Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor is an interesting piece of speculative fiction set in 2074 in West Africa. It is a coming of age adventure hero tale with fantasy elements. This is an expanded version of an out-of-print story rereleased in September 2023. This is my first read of anything by this author, but I will enjoy reading more of Okorafor's work. The adventure was good and the characters were well described.

The main character is Ejii Ugabe, a young shadow speaker. She was just learning to listen to the shadows to hear their messages. She was the daughter of the leader, who was rather a tyrant. At age 9, Ejii witnessed his execution by Queen Jaa. Six years later, she was invited to become Queen Jaa's apprentice. Her mother said no, but the shadows told her to go. She left late and had a long journey with just her talking camel, Onion, before she met another human traveler, Dikéogu. They continued on to meet Queen Jaa and eventually attended the Golden Dawn Meeting on another planet. The evil leader of Ganin was described as very fat, but he was also described as misogynistic, cruel, and power hungry and his weight didn't bother me..

Délé Ogundiran is the narrator of this book, and she speaks with a strong African accent. Once I got used to it enough to understand it, I enjoyed hearing it. I liked most of her voice acting except for her portrayal of Dikéogu, the rain maker, which I found to be too high and disturbing.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tantor Audio for giving me this audio book in exchange for my honest review.

Who doesn't like a good expanded re-release?

"Shadow Speaker" by Nnedi Okorafor takes place in a wild future. Technology is not right, there is undefined mystism occurring, and physics isn't so constant. Plus the spill over from other worlds thing. We follow Ejii Ugabe, a Shadow Speaker, child of that kind of a politician. She saw him cut down before her eyes, life is better for it, and she is coming to grips with that. But the Shadows tell her she must follow her father's killer to prevent war.

And the finale "Like Thunder" is re-released at the end of November.

Narrated by Délé Ogundiran, fantastic work. Rather enjoyed the different animal voices from ones I've worked with before.

Reasons to read:
-Wild future where peace bombs altered the planet to prevent nuclear war, and gave some people powers
-Being haunted by something, but knowing it really is better this way
-Threats that can be dealt with in multiple ways
-Hurt people healing

Cons
-It is such a bummer that when people can literally fly or create rain folks are still going to try to put them down

DAW acierta de lleno con la reedición de The Shadow Speaker, una novela de tinte juvenil que Okorafor ya publicó en 2007 pero que ahora veremos en una versión extendida con prólogo de la propia autora. Aunque hace ya 16 años de su primera publicación, ya se veían las semillas de lo que será el africanfuturism, en un libro que mezcla ciencia ficción y fantasía, con un marcado mensaje ecologista y muy completo.


Hay veces en que ves los ingredientes de una receta y no te explicas cómo es posible que tantas cosas tan distintas mariden bien, pero al final el resultado es muy agradable al paladar. Pues algo así pasa con The Shadow Speaker, una novela en la que Nnedi Okorafor mezcla un escenario postnuclear, humanos transformados con poderes, viajes entre mundos y cultura y tradiciones ancestrales.

Ejii es una joven que habla con las sombras (de ahí el nombre del libro) que asiste a la decapitación de su padre por los abusos que este llevaba a cabo desde su posición de privilegio como mandatario de su ciudad. A partir de este momento partirá en un viaje con una compañía bastante variopinta, en un rito de madurez que puede servir para salvar al mundo de sus propios fantasmas.

El personaje de Ejii es cautivador, porque es creíble. A pesar de los grandes poderes con los que está investida, lo cierto es que no los conoce y desde el principio no es capaz de controlarlos, por lo que asistiremos a su lucha interior hasta que consigue conocerse a sí misma. Pero lo realmente atractivo del mundo son los personajes con los que se irá encontrando, desde creadores de lluvia a animales parlantes, desde traficantes de esclavos no demasiado disimulados a seres de otros planetas. Resulta bastante complicado resumir una experiencia tan variada como es la lectura de The Shadow Speaker, sobre todo teniendo en cuenta que es la primera parte de una duología, pero se podría definir como la quintaesencia de Okoraforismo. Aquí vemos la semilla de lo que luego expandirá en Binti, con una protagonista femenina joven que viaja para alcanzar la madurez, el misticismo de Remote Control con una ciencia ficción de profundas raíces culturales africanas o el aire postapocalíptico de algunos relatos de Kabu Kabu.

He podido disfrutar de la versión en audiolibro en este lanzamiento, narrada por Délé Ogundiran. Al principio me ha costado cogerle el acento, pero tras los primeros capítulos no ha habido ningún inconveniente más, de forma que la narración me ha parecido más que correcta.

2.5 stars rounded up

I'm a bit of two minds about Shadow Speaker. On the one hand, it's inventive, sometimes verging on whimsical, offering a different take on a dystopian future where hope still exists and magic is woven together with science. There are elements of it, scenes, ideas, and world-building elements that I really like. As a novel though, it can feel a bit disjointed with a plot that doesn't come together as cohesively as Okorafor's later work.

