Rating: 4.5

I really loved this book. I loved the characters, especially Asha and Obi. The only complaint that I have is that it got a little bit slow and boring in the middle. I would recommend this book, even if you don't typically read middle grade.

Thank you, Tor Publishing Group and P. Djèlí Clark for giving me the opportunity to read and review this free ARC of Abeni's Song.

This book is the first of an anticipated trilogy of African-inspired middle grade fantasy books. I enjoyed the charming setting (a small African village), the various mortal and spirit characters and the lore/magic system. The plot was one I've read before in many middle grade fantasies (a child has to save the day, with help, when her home is attacked), but the small African village and its customs, the lore/magic and the spirit characters and magical beings gave it a degree of freshness that I appreciated and probably would have loved even more as a child.

I do wish the chapters had been a bit shorter or that there had been more scene breaks throughout the story. The long passages, especially those wherein they were travelling or sitting and talking did slow the pace down more than I preferred, The "action" scenes were well done and I was happy with the resolution even though it is clearly left open for additional adventures. Also, the first half of the book had an excess of exclamatory statements. Either this decreased in the second half or it became less noticeable to me.

During the time I was reading this book, I read some of the author's other works. His Dead Djinn universe is so good and is probably some of my favorite reading this year. It gives me hope that the remainder of the Abeni's Song series will achieve the same level of excellence. 3.5 stars

A beautifully written book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I will be patiently waiting to read more from this author.

I would just like to start by saying that I am not the target audience of this book. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it. Once again, Clark has proved that he is a master of worldbuilding as he was able to sweep me with it's magic, lore, and atmosphere. I did find the characters to be a little one note and the pacing a bit odd as I got bored somewhere in the middle, but I don't think this will be a problem with the target demographic. I did like the friendships among the girls and would love to read more of them in the sequels. The chapters were quite long and I don't know if that's usual for most middle grade books, at least the ones that I've read aren't. And one last nitpick - why were there so many exclamation points in the narration? It took me out of the story sometimes because I found myself counting how many exclamation points were used in one page. Despite these nitpicks though, I still did enjoy the book and would recommend it to my nieces who love to read and middle grade books enjoyers. I just hope the exclamation points get toned down in the final copy, lol.

3.5 stars

Thanks to Starscape and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

As always, P Djèlí Clark weaves a beautiful world with his words. I absolutely found the descriptions to be well done and not over done. I felt like I could visualize the world in this book very easily. I absolutely think a middle grader will find the description from this book very vivid with their imagination.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about this middle grade book is that the cast of characters revolved mostly around females. There was also a wide range of ages which helps to engage numerous demographics. I feel like little girls could absolutely identify and see themselves in this book.

I did find her to be a few pacing issues, and extremely long chapters, which I feel might be hard for some middle graders who typically read by chapter. But that would only hinder a certain group of people and it's not an overall criticism. Just a mention.

The ending of the book did read like this would be a series which could be absolutely fun. It would be nice to revisit this world and see where the adventures take them next.

One of the best YA books I've read this year! Gorgeous writing (as always from P. Djeli Clark), vivid setting, satisfying conclusion. Suitable for YA readers without talking down; a great story for all readers!

After Abeni’s village is attacked she is set on path that leads to adventure.
This story has original world building and magic system. Girl team to save the day.
Over all I liked this book, but there were parts that slowed the story down.
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Thank you Netgalley and Tor/Forge for the ARC in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own

I've already booktalked this book to 5th grade classes, and the interest was high! I found the storyline to be unique and intriguing, and the students were excited to learn of a new series to love.

Abeni's Song is a beautiful story. While the beginning started off a little slow for me, the more you read, the world opens up and sweeps you in. You find yourself getting lost in the story, both wanting to read more and not wanting it to end. I love the incorporation of mythology and folklore in middle grade books, both as a lover of my own cultural folklore and someone who wants to learn more.

My rating falls around 3.5, but I rounded up because some of my concerns are demographic and therefore a me problem.

