Julia Sarene's Reviews > Ikenga

This said "middle grade" in the blurb when I bought it. Boy for that age group I think it's really rather gritty and grim. So please use caution when giving this to kids - some will be just fine with it, but for more sensitive readers this might be a bit too much.

I really enjoyed the fresh feel of a superhero story set in Nigeria! The mix of modern technology, but also a lot of traditional and old ways of live really showed through, and made for fascinating reading.

Crime and corruption is running rampart, and all the best criminals have super villain names, like Three Days Journey for example. The previous chief of police was killed, and now his 12 year old sun, granted with some special powers, is out for... Justice? Revenge? He doesn't know exactly himself. He definitely wants to find his father murderer and not have them go free.

At the start the story was a bit slow, at other times it seemed to skip ahead a bit, when you go from "I have no idea" to "I know exactly, let's go hurt them!" in about a second. I mean this could be how a traumatised 13 year old's brain works, but at times the paced just seemed to go all over the place every so often.

What I really enjoyed was a strong friendship. There's friction and arguments, but there's also a strong sense of loyalty. Even when you're angry, you will be there for your friend, when they need you most, and vice versa. I need more of that!

The characters felt pretty realistic to me, which kids and teens on books often don't, so that's a big plus in my books.

The world also needs a lot more different superheroes from all places, abilities and walks of life, so having The Man is a great thing!