It's also worth noting there is some fatphobia that isn't challenged with a villainous character being portrayed with his fatness as part of that villainy. Given that this was recently reworked it's disappointing that's still there. There's also a reference to creatures knowing if a man or woman is riding them even if the man is dressed up like a woman, which could come across as transphobic, though it's unclear whether that was the intent. In general I would say this isn't my favorite work from Okorafor, but it was still interesting. I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

The Shadow Speaker (The Desert Magician's Duology, #1) by Nnedi Okorafor Adding to the beautiful world of myth and technology of Nnedi Okorafor books. This African future book shows the problems of colonization and miss communication in the world. The book shows how the ecology is attached by technology, but that if we think another way we can learn to live with nature. The Five worlds merged into a overlaying galaxy of magic, technology, and ecological strength. The book has many lessons about human growth, human greed, and human control. The book shows that war is not always the best solution. The book allows children of African heritage to see they have rights, intelligence, and creativity. This is a great book for middle school students. It has a great number of imaginative creations, and would inspire any child to open their eyes to their own solution.

This is the first Nnedi Okorafor I've listened to as opposed to read myself. While I found the narrator lovely and her cadences and characterizations to be lyrical and engaging, I must confess that I found myself losing the flow of the story fairly early on and at about the half-way point I realized I simplyt was not reengaging enough to keep listening. I think there was too much going on for an audio format for me. I tend to prefer to listen to more straightforward and less involved stories on audio - I don't pay as close attention while listening as I do when reading, and find that if I lose the threads I have a next to impossible time picking them back up when I cannot refer back to earlier parts of the story. I may have to try this one in print/ebook form, because I really liked the underlying tale.

This gave me Nghi Vo's The Empress of Salt and Fortune vibes, so if you're into that, then this might be for you.

I requested this re-release on NetGalley because I loved Nnedi Okorafor's Binti series, Shuri comic book run, and more recently, her horror short story in Jordan Peele's Out There Screaming anthology.

But damn, Shadow Speaker ain't it at all. You can tell this is one of her earlier works because it just didn't feel refined. I haven't read the original version, so I can't compare it to the re-release.

So, there really isn't a plot, which isn't my cup of tea. I did love the vibes though, which is why this is a 3 star instead of a 2 star read. The world building was excellent. Dystopian post-apocalyptic Nigeria in a world that was completely upended by a nuclear terrorist attack, which created access to other magical worlds, one of which is Ejii's destination, called Ginen. Ginen is a really cool biopunk world where plants are buildings.

Other than that, there wasn't really a plot? Ejii wanted to leave home, so she went across the Sahara, ran into some kid, Dikeogu, and they became friends. Eventually they met up with Queen Jaa and her husbands, and they go to Ginen. Ejii fights the Big Bad, some guy whose one major trait is being fat. (wtf?)

I didn't understand why any character did anything. Things just seemed to happen to Ejii and she rolled along with it. Idk. The whole thing was forgettable, honestly. It's too bad because there was so much promise.

I did love the audiobook narrator though. Even though I didn't care for the story, Délé Ogundiran really brought the whole thing to life and made the whole thing feel immersive. (Another reason why this is a 3 star read instead of 2 stars for me.)

Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for this arc.

I enjoyed this YA magical realism/futuristic story. However, there were things about this re-release that were lacking. It took a long time to draw me in, with no real knowledge for what a shadow speaker is for many pages. Ejii's transformation and awareness of her gift occurs very casually, yet it's what her life hinges upon. I also struggled with the world. Here we have a place that has given up petroleum, they ride camels and donkeys and such, but they have high-tech gadgets and computing power. I know it's YA, but I wonder if our savvy youth won't question how you can have high-tech without all the mining and negative environmental impacts purportedly wiped out in this story.

I think the new cover also raised my expectations. The first edition was more gentle in presentation. This one is so cool and edgy, I just wanted that vibe from the beginning. Still, it's a very good book and hopefully the 2nd book in the duology will take things up in structure.

I really wanted to like this book based on the synopsis but unfortunately I don't think I was the right target audience for it. The book was a bit confusing and hard to follow along and it never truly gripped my attention which is a shame since I think it has so much potential.

However, I absolutely adore the narrator. It did enhance the story for sure.

Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor is an expanded edition of one of Okorafor’s early novels. It is about Ejii Ugabe, a Shadow Speaker, one that can listen to shadows. When the story opens, she’s in her village and not quite yet able to hear the shadows, but as the story proceeds we see Ejii grow into her Shadow Speaker abilities and remain an insightful young woman.

I listened to the audiobook with narrator Délé Ogundiran and she was absolutely phenomenal. From the first words she swept me along for a fascinating story about a near future that I could almost see and feel. The story itself was interesting and touched on many themes that, at times, felt a little heavy handed, but still feel relevant and timely at this book's re-release in 2023.

The world is fantastic, blending fantasy elements with a near future Niger, drawing in elements of mythology. The world is deep and whimsical, and Okorafor beautifully blends the modern and fantastical elements.

Unfortunately, I didn’t love the prose as much as I’d hoped given the author. It felt very much like an early novel, though I understand that it’s been expanded and updated. Additionally, I really didn’t like the character of Dikéogu, he felt overly whiny and high maintenance, but he was at least consistent.

Favorite quote:
“I have heard firsthand about the beginning. Small, small groups of you called it original sin. But that’s some bullshit. You didn’t come from any clay. Your ancestors never ate from any apple. If they did, the man would eat first.”

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for allowing me to listen to this book as an ARC in exchange for my honest review.