“Okoye to the People” is a novel by Ibi Zoboi, a National Book Award finalist and New York Times best-selling author. The book is part of the Black Panther series and tells the story of Okoye, a Dora Milaje warrior and protector of Wakandan King T’Chaka. In this novel, Okoye goes on a special diplomatic and humanitarian assignment to New York with King T’Chaka and Capt. Aneka. While there, she meets councilwoman Lucinda Tate, who represents Brownsville, a district of Brooklyn whose population is primarily poor people of color. Tate warns her about Stella Adams, a wealthy real estate mogul and leader of an organization called No Nation Left Behind. Infested with a drug called PyroBliss that is imported by Adams and NNLB, the Brownsville community is under constant assault after users take the drug and set fires that burn the community down, and gentrification pushes residents out.

After watching the second Black Panther movie I was in the mood to stay within the world where Wakanda exists. I listened to this audiobook performed by Bahni Turpin who is always excellent. (I also listened to You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty by her) So I was set up to really really enjoy this book. It felt like it was for a younger audience than teens in my opinion and it seemed like they had a strict storyline that they had Zoboi write around instead of allowing her to come up with a storyline that would have made more sense.

Overall this was good and I would recommend it to my younger teens but I was disappointed.

One of the best YA female writers of color tackles one of the best Marvel heroines of color! It's interesting to delve into Okoye's history that helps lovers of the Marvel comic books and movies about Black Panther learn more about how she became the leader of the Dora Milaje and close protector of the King of Wakanda. It exudes such positivity on women in positions of power who are trying to make a difference in their communities and their worlds.

I enjoyed this one. Marvel characters are some of my favorites and the Dora Milaje in particular are some of the most badass ladies ever.

Okoye is a new recruit for T'Chaka's royal guard: the Dora Milaje. Known for their loyalty and warrior abilities, the Dora are respected and revered in Okoye's home country of Wakanda. But when Okoye is sent on her very first mission—to America—she'll learn that her status as a Dora means nothing to New Yorkers and her expectations for the world outside of her own quickly fall apart. Chosen to accompany King T'Chaka on a humanitarian mission, Okoye finds herself trying to help teens dealing with addiction and gentrification in a forgotten neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Okoye to the People is an easy to read and enjoy novel that is filled with both action and powerful themes of gentrification, community displacement, and drug dependence in a small black community. Brownsville is just one (fictionalized) example of the current state of POC communities around the world. As said in the book "gentrification is the new colonization." Despite the heavy topics, there is plenty of action and it gives Marvel fans a new view of one of the most popular Black Panther characters.

Okoye to the People gets off to a very slow start. A young Okoye is sent on a diplomatic mission to New York City with the king and her captain. While there, she gets involved in a mystery surrounding Brownsville, where fires are being set by teenagers and no one is doing anything. This book took me a very long time to get into, and I had lots of questions about Pyrobliss, a mysterious drug, because it was very convoluted until three quarters of the way through.

I thought I would really love this book as a Black Panther fan; I've loved the Shuri novel and the Black Panther comics. However, something about this book just didn't resonate the same way with me. I don't know if it was the storyline or Okoye's character, which felt different than the Okoye that I know from the other stories. However, I can see this being a big hit with many other tweens and teens. I still would highly recommend for library and classroom purchase.

Okoye has been picked to travel with King T’Chaka and her captain Aneka to New York City where the king is being hosted by a humanitarian group called No Nation Left Behind (NNLB). Okoye feels very out of place in NYC and feels something is off with Stella, the woman hosting them. After visiting a rundown part of Brooklyn called Brownsville. There they meet a woman trying to open a community center and find out that there is a new drug in the area, one that starts fires. Okoye insists that they do something, but there isn’t much they can do without showing the truth behind Wakanda. This was a fun read, it was great seeing Okoye coming finding her voice, without risking her position. She found that balance of helping others, while still serving and protecting her King. Some of the dialogue was stilted, but it showed the difference between how each of the different cultures we meet communicate within their own communities and with others.

Unfortunately this one is a no for me. I really loved the first part of Okoye and being back in Wakanda, meeting Okoye as a teenager, however, when the plot fell for me with the reveal of the "drug" and I couldn't get myself to keep reading. I did think the voice of Okoye was engaging and resonates with the reader that I think kids will enjoy.

I really liked this book! I have been enjoying all of the Marvel spin off novels and this might be my favourite yet! I really like having Okoye's perspective and honestly what a great characters!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

Didn't capture my attention and engagement. Interested in trying it again though and hopefully it will take.

This novel is the story of Okoye, a member of the Dora Milaje, the female warriors of Wakanda. If you're looking for a story featuring Black Panther, this is not it - but if you're looking for a story featuring a strong female teenager, then you've come to the right place.

Okoye has recently completed her formal training as a Dora Milaje, and to extend her training to environments outside Wakanda, she is included as a bodyguard for King T'Chaka on a trip to New York to discuss humanitarian aid. Approached by a council member to help find funding for a community center, Okoye finds herself embroiled in a drug ring being used by a real estate developer to help destroy a neighborhood, so it can be gentrified, with significant benefit to the developer. Recognizing this injustice, Okoye works, first alone, and then with the support of her captain and her king, to overthrow the developer, who wants, ultimately, to extend control from one small neighborhood of New York City into the wider city, and from there, the world - including Wakanda.

