Sankofa Review

I was provided Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzoas an ARC through NetGalley in return for an honest review. All opinions are my own and thanks is extended to the author, publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to do so.

Anna grew up in England with her white mother and knowing very little about her African father. In middle age, after separating from her husband and with her daughter all grown up, she finds herself alone and wondering who she really is. Her mother’s death leads her to find her father’s student diaries, chronicling his involvement in radical politics in 1970s London. She discovers that he eventually became the president – some would say the dictator – of Bamana in West Africa. And he is still alive. She decides to track him down and so begins a funny, painful, fascinating journey, and an exploration of race, identity and what we pass on to our children.

This is the first book that I have read by Chibundu Onuzoas and I was not disappointed with this humorous and surprising story that had me gripped from the outset. The narrative that follows a middle-aged woman looking for her father and hoping to find her own purpose along the way is enthralling and interwoven with elements of protagonist Anna’s life who is a well written and fascinating character. One negative I have about characterisation is that there are some characters in the story that felt like they could bring something to the storyline in some way but they just kind of faded or fell flat for me.

However, this took nothing away from this refreshing novel about what it is like to be mixed race and to only know one part of your identity. I will definitely be looking out for more work by this author. 4 stars.

Sankofa: Born Equal Only (Book One) Review

I received Sankofa by Ben Tekle Mel as an ARC through NetGalley and I am so glad that I did, so thanks are extended to the author, the publishers and to NetGalley also for allowing me to review this book.

Before I continue let me first say this book contains misogyny, sexual violence and abuse, extreme war and violence with high body counts and an absolutely soul-destroying cliff-hanger ending, but even with all this I absolutely loved it. It is important to say that I was intrigued by the blurb but in my opinion that did not do the book justice.

Sankofa: Born Equal Only is an Afrofuturism adventure that takes on gender injustice from the perspective of rival fraternal twins, Toomi and Ras, born to be the Guardians of Maat, the first Queen to rise to the throne in the kingdom of Axindar in a post-apocalyptic medieval Africa, where the future of our technology shapes the past of our time.

This book is definitely not for the faint hearted or those that get upset easily.  It has a clear underscore of the representation of atrocities carried out in the name of warfare throughout Africa and the rest of the world and creatively and vividly prehends the mistreatment and injustice suffered by so many people throughout history and in the present. There are also elements of gender domination and violence culture that are disturbing to read but also very significant in current times.

One of the things that stood out for me whilst reading this novel was that it is not like other fantasy novels but more like you are listening to an elder telling the tale through spoken word and I loved that aspect.

Another thing that stood out for me was how well the author had constructed the world and getting that other to the reader it really allowed me to jump inside the story and imagine the world for myself and I genuinely think that anyone who reads it could imagine their own little world and still get the same qualities out of the novel. It was a fantastic mix of fantasy and magical, historical, and science fiction.

Overall, this novel impressed me a lot more than I expected. As someone who has majored in English Literature and History, I appreciate the historical aspects explored in the novel such as on slavery, on sexual violence against those deemed worthless. The writer is able to pull on periods of dark history throughout time and really use that to his advantage in this work.

There is definitely a market for this book especially for those that like their reading on the darker side of the spectrum but I would highly recommend for anyone who wanted to try something or new in genre or a new series. This a 4 star read for sure and I cannot wait to read Book Two.