starts devolving into a sort of morality
lesson, and ends on a cliffhanger setting up the second installment.
I enjoyed the originality of the setting, and the concept of the sin beasts and the aki. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy Taj or many of the other
characters, especially as they seemed to spend more time meandering and dithering through the city than progressing the story. I doubt I'll bother
pursuing the next installment, unless there's not much else available on Overdrive when I need a new audiobook.
Young Ella Jackson's always had odd ways about her, which she calls her Thing - which is how she knows that the day her
baby brother is going to be born that there is going to be trouble in Los Angeles. She sees it, the same way she sees the
hidden lives and eventual fates of passersby on the street, but she can do nothing to stop it. At least, not yet...
Kevin, or "Kev", was a bright boy growing up in Harlem, where the Jacksons moved after the Los Angeles riots in 1992. His
sister's Thing is growing more powerful, consuming more and more of her and placing a greater burden on their overworked
single mother. They're not just visions and nosebleeds anymore, but fits that fling objects around the room and even hurt
anyone nearby. Maybe his bright mind can use science to understand it someday, and help everyone. But it's almost
impossible to grow up in their neighborhood and not be pulled into problems, especially as algorithmically-driven police
practices lead to more and more kids and teens landing in cuffs daily. Sure enough, by the time he's eighteen, Kevin is
behind bars.
After disappearing for several years, Ella is slowly mastering her ever-growing Thing. She starts to visit her brother, in
person and via astral projection, even as the system that sent him to jail and crushed so many non-white lives continues
to grow stronger and more invulnerable to change and protest. Something has to change, and soon - and maybe the Jacksons
are the ones to start it.
Review
This 2020 novella was clearly a direct response to growing protests and demands for accountability on the
disproportionate incarceration rates, assaults, and deaths of non-white people at the hands of law enforcement, and how
all the petitions and demands and rage and calls for regulation ultimately seem incapable of stopping a system where the
racism and violence are evidently essential components, considered features and not bugs to those with the actual power
to change things. (See also: how things are going in June 2025...) It embodies a sense of anger and frustration, asking
what it will take to truly end the suffering and the increasing spread of the police state into every aspect of
existence.
It starts with Ella as a girl getting glimpses of the future, where a neighbor's infant boy won't live past the age of
ten thanks to random gang violence and where the failure to convict the cops who beat up Rodney King are about to ignite
the powder keg of rage running through the streets, a rage with roots running back through America's history of
segregation and centuries of justice perverted and denied and promises of a better future forever deferred. That Kev was
born on such a violent day is an omen of sorts, though whether that omen is good or bad depends on one's point of view. At
first, the boy looks to be a bright star in his community, a leader who might effect peaceful change, but all too soon the
unrest and injustice that sparked the Los Angeles riots in 1992 manifest in their new home. Ella, her "Thing" growing more
unstable with her own growing frustration and anger, disappears to spare her family from powers she cannot yet control -
leaving Kev without a big sister as he grows from an idealistic boy into a young man who becomes another victim of a
society that seems designed to drive him and those like him straight into a prison cell. As he learns to survive in this
new reality, he begins showing hints of his own powers, particularly after Ella reaches out to him after years away...
yet, still, Kev has some faint hope that he can someday escape the brand of convict and find peace and freedom and the
better future everyone tells him he'll have someday. Meanwhile, Ella undergoes her own journey to understand her Thing,
which becomes entwined with understanding her mother's struggles and crushed dreams and the overall anger simmering
underneath the Black communities, and perhaps a reason she was gifted with the Thing. Around the edges are hints of how
technology is evolving to crush people with even more ruthlessness, with an even greater reach and ultimate control over
a populace with fewer and fewer ways to resist. It builds to a moment of decision where the Jackson siblings must choose
which future to pursue, and how much they are willing to sacrifice to get there.
For a novella, there are a few places that felt unfocused and meandering, but on the whole it's a strong, sometimes
devastating exploration of the harm wrought by the current system and the need for tangible change beyond soundbites and
slogans and vague hopes that if one just plays along and is polite enough that things will get better in a
never-to-be-reached "someday" beyond the horizon.
2172 Nigeria lays split by civil war, even as the world suffers the worst effects of disasters natural and human engineered: those nations
who haven't the resources to spread to space colonies must contend with rising sea levels and vast swaths of land so irradiated that mere
minutes of exposure corrodes machinery and induces cancer. At a hidden camp of girl soldiers deep in the jungle, Onyii does her best to look
out for young Ify, shielding her from the worst hardships of their lives and even building an android to keep watch over the girl when she
goes out on scavenging raids. Though not of the same blood, they are close as sisters. But when their camp is discovered and attacked, the
two girls are torn apart. Ify finds herself "rescued" by Nigerian forces, who insist she's really Nigerian and was abducted by "savage" Ibo
rebels. Onyii, left for dead, only barely survives. Convinced that Ify was killed, she uses her rage to become the most feared mech pilot and
warrior of the fledgling Ibo nation of Biafra. As the years pass, the war rages on, and atrocities mount, it's only a matter of time before
their paths cross again... but will they still be war sisters, or will they be the deadliest of enemies?
Review
Inspired by the 1960's civil war that rocked Nigeria (one the government tends to deny or gloss over, even as the tensions that led to it,
with roots in colonial exploitation, still simmer and threaten to explode again), War Girls offers a harsh examination of the physical
and psychological costs of war, nationalism, mineral exploitation, and foreign indifference. The future war may be fought with giant mechs and
borderline-sapient androids, with people who are partly mechanical as often as not, but the devastation remains the same, lives blown apart
and holes carved in hearts for causes that rarely, if ever, honor the sacrifices made, let alone repay those who made them. Onyii was at one
time a true believer, who ran away from school to become a soldier for Biafra, but even by the time the story starts she's become scarred and
more jaded, driven to defend what innocence she can in young Ify. Battle becomes an addiction, a way to deal with loss and anger, until she
finally has to ask herself just what she has become, and if that's all she ever will be. The younger girl is a technological prodigy, the kind
of child who could someday change the world... if she didn't live in a war-torn nation, if she'd never lost her family or picked up a gun, if
the world ever gave her a chance to be herself and not what others make her into. Separated, they find themselves in vastly different
circumstances but with some unnerving similarities, both becoming symbols and tools and both having to come to terms with the fact that the
nations they pledge loyalty and love to offer no reciprocation of the deal. The tale is intense and fast-paced, with many battles and betrayals
and losses and sacrifice. Toward the end is a somewhat plot convenient encounter, plus there's a loose thread or two I wish had been followed
up on (one in particular), but overall I enjoyed it, and will probably be looking for the next installment eventually.
