"The postapocalyptic Saharan landscape is striking; technology, magic, and awe-inspiring nature all weave together in the background of this vivid adventure centered on the coming-of-age theme that is a hallmark of Okorafor's work. The characters, meanwhile, are
expertly realized... a mind-blowing expedition into a not too distant future world." –
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"
Shadow Speaker is
wonderful, highly original stuff, episode after amazing episode, full of color, life and death.... Nnedi also deals head-on with the fact that power and pain are closely linked, as are magic and blood. I think this book is
marvelous." –Diana Wynne Jones, author of
Howl's Moving Castle and the Chronicles of Chrestomanci
"There's more vivid imagination in a page of Nnedi Okorafor's work than in whole volumes of ordinary fantasy epics." –Ursula K. Le Guin, author of
The Left Hand of Darkness "
Shadow Speaker is
endlessly imaginative, full of mystery and delight on every page. Nnedi Okorafor is a voice that will delight readers of all ages and backgrounds." –Tananarive Due, American Book Award-winning author of
Joplin's Ghost "As
wildly inventive and suspenseful as her first novel, [
Shadow Speaker] is at the same time more
ambitious and thematically complex, and represents a major step forward for a storyteller who, in the tradition of Octavia Butler and Nalo Hopkinson, is equally adept at combining that most contemporary of forms, science fiction, with the ancient beliefs and values of non-western cultures that have for too long been underrepresented in modern fantastic literature." –Gary Wolfe, lead reviewer for
Locus Magazine "Crafted around complex themes of identity, morality, and empowerment, this bildungsroman, originally published in 2008,
will appeal to young adult and adult readers alike with its highly original and imaginative Africanfuturism elements." –
Booklist
