This book surprised me with how much I enjoyed it and how much it challenged previous notions. I also loved the way that Brown explored the mythology without making the main character a child of a god as well as how the team came together. I already planned to pick up the sequel but Brown made that action urgent with the plot explosion leading to the cliffhanger ending.

Serwa Boateng's Guide to Vampire Hunting is one of my favorite reads of the year! I absolutely adored Serwa and her personal character journey (and how brilliantly done it is). The friendships she forms with her classmates are wonderfully built up, and the action scenes are fast-paced and tense. Can't wait to gift this book to young readers. Very excited for book 2!

I've liked all of the Rick Riordan Presents books so far, but I really like this one. Can't wait for the sequel!
Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide for the ARC!

An absolute delight of a book and not only a personal favourite genre but soon to become, I know, a student favourite. Purchased one copy for my school with the intent to purchase more as demand will require.

Might this be my favorite RR presents of all time? Close tie with Aru and Tristan! Serwa is so funny and I just loved learning the lore of this story.

I really enjoy these Rick Riordan presents! This was such a good introduction to myths of other cultures and also really enjoyed how the vampires were portrayed so different than anything I'd read before!

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

Loved this book! It was filled with cool mythology, an awesome magic system, and a pretty incredible cast of characters!

When I saw that this book was apart of the Rick Riordan Presents collection, I knew I needed to get my hands on this book! Combining middle school and vampire hunting is just so much fun! I also love the mix of Ghanan folklore as I'm not too familiar with it. The pacing was both slow and fast at different parts but overall, Serwa is an enjoyable seventh grade character and it was fun book to read! Middle age readers will love diving into this world!

This book is Mean Girls meets Buffy, and if that doesn’t sound fantastic to you, I don’t know what universe you’re living in. More than that, this book explores Ghanaian mythology, which I know little about. It does a fantastic job providing a gateway into a new culture for children and young adults (and not-so-young-adults), and it was refreshing to get a peak behind the curtain of a world I’m completely unfamiliar with. At no point did I know what sort of gods or creatures would show up next, and there’s something truly exciting about experiencing the unknown like that.

One of my favorite characteristics of Serwa herself is that she’s flawed. She makes a lot of mistakes, but she’s aware of them. She knows how to apologize, even if it’s tough. She can put aside differences of opinion in order to see the bigger picture, and witnessing her become a leader in her own right is satisfying to see. Her first move isn’t always the right one, but she’s more than willing to adapt as she goes along. This is most apparent when it comes to the friends she makes at school.

In fact, each character in the book (especially amongst her friend group) is unique and complex, and I loved getting to know them and unraveling the mystery of who they are. Every single one contains multitudes, and Roseanne A. Brown has an uncanny ability to peel back those layers at the most opportune times.

The most important part of this book, however, is the fact that Brown doesn’t sweep anything under the rug when it comes to the racism Serwa faces while at school. The author addresses everything from microaggressions to flat out discrimination against the students of color. There’s a lot of nuance here, and it truly is amazing how Brown seamlessly incorporates these moments into the plot of the story and doesn’t pull any punches along the way. It must be difficult to decide how much to rock the boat, as that could have very real consequences, but Brown doesn’t flinch as she writes about these very real and lived experiences.

The mythology in this book is rich and vibrant, equal parts terrifying and fascinating. There's some great references not only to other pantheons, but other books from Rick Riordan Presents as well. This was another excellent addition to the imprint, and the ending sets us up for a very exciting sequel. I can't wait to read it!

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I was biting my nails reading it. Which is silly now because Roseanne A Brown does not disappoint. Seriously, a book with fireflies being shapeshifting vampires will be my favorite end of summer read.

Although slow paced at times, this book is an excellent addition to the Rick Riordan presents collection with a compelling lead character, honest discussions about real-world issues, and a great school story smack in the middle! Something for everyone and I think middle schoolers will eat it up.

