Abeni's Song (P. Djeli Clark)

Abeni's Song
The Abeni's Song series, Book 1
P. Djèlí Clark
Starscape
Fiction, MG Fantasy
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: The twelfth harvest festival of young Abeni's life was supposed to be a great day - her last as a girl in the village, before starting the rites of womanhood. Instead, it became the worst day of her life. First, the wise old woman who lives deep in the forest turned up, the first time anyone could recall her setting foot among the huts, with a dire warning... just before dark clouds gather in the clear sky, and warrior women with flaming eyes and terrible swords attack. Only Abeni and the old woman remain, sole witnesses as the village burns, the adults are taken captive, and a wicked man in a goat horn mask pipes the children away with a terrible, beautiful song.
As deep as her grief runs, Abeni finds an even deeper well of anger and determination to see that the Witch King, he who sent the warriors and the Goat Man and destroyed her people, will pay. But before she can exact vengeance, she has to find her family and friends - and before she can even do that, Abeni discovers that she has much to learn about the world, about people, about the spirits of the land, about the temptations and dangers of magic, and most of all about herself.

REVIEW: I have yet to be disappointed by anything P. Djèlí Clark has written, and this middle-grade fantasy is no exception. Set in a fantastic Africa full of wild beauty and dark dangers and spirits of all shapes and sizes and dispositions, it presents some familiar elements but in pleasantly original ways.
Abeni is a girl eager to grow up and become like her strong, intelligent mother and aunts, even experiencing her first tingles of puppy love for a boy in her village; if she doesn't dream of a bigger future or larger world, it's because everything she needs or wants is right there in her happy forest village, so why would she even imagine another life? The arrival of the old woman, often rumored (in whispers) to be a witch, follows on the heels of a peculiar dream shared by the children of the village, an omen quickly followed by the devastating attack. Abeni tries her best to protect her loved ones, but is too weak, too young, and too overmatched by an enemy she does not understand; whisked away by the old woman (who is, of course, much more than she seems to be, though the term "witch" is scarcely adequate to describe her true nature), she stews in her grief and anger until it becomes a diamond-sharp determination within. But even when her new guardian agrees, finally, to help, Abeni finds she has much to learn and a long way to go, in more than one sense, and even her new mentor cannot protect her from every bump in the road; indeed, all too soon, Abeni finds herself without the protection she came to take for granted, forced to rely on her own incomplete training and some cryptic clues and warnings. She stumbles more than once, and not every obstacle can be easily surmounted, but she learns from her mistakes. In the nature of these sort of stories, she gathers companions in her journey, each with their own personalities, flaws, and strengths, to help her on her way, but she must ultimately earn her own victories. This being the first book in a series, there remain more challenges and adventures ahead before Abeni confronts the ultimate baddie, and she has much more room to grow by the end. It makes for an enjoyable adventure with wonders, perils, and multiple strong women and girls. I'll be watching my library for the next installment.

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