Ikenga (Nnedi Okorafor)

Ikenga
Nnedi Okorafor
Viking
Fiction, MG Fantasy
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: The day Nnamdi's father died was the day everything started going wrong, in his life and in the town of Kalaria. Corruption and crime run rampant through much of the Nigerian countryside, but with his father as chief of police, things were finally turning around, at least in Kalaria... which, of course, must have been why he had been killed. To add to the insult, the criminals make a show of coming to the funeral. The Chief of Chiefs, notorious local crime lord, even hands Nnamdi's mother an envelope of cash, as clear an admission of guilt as anything the boy has seen! He vows, then and there, to see the horrible man and his wicked associates pay for their crimes and avenge his father.
One year later, his vow remains unfulfilled, and crime in Kalaria is as bad as it ever was before his father became chief. The new chief is no stranger to bribery, the Chief of Chiefs and his colorful crew of criminals still walk the streets freely, and Nnamdi's mother has been reduced to selling tapioca in the market - his mother, widow of the most honorable man ever to wear a uniform in all of Kalaria... perhaps all the country, or beyond! But the boy must face the bitter truth that, if grown-ups are stymied by the troubles plaguing his town, then a twelve-year-old boy isn't going to fare much better. It's not like he can become a hero like in the comic books he loves.
Then, one night, the ghost of his father appears, bearing a strange gift: an ikenga, a magical talisman. With it, Nnamdi can transform into a giant man with skin like night and the strength of mountains. Here, at last, is the power he's longed for, and a way to see justice done... but, if he's learned nothing else from his comic books, he should've learned that no power comes without great cost - and a power that he can't control may well make him worse than the criminals he wants to fight.

REVIEW: Ikenga is considered popular author Okorafor's middle grade debut (though I'd put her book Akata Witch at the upper end of middle grade, bleeding into young adult), a superhero story set in modern Nigeria and strongly flavored with local settings and traditions. Nnamdi wants to be a dutiful son and the man of the now-fatherless household, but he is still just a boy, with a boy's understanding of the world. Being gifted the ikenga does not make him magically wiser or more mature, and he stumbles more than once as he learns to control his new powers and the rage-fueled strength that comes with it. He finds support in a friend (whom he nearly loses with his anger), and the answers he uncovers are not at all what he expected. Once in a while Nnamdi could be a bit dense, and it got a little irritating how women had such greatly reduced agency and roles, but overall it's a decent superhero origin story.

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