Serwa is a 12 year-old girl who lives with her parents; they moved to America for their work when Serwa was 5, and her memories of Ghana, where she was born, are somewhat sparse. She sounds pretty normal, right? But she's not - her parents' job is to hunt down and destroy adze, vampires from one section of Ghanaian mythology, along with other beasts from the related body of Ghanaian myth created by multiple tribes that live within the area. Serwa has been training all of her life to be just like her parents, and she has gone with them on all of their quests - but this one is different, and instead of taking Serwa with them, they leave her with her aunt and cousin, and Serwa, who has always been homeschooled, has to join her cousin in *gasp* middle school.

Thus begins Serwa Boateng's Guide to Vampire Hunting. Away from her parents for the first time in her life, in a strange place, with people she doesn't know, Serwa discovers an adze hunting in her middle school, and she knows she can't take it out by herself. But the first, most important rule of magic is to never reveal it to non-magical folk, so where will she get the help she needs?

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, which left an opening for a sequel in the epilogue - a sequel I hope is quick in coming.

I love the Rick Riordan Presents publications. Serwa Boateng's story brings us mythology from Ghana. I haven't heard many stories from that area of the world so I was enthralled with learning new mythology. The book was fantastic. I loved the setting up of the new group of friends. The story will work really well for a small group novel study in the classroom. I like bringing in characters that my students can relate to. I look forward to seeing how the next book in the series continues the storyline.

From my blog post: From the very beginning of this book, I knew that I would live for Serwa. Homegirl is ridiculously funny, knowledgeable and kicks serious tail (mostly vampire)! Who wouldn’t love a main character, especially one that is a Black Girl, who serves snark & humor with a side of superhero energy and mythology lessons?! I will sign up for that each and every time with bells on. I know so many kids will see themselves in Serwa; the ones who have moved & had to find their way in new surroundings, had their names mispronounced no matter how many times they correct the offender, is a child of immigrants and fights to show their worth when they are doubted. I can’t wait to see what Serwa gets into in the next book!

Thank you to Rick Riordan Presents and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Twelve-year-old Serwa doesn’t go to traditional school. Since emigrating from Ghana as a toddler, her parents have home-schooled her. That is because her parents are Vampire Slayers, a secret society of Ghanaian mystics keeping the world safe from adzes (shape-shifting vampires). Serwa has been training to follow in her parents’ footsteps when their safe house is attacked by a witch. Serwa’s parents have been given permission to go after the witch and Serwa is excited for another adventure. Unfortunately, it is not the adventure she was hoping for – Serwa is “dumped” with cousins in Maryland that she’s never met, and, horrors, she must attend seventh grade in the local middle school! But just as Serwa is settling into normalcy, she discovers that there is an adze in her school! Her cousin and new friends agree to get slayer training to help defeat the adze, but something doesn’t feel quite right and will change everything Serwa thinks she knows.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, perhaps more so the Tristan Strong series. There are definite similarities as they are both derived from similar cultures. The book finishes on a cliffhanger and the sequel is expected early in 2023. Many people don’t read the author’s note at the end but I found it very interesting. There is also a glossary with pronunciations and an Adrinka guide. I would definitely recommend for grade 5 and up.
#SerwaBoateng’sGuideToVampireHunting #RickRiordanPresents #NetGalley

Thank you to the publisher for providing an eARC from NetGalley for an honest review

CWs: violence, minor injuries/injury detail, racism

I liked this one a lot. I thought it was a really great middle grade fantasy, and it set up the series really well. The story in this one wrapped up, but there were underlying questions that were partially answered in the end which set up for the next book. I’m intrigued to see where the author goes with this series.
Serwa was a fantastic character. She was strong, brave, and funny. I think readers will be able to relate to her, and I think that they’ll enjoy her voice in this story. Serwa thinks she knows who she is, but when she goes to middle school she begins to question things. She makes friends and they share some adventures together, and it was really good to see the group come together. I liked the different dynamics that the characters brought into the friend group. I liked Serwa’s internal thoughts of where she fits in as an immigrant and a Black girl in America. I also really liked Serwa the Slayer.
The adze (Ghanaian vampires) were really interesting! The author described them really well and I was able to feel like I was with the characters as they were fighting and hunting the vampire. I liked the magic systems as well, and the gods and goddesses were really interesting.
This was a really fun middle grade mythological fantasy and Serwa was a great character. Her voice was funny and authentic, and she really felt like a 12 year old. I think younger readers are going to devour this story.

