Witches

I found Akata witch to be the least enjoyable required reading this semester. The witches and magic seem fine at first glance, complementing the surface-level character building performed throughout the story. I found myself underwhelmed with the main character Sunny the most. The author writes Sunny parallel to the guidelines of the mary sue archetype allowing her to quickly advance through the magical world with relative ease. The main divergence from the archetype seems to be her albino complexion and “otherworldly” origin.

“You’ve got at least a hundred Chittim in there, I’d say. Maybe more,” Orlu said. “What’s Chittim?” she asked. “Currency,” Orlu said. “You earn it when you learn something. The bigger the knowledge, the more Chittim. I didn’t receive half as many Chittim when I went through Ekpiri!” “Ekpiri is level one,” Chichi explained. She turned to Orlu. “That’s because you always knew what you were. Sunny’s a free agent. She didn’t know anything.”

“Wow,” she breathed, as she looked at her hands. Four large Chittim fell at her feet. Copper ones, the most valuable kind. This was an important lesson to learn. She put them in her purse and went to the others.

“She brought her foot back and fired the kick. The ball flew to the far right. Godwin jumped, his eyes wide, his mouth open. It was almost in. Almost. Then Godwin managed to tip it away just in time. He fell onto his side. She slowed down, putting her hands on her hips. She looked down, ashamed that she hadn’t made the goal. “Wow!” she heard one of the team members say, impressed. She looked up. “Man!” another cried. “Ah-ah, you see that?”

Sunny continues chapter after chapter to punch above her weight and continuously has such a shy and sullen attitude despite performing tasks with savant-like precision. This disconnect is simply infuriating. Had the author chose to have her act in a sassy manner it could come off as a quirky character with comedic elements. Instead, it reads as pandering to the audience and feels forced and wrong. Any accomplishments she makes or any hurdle she overcomes feels tainted by the mary sue formula. The message of female empowerment feels cheapend and devalued. By simply framing the character as someone who struggles and is seen as weak the story could have been salvaged, but instead the trials lack depth and the story feels shallow as a result.