This novel was not what I was expecting; I was expecting a somewhat trite story set in the Marvel universe. Instead, this is a story of social justice, of members of a community working together to save their community from outside forces that would gentrify it and take it over for themselves, with a little bit of help from a Dora Malaje who wants to learn about the world outside her country. Overall, it was very good, although I feel as if the ending were just a little rushed, as if the author was given a length and had to squeeze the finale into the space available.

I am providing this review in return for being given a preview copy of the novel by NetGalley.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this advance listener copy and advance reader copy.

Description from NetGalley:
Before she became a multifaceted warrior and the confident leader of the Dora Milaje, Okoye was adjusting to her new life and attempting to find her place in Wakanda’s royal guard. Initially excited to receive an assignment for her very first mission and trip outside Wakanda, Okoye discovers that her status as a Dora Milaje means nothing to New Yorkers.
When she meets teenagers not much younger than herself struggling with the gentrification of their beloved Brooklyn neighborhood, her expectations for the world outside her own quickly fall apart. As she gets to know the young people of Brownsville, Okoye uncovers the truth about the plans of a manipulative real-estate mogul pulling all the strings—and how far-reaching those secret plans really are.
Caught between fulfilling her duty to her country and listening to her own heart urging her to stand up for Brownsville, Okoye must determine the type of Dora Milaje—and woman—she wants to be.
Okoye is one of my favorite characters from the MCU. So a book about her and the Dora Milaje? Sign me up. The narration was fantastic at bringing the characters to life. The book felt very true to what I know about Okoye and the Dora Milaje (to be honest that might be not as in depth as I would want to be overall since I have only seen the movies). The story is straight forward, which is what I would expect of this age group. Just like with the recent middle grade Black Panther books, they bring Okoye to the US and definitely bring that personal conflict into play.
I would recommend this book for any middle grade/YA reader that is into the Marvel universe, particularly fans of Black Panther.
Overall: 3.5/5

I am SO excited for this novel to hit shelves. Okoye has been one of my favorite characters in the Marvel Universe; played by actress Danai Gurira, who also plays Michonne, one of my favorite characters from The Walking Dead. Now that I've got my fangirling out of the way, let's get to it.


Many readers and MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe!) fans have come to know Okoye over the last several years, thanks to her role in the Black Panther and Avengers movies. She's a Wakandan general and member of the Dora Milaje, the elite, all-female, group of warriors that protect the King of Wakanda and serve as the country's special forces. Okoye to the People begins when Okoye is a new member of the Dora Milaje, chosen for her first assignment: join Captain Aneke and King T'Chaka (father of T'Challa, the Black Panther from the MCU and comics) on a trip to New York to meet with the head of a nonprofit organization, No Neighborhood Left Behind. Arriving in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Okoye realizes that Wakanda means nothing to New Yorkers, but she also sees gentrification all around her and a group of people struggling to keep their way of life. Drawn to a group of teens in Brownsville, she learns that No Neighborhood Left Behind isn't everything the head of the organization claims it is, and that her secret plans for Brownville could extend to Wakanda, if left unchecked.


Ibi Zoboi brilliantly writes about problems faced in communities of color within the scope of a Marvel Black Panther novel: gentrification and the history of colonization; race; economics, and the African Diaspora. Her characters are real; they reach out from the page and demand to be seen and heard, and the action is incredible, entwined with sinister intrigue thanks to an all-too familiar storyline about an organization whose good intentions are skin-deep. Ibi Zoboi's existing body of work, the popularity of Black Panther and the MCU, and the novel's empowered teens and strong female characters make this a do not miss.

I liked this book, but I definitely need to stay away from these middle/YA books because it’s too straightforward for me to keep interested. This definitely falls between middle reader and YA. You have a level of complexity that goes into the world, while still having things be direct enough to comprehend it easily.

However, the characters were great. I loved going back to Wakanda and seeing a Marvel story that wasn’t about the obvious superheroes. I also liked that it took her out of Wakanda and into the city because it forced her and those who read it to look at things from a new perspective.

It’s definitely perfect for younger readers and is great in terms of representation. It’s a good read, just not my thing!

A young Okoye in New York City! On her first trip to America, Okoye must come to terms with hiding who she is and wanting to use her Dora Milaje skills to help those in need. Being in New York allows her eyes to be opened to the hardships that exist beyond Wakanda's borders. This is a great story about how much power young people have, but can feel voiceless and go in the wrong direction if not guided or given support by positive influences.

What I liked most about this book was the return to 'true' YA- our readers who are aging out of J and into YA, or readers who are needing to move up their reading level will enjoy this one. I'm certainly not complaining, but most YA these days feels like it was written more for new adults than fourteen-year-old readers- this book is perfect for that demographic. Well-paced and written in a simple style.

I'm not a comic book person and don't follow the movies that tend to go along with them either, but this book has a strong female character that will appeal to many. The book deals with gentrification and teens struggling to find their place to fit in. These are topics most teens would relate to. Okoye struggles to determine what kind of woman she will become and where she fits in with Wakanda's royal guard. A definite read for Black Panther fans!

I loved this book. Okoye is one of my favorite characters from Black Panther and is 100% deserving of books that tell her story. Stories/books like these, ones that capture fans of comics/graphic novels, are important as they help to introduce novels to (often times) reluctant readers. I will definitely be buying this title for my high school library.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

This is Okoye's story. From the beginning of her Dora Milaje training to the present. A fascinating read. I hope she gets her own movie or Disney+ show.

Awesome read authors. Can't wait for the next installment.