This is a great adition to the world of middle grade fantasy.

A mix of Black, Brown and Asian kids trying to save their school from a vampire? A+

A type of magic that I at least haven’t seen in the age bracket? A+

A book that brings up the fact that the school is built on land that was worked by slaves. Where slaves were victim to the whims of inhumane people? A+++. And if you don’t like that last part, if it makes you uncomfortable, that’s on you to deal with because it’s important.

Where I live they keep finding African American and slave graves that were supposed to be moved before the areas were built over but guess what? No one cared to actually do it and instead they built school over them. So that part hit me the hardest. Because it’s real and the best fiction has a bit of reality in it.

Add in a white teacher who thinks she’s above treating Black and Brown kids with respect? Yeah, I’ve had that too and so have a lot of other kids. Seeing someone deal with it, who isn’t broken, who has people she can rely on? Who cries about it and is still strong?

That’s so important for kids to see. Resiliency in the face of unwarranted adversity. Kids need to see people like them going through things they went through and succeeding because it’s isolating to be targeted and no one have your back.

This book was amazing. The author has a solid young voice in it and I could easily picture Serwa and her friends having their fights, sleepover, the ridiculous dog (will not be spoiling but please, kids, when going on magical adventures, leave your dogs at home as best you can).

Serwa’s got some awesome Slayer skills but she’s still young so when her family’s safe home, and her home is attacked by adze, Ghanaian vampires that are actually scary compared to western vampires, her entire world is rocked. They run and she’s left with her aunt and cousin while her parents go on a difficult and dangerous mission.

Only the place they left her isn’t as magicless and safe as they’d thought and soon Serwa not only has school to deal with but an adze that’s roaming the school. So what does she do? Recruit the kids she’s in detention with for starting a food fight (it’s a whole thing you gotta read it).

As Serwa investigates the fact there may be a monster here, she makes friends. And that’s new for her. It’s scary, she tells herself it’s temporary but we all know how that goes.

The history of the land was important, the fact it was land that had seen the suffering of slaves. It was important to the character and the story as a whole. And that was fantastic because it’s, like I said earlier, real. I loved it.

When it comes to her relationship with her family, I loved it. Supportive parents are always a plus. And she has both of them. A lot of the time in fantasy the hero is either an orphan or missing a parent. Here, she’s got both, an aunt, uncle, and cousin. Love it.

Every character has a distinct voice making them feel real and when it came to pacing, it was great. I was never bored or felt like I was being pushed along and missing things.

The ending was a bit fast but it made sense. I couldn’t put it down. I will be buying this as a gift for my younger sibling and heck, maybe myself. I want every book that comes after.

I give this a five (5) out of five (5).

I received this eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What an amazing group of unlikely friends! Serwa believing that it's the end of the world when she was left behind in Rocky George and having to navigate middle school are spot on feelings for that age. Even after finding out there is adze in what is supposed to be a magicless town, she's ready to catch it and show her parents that she can help with the hunt. Serwa was a great character who at 12 years old was just trying to navigate between the how she grew up and her present situation as her worlds collide. Finding out your parents aren't perfect and don't always make the best choices; teachers who will blame you for things even when you try to do everything right and trying to fight a magical creature with a group who knows nothing about fighting is a lot to handle. I enjoyed the slow developing friendships with Roxy, Gavin, Mateo and Eunju and the mentorship Mr. Riley offered to them. This is an awesome book that should be in every middle school classroom!
Thanks, NetGalley!

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC!

I LOVED this book and need the sequel IMMEDIATELY. Not only was this book was so much fun and so adorable, but there were many important lessons and insights, especially for young readers. I could gush incoherently about this book for awhile, but I'll spare you. Add to your TBR because this book is a delight for readers of all ages!

I was honored to be accepted to review this book early, and I was ready to love this book because it was vampire hunting, And I wanted to read this book because I thought it would be non-stop vampire slayings, but there wasn't. That is why I didn't give this book 5 stars, but I gave it 4 stars because it was just the right amount of humor, family and sci-fi goodness.