Shadow Speaker
Nnedi Okorafor
Shadow Speaker is an expanded re-issue of an out-of-print novel The Shadow Speaker by self-described Africanfuturism and Africanjujuism Nigerian-American author Nnedi Okorafor. (Okorafor mostly eschews the word "magic" in favor of "juju".) I haven't read the original version (indeed, I have not previously read any of Okorafor's works), so I have little to say about what is new. One thing I CAN point to, however, is the cover. Here's the original cover , and here's the new one -- so much better! In addition, we have a new introduction by the author, written in the voice of The Desert Magician, a character in the novel.
I suspect, however, that the main impetus for the rejuvenation of Shadow Speaker is the imminent publication of a sequel Like Thunder, which has another badass cover . I would not be surprised to learn that the ending of Shadow Speaker was adjusted for this purpose, as the new edition ends in a way that seems to demand a sequel -- not quite a cliffhanger, but definitely indications of More To Come.
Shadow Speaker takes place mostly in the Sahara in 2074, but it is a very different Sahara from the one we have now. Shadow Speaker has a postapocalyptic setting, but the apocalypse had elements of juju as well as science. There were nuclear bombs and Peace Bombs -- the latter combining science and juju. As a consequence there are magical beings -- our hero Ejimafor Ugabe is one such, a Shadow Speaker -- and portals to other worlds, in particular a world called Ginen. Ejii is a sixteen-year-old girl, just coming into control of her juju. She journeys to Ginen following her hero Jaa, and stuff happens there.
I did not personally enjoy Shadow Speaker as much as I had hoped. This comes down mostly to Okorafor's world-building, which was not to my taste. I think of fantasy worlds as being Alice in Wonderland or Lord of the Rings types. Either one can be full of Cool, Exciting Stuff. The difference is that an LOTR world has a deep, carefully worked out structure in which all the Cool Stuff fits together and makes sense. In an Alice world the Cool Stuff is just random, whatever the author thought at the moment would be cool. Giant hookah-smoking caterpillar? Sure! Why not? I personally greatly prefer LOTR-type fantasy worlds. And Shadow Speaker feels very Alice to me.
The plot of Shadow Speaker also felt like a loose succession of "stuff that felt cool to me at the moment" elements. Now, I am exaggerating a bit. Both the world and the plot had some underlying logic to them. But I am describing honestly the "anything goes" feeling both gave me, and it was not to my taste. As always, YMMV.
Now, I do endorse Shadow Speaker in one important way. This morning I pre-ordered the sequel Like Thunder. To be honest, it is not so much that I want to read another book like Shadow Speaker as that I want to see how Okorafor now writes. She has published dozens of books and won multiple awards. Even surviving so many years as a writer is an accomplishment, and I am interested to see how she has evolved in her craft.
I thank NetGalley and DAW for an advance reader copy of Shadow Speaker. This review expresses my honest opinions.