Akata Witch

What’s most refreshing about Akata Witch is that they aren’t archetypes at all and the magic that they use and come from originated in West African myth. The magical elements are super interesting, an artist wasp that creates sculptures out of crumbs and will sting if you don’t compliment his skill, a juju powered bus called the funky train juju knives that are kind of like wands and creepy spirits called masquerades. This gave me a whole new world to dive into, separate from Harry Potter or Percy Jackson or any other popular fantasy here in America. Though the world building and the culture were new, there were a few plot similarities to Harry Potter such as the secret school and the hidden market where the knife chooses the witch. 

I can say as I get older, YA drifts a little bit further from my top choices; only in that in Akata Witch there was a lot of bickering between the characters and they didn’t seem to be as well rounded as I would’ve liked. They lacked emotion in some serious situations and they played tricks that seemed a little below their age range (some of the characters were the bullies so I suppose that’s a little different).