I loved how unique this world was, and that the author gave just enough information to make it feel real and vibrant without overexplaining everything. The settings and magic in particular felt fresh and exciting, though personally I found the characterization a bit lacking. While I expect simplification in a middle-grade book compared to an adult book, the setting, plot, and spirit world were not simple at all, so I was surprised by how one-dimensional many of the characters felt.

My favourite part of this book was that the main cast and most of the secondary cast were women and girls, covering the whole span of femininity. I think middle grade girls in particular will love this, and there will be someone for all of them to relate to. I could just be uninformed, but I'm not familiar with a ton of MG fantasy books focusing on African girls, so I love that this book is filling that niche, especially from a well-regarded author.

My least favourite part is that Abeni has no agency in the entire first half of the book, and even in the latter half she's often being moved around the plot, rather than moving through it herself. I also have some gripes with how useless the adult characters are, though that tends to be a feature of MG books in general.

I generally enjoy MG books, but I don't think this one will appeal as much to adult readers. I expect that the target demographic will really like it, though, which is the important part. My one qualm from a demographic respect is that the chapters are SO long and don't have many natural breaks. It might be asking a lot of a MG reader to read more than one chapter of this book in a single sitting.

In short, I think that MG readers will like this one, particularly those who are Black, girls, or both. Outside of the target demographic I'm less certain. It's a unique story but not one that I will come back to.

The ending looks like it's going to be leading into a series, which I wasn't expecting (I thought this was a standalone), and personally it did not interest me enough to want to read the hypothetical second book.

Middle grade is a wonderful genre and Abeni's Song is no exception. It is super enjoyable, and while it does deal with some heavier themes, I think it is the perfect book for kids to grow and learn along with Abeni.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing / Starscape for providing an ARC.

This is my first book by this Author, and I was not disappointed.
I enjoyed and had fun with this book. The book reminds me of those moonlight stories I was told when I was little. The Bush Baby chapter brought many childhood memories (we had scary fun with that myth). The characters were all well-written, and I loved them all.
I'm excited for the next book and to see more of Abeni's adventures.

Note to publisher: I will update the netgalley review with the link to my TikTok video once I'm able to film. Thank you!

Actual rating 3.5★

Abeni’s Song is a Middle grade African-inspired Fantasy. We follow Abeni, young girl whose entire village was taken by the mysterious Witch King. Saved by an old woman that her townsfolk call a witch, she begins a reluctant magic apprenticeship and sets out on a mission to save her friends and family.

What I loved most about this book is the setting and the very rich way the world was built. The book is very plot heavy, although not extremely action packed – it felt more quest-like with a steady thrum of a sense of adventure. I quite enjoyed the different places Abeni found herself in and the vivid way Clark illustrated them.

Abeni’s character arc was really lovely to read too. It was a very gradual progression where she grew into herself and learned to to care for more than her own wants. She nicely stepped up into a more responsible role that the plot forced her into. She met a gaggle of girls along the way and it was really lovely to read the friendship that blossomed between them. I do wish the secondary characters were more concretely characterized as I feel like their personalities were very surface level.

This is Clark’s first Middle Grade book and unfortunately it is very telling as there were certain times that it felt a little too mature as well as having certain points in the novel that felt as if it was just a little bit contrived for its middle grade audience. Middle graders would definitely have a lot more trouble following the lengthy prose-heavy novel compared to other middle grade books.

This problem lent itself a little more clearly in terms of structure- for example, chapter length seemed targeted to a more adult audience. It took me close to 5 hours of read time to finish the book and chapter length averaged 20 minutes of read time. I doubt a 10-year-old would enjoy sitting and reading a chapter for that long. Additionally, there was A LOT of exclamation points. If I read the book out loud to a child I’d read it with all the inflection that the exclamation points imparted but I do not think that the abundance of punctuation was necessary to make the book appealing to a middle grade audience.

Overall, I enjoyed the story but I do think there’s quite a bit to improve on for its target audience., The world building, our main character, and the plot intrigues me enough I am excited to find out what happens next. Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Publishing for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Abeni has several different experiences in this fantasy story, all of them dangerous.
Net Galley and Starscape let me read this book for review (thank you). It will be published July 25th.

She has encounters with witches, meets monsters, and wonders if she will survive.

