Sistah Samurai is an indie novella I was convinced to read due to a glowing recommendation from a friend as well as having loved the authors short story in The Advent of Winter.

I feel like a description of the plot would verge on spoiler territory since the novella is only ~120 pages. So instead, I'll just say it's an emotional, action-packed, fantasy set in a feudal Japan inspired world. There are twists and turns, many of which add a lot of depth and emotion to the story that I didn't see coming from such a short, cool book.

From the first chapter, or even the synopsis, we are introduced to the very distinctive voice of the protagonist Monique who is an older, no-nonsense, smart, black woman samurai who can kick