I selected this book based on the publisher’s blurb which likened it to The Girl with the Louding Voice and The Water Dancer. Unfortunately, I enjoyed those two novels much better than this one. In fairness, it is a solid offering, steeped in the growing pangs of childhood angst (sibling rivalry, social acceptance, etc), family obligations, love and loss – all with a touch of magical realism inspired by Nigerian folklore and myth. Many might say it holds its place amongst the two novels heralded in the promotion material. However, each book stands alone and in an effort not to compare, this one just didn’t “wow” me and I closed the book a bit disappointed as I wanted it to be true to the title.

It centers on two teen girls from two different walks of life and the strange and ethereal circumstances that merge their worlds. Ozoemena becomes an unwilling Famous First of her kind in her family and grapples with the responsibility that it entails almost by trial and error. Treasure, mourns the loss of her father, dabbles with a demanding and manipulative spirit who promises the desires of her heart - the reunification of her beloved (but deceased) father.

This is a personal issue, but I struggled with Treasure’s “voice,” which was written in Nigerian patois. Some passages, phrases, and words were difficult for me to comprehend, so I relied heavily on deduction via context. And because of this, the cadence was disruptive; overall, it was not enjoyable to me from the beginning and didn’t get better or easier as the novel progressed. It didn’t take long to realize that I dreaded whenever the story shifted to her plotline (which in essence, is half the book) and skimmed through those sections (as it could be quite wordy). I wanted to appreciate this aspect of the novel and the character; however, it was more of an impediment than an attribute, in my opinion.

The story itself is fine - the author has twists and turns to avoid any assumptions of predictability. I’m sure some will become endeared to the girls; I did not. No doubt, those who don’t share my forementioned struggles may find it to be a good read of teens grappling with the challenges entering adulthood: wanting to be loved and liked, the realities of sexism in a patriarchal society, trying to comprehend the world and their place in it, making life-changing choices and dealing with the consequences, etc. Continued success and warm wishes to the author.

Thanks to the publisher, Abrams, The Overlook Press, and NetGalley for an opportunity to review.

Thanks to the publishers at ABRAMS for the chance to read Dazzling by Chikodili Emelumadu.

Two girls, Ozoemena and Treasure, are both enveloped in otherworldly magic for different reasons. Ozoemena is the latest in a long line of leopards (as in literally turn into a leopard to grisly consequences), and the first female in her family to do so. Treasure on the other hand grieves her late father, and get into a proverbial devil’s bargain (but literally with another spirit trying to marry her) for his soul. The story is told through their perspectives and connects these two in the climax of the novel, even if they seem like disparate narratives.

I struggled getting through some parts of the book because of my lack of familiarity with Igbo, pidgin, and other ways Nigerians speak, but to me, that’s a huge strength of the book. It’s uncompromising in both its horror and centering of Igbo culture, which makes it stand out from many other author’s debut novels.

I do wish I was able to get more insight into the different systems of magic, especially with the origin of the Bone Woman and her power. There is a chapter on the myth of creation of Okpoko, but I’d have love to see how that ties more intimately with the lives of the protagonists and their respective conflicts.

Overall, I’m excited for this book to find itself in the hands of other folks of Nigerian descent, and eager to hear what they have to say.

I thought this was a good book! I loved how everything tied itself together at the end. One of my favorite fantasy novels I've read in a long time.

Technically, this story begins with a brief prologue, a man who has likely been a slave, possibly a criminal, arrives in a town by a river. The goddess Idemili watches over him.

’On the day Ozoemena’s uncle Odiogo died, she developed an itch in the middle of her back that no amount of scratching could ease. She did not tell anyone. Ozoemena, at eight, was a girl who had learned to read a room and provide exactly what it needed; and in that moment, the room needed her silence. Her uncle had just been delivered to their house, shot multiple times by armed robbers.’
This is how the story begins, and whatever the life that Ozoemena had hoped for changes drastically, again, soon after.

The physical setting for this story is primarily in a boarding school in Nigeria, a place and time where these two young girls, Treasure and Ozoemena, are on the edge of becoming young women, forge a friendship over their tragedies that others would not relate to.

Treasure’s father has died, and without a man to protect her mother they lose virtually everything to other family members. When a spirit offers her a way for her father to return as well as goods to keep their family afloat, she agrees to help find this spirit ’wives’.

When Ozoemena’s uncle is murdered, a man whose spirit was a leopard, she inherits his ‘identity’ as this spirit needs a new body to inhabit.

A strange, often dark, and often disturbing, story that is heavily infused with magical realism. It is a beautifully written story, but it is a story which will not appeal to all.


Pub Date: 05 Dec 2023

Many thanks for the ARC provided by ABRAMS / The Overlook Press

The book is very well written and I enjoyed it. I think the author did an amazing job with the story telling.
However, I do think the story itself wasn’t for me as I had a hard time following.

Overall I’d say it is about 3.7 out of 5

This was one trip of a book!

Emelumadu has an excellent writing style. I thoroughly enjoyed her descriptions of things - I feel that she often used similes and metaphors that were unique but really apt.

I did have a bit of a hard time getting into Treasure's POV, but once I did I was pretty invested.

I picked up a lot as I went, but I think including a glossary for some of the common Nigerian words + colloquialisms would be helpful. I got a good portion of them, but that would help future readers.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Headline Books for this copy to review

This is an amazing debut! I loved that it was steeped in Nigerian mythology that goes beyond the Orishas. The writing is incredibly beautiful with two distinct yet warm narrators - Ozoemena and Treasure. The weaving of magic into the realities and struggle of daily life was well done. I might be biased because I am Nigerian but I really loved this one.

This was bit of a struggle to get through because the dual POV and dual timelines never left me enough time to invest in the two main characters.