The Witch Priest is dangerous and is looking for her. His song draws all the children from the village. Even the parents are missing.

How Abeni manages to stop him and rescue her friends and parents is a real challenge. Can she do it?

Magical and whimsical, Abeni's Song will be the perfect introduction to West African-inspired mythology and folklore. Abeni is a reluctant magic apprentice and is incredibly easy to root for and love her. Her character develops throughout the book as she starts to come into her own abilities and befriend the spirits. She is a complex and multi-dimensional character which I really appreciated. I especially love when middle grade novels are not afraid to tackle or reference serious or deep concepts. This book manages to do just that in an easily digestible way. Additionally, the friendships in this book are really great.

Abeni’s Song follows its main character, Abeni, as she embraces her role as the hero. It opens on Abeni’s birthday and her village’s harvest festival; this quickly turns to a day of fear and sadness as monster women and a goat man storm the village and take away all of the adults and children - except for Abeni who is taken by the village witch, and thus begins the journey. Overall, this book was enjoyable, although it does deal with heavy themes and subjects. Abeni learns and grows; she encounters many challenging situations, and she gathers a wonderful group of friends throughout this adventure. I did find it slow at times, but overall it was a good setup for a series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5 stars

I don’t often read middle grade, but I will happily read anything P. Djèlí Clark writes and this did not disappoint.

This middle grade adventure story takes place in a world steeped in West-African culture and history. Abeni is a fun protagonist to follow and I loved the creatures she encountered and the friends she made along the way, especially Nyomi. I also love the theming around home and bravery and the way Clark wove in acceptance of disabilities.

Two things that might not work for some middle grade readers are the slow start and the lack of dialogue. This book starts with a bang but then slows as Abeni deals with losing her village and doesn’t really pick up until the back half. This book is also more prose heavy than I have come to expect from middle grade. I personally didn’t mind the ratio of description to dialogue but it could slow the book down for some middle grade readers.

That being said, I really enjoyed this and look forward to seeing where Abeni’s adventure takes her next.

3.5 stars. I loved Clark’s A Master of Djinn so I was all set to read anything else by him. While I understand that I’m not the targeted audience of this book, I did have a few issues with it. However, overall I enjoyed it. The characters and their relationships were great! Even though they were reluctant or scared or angry, they had each other’s back. There are so many strong female characters and I’m sure young girls could relate to Abeni and her friends. Abeni goes through a lot in this book, and while I felt she recovered fairly quick, I can understand not dwelling on her grief in a middle grade book; the focus is much more on her adventures. Everyone, including me, was shocked that this little girl was going to take on the powerful Witch King. It seemed impossible, but Abeni is determined to get her friends and family back.

The world is an interesting one, with spirits, huge flying bats, and bush babies. Clark’s descriptions made it very easy to imagine all these fantastical creatures. I loved Tutuo and Moshi! Although, I was a little confused why the girls ended up in the Valley of Lost Things, it was a fun section of the book.

My biggest issue with this book was the pacing. There were parts that were just so slow and even though this book is relatively short, it felt long because of this.

***Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this book. All opinions expressed within are my own***

Overall I liked this, and I loved Abeni as a character. My only critiques would be some typos broke up the flow in the first half and that the pacing was a little slow

3.5 Stars. Long stretches of this had a meandering feel, the pacing did pick up whenever Abeni had a mission to work towards. The writing style also kind of added to the slowness, it’s quite dense, minimal dialogue which I’m not sure will be a fit for some of the middle-grade readers who are actually middle-grade age, it’s a test of patience at times.

I wanted more emotion from this one, there’s a bit there early on when Abeni receives a huge blow to her life, and every now and again those emotions crop back up again, but it truly is a huge blow this girl experiences and I just don’t think something of that magnitude or her loneliness afterwards was felt quite keenly enough.

So far it sounds like I borderline hated this one, I didn’t, and that was due in large part to the wonderful cast of girls and the friendships they formed as the story slowly rolled along, their interactions were humorous and heartfelt, I loved that even though they bicker they have each other’s backs, if anything compels me to continue this series, it will be because of the girls and their distinct personalities.


I received an ARC through a giveaway and Netgalley, this did not affect my review.