The stories are told beautifully and the way they come together at the end is really nice.

Magical realism plays a heavy part in this story and the author did a great rooting it in Nigerian folklore.

A book worthy of its title, Dazzling is two young Nigerian girls' magnificent, visceral descent into wildness.

Steeped into Nigerian myth and folklore, this novel captivated me from the start and didn't let go of my attention until the very end. The voice of Ozoemena and Treasure, the two main narrators, were so deftly captured I could hardly believe this was a debut novel. Treasure, with her wonderfully rendered Nigerian English and her stubborn will to get her due, absolutely stole my heart despite the spiral of wrongdoing she gets caught into in her desperation to survive. Ozoemena was equally lovable with her strife to find a balance between who she is and who her family wants her to be (sometimes with conflicting agendas), to fit in her new school, her new friends, coming out of it all with a new strength.

Beyond the deftly fleshed-out characters, Dazzling was a very immersive reading experience, the magical realism of the world of spirits and <i>leopards</i> blending with the vivid imagery of modern-day Nigeria. It's a book heavy with the Nigerian heat, the rattle of cicadas, the scorching sun and cutting grass and visceral reality of female bodies. There's some gore and body horror but nothing's written for shock value. The tension and eerie atmosphere built in a way that kept me reading avidly, eager to find out how the protagonists' path collide--and whether they find a way out of their predicament in the end.

A truly masterful debut by an author I'll look forward to reading again. A great book for fans of magical realism and readers eager to broaden their reading horizons to non-Western authors.

I want to thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book before publication date. I really wanted to like it, and did find myself interested in a couple of the characters, but I just couldn't get into the story. There was nothing wrong with the writing style, or the story, it just didn't grab my attention. I know that there will be plenty of people who WILL love this book, and I hope to pick it up again in the future.

This book was a wild ride in the best way. It alternates between the points of view of two girls in Nigeria, Ozoemena and Treasure. Ozoemena is the first female leopard in a family line of leopards, a magical and maybe physically transformative protective role that nobody will clearly explain to her. Treasure has lost her father, and stumbles into deeper and deeper water with a suspicious spirit who promises to bring her Daddy back if she just does this, and that, and the other thing, like finding other girls to be wives for this spirit's friends. Their stories wind back and forth in time, slowly revealing the connective tissue between their lives in moments of overlap that had me thinking I'd figured everything out, only to keep surprising me until it all fell into place near the end. The careful pacing of information was so perfectly structured!

Best of all, Treasure's sections were written in Nigerian Pidgin, which I have never had the pleasure of reading before. The cadence and musicality of it is really gorgeous, and I hope there will be an audiobook of this because I will listen to it!

I had some questions at the end, but the kind of questions that make me hope for a follow up, not that left me wondering what had happened in the book. Overall, Dazzling was a really cool mix of magical realism and horror, driven by two protagonists who I grew very fond of.

Dazzling was not the normal genre that I read, but I was captured by both main characters Ozoemena & Treasure! This does not seem like a debut novel! The writing was exceptional and really transported me to Nigeria! The book is definitely a slow burn, with a lot of build-up and tension throughout, but a great payout in the end with tons of action! It was a tough read, just knowing how many individuals have this uphill battle they are dealing with all their life. This book is a great reminder, that even though life has you down and out, do not quit, keep your head up and keep going! I don't want to give anything away as this book is not out yet, but the twist at the end was SOOOO GOOD, I did not see that coming and my guess were totally wrong! I love it when a book isn't predictable and the ending stands out! I was blown away by this book and I am very thankful I had the opportunity to read it, I highly recommend it!

LOVED this one so much. It's a really beautifully written magical realism novel that infuses West African mythology to create a real masterpiece. Super captivating characters, and engaging story that was hard to put down.

I don't go in much fantasy or magical realism, normally, but the novelty of the Nigerian setting and the West African folklore infused into this book really hooked me.

This is the story of two pre-pubescent girls from the same city in Nigeria, Treasure and Ozoemena, whose lives are intertwined unhappily. Treasure's story is a tragedy from the start, which she compounds with some bloodthirsty choices. Ozoemena is faced with a magical legacy she's not ready to take on.

There are several of challenges to non-Nigerian readers. A whole lot goes unexplained and there are lots and lots of words, sometimes entire sentences in Igbo, which we don't get translated. The strong pidgin of Treasure's chapters is a strength in that it helps the reader follow the two separate characters easily. On the other hand, Treasure's dialect is so strong that it is sometimes confusing and distracting.

This is a challenging, interesting, engaging book. It was hard to put down, especially in the second half as the pace picked up.

Dazzling by Chikodili Emelumadu is a captivating debut novel that weaves together West African mythology and contemporary coming-of-age stories. The novel tells the intertwined stories of Treasure and Ozoemena, two girls from different worlds who are both struggling to find their place in society.

Treasure and her mother are struggling to make ends meet after the death of Treasure's father. When a spirit offers to bring him back to life in exchange for a terrible task, Treasure is faced with a difficult decision. Meanwhile, Ozoemena is dealing with her own struggles as she tries to fit in at a new boarding school and grapples with her destiny to become a Leopard, a defender of the land and its people.

As the two girls navigate their respective challenges, they find themselves on a collision course that forces them to make difficult choices about their futures. Emelumadu's prose is rich and evocative, painting vivid pictures of the West African landscape and its people. The novel's exploration of themes like gender roles, tradition, and sacrifice is thought-provoking and deeply moving.

Dazzling is a powerful debut that will leave readers breathless. Emelumadu's storytelling is masterful, and her characters are fully realized and deeply sympathetic. This novel is a must-read for anyone interested in West African mythology, coming-of-age stories, or simply beautiful and thought-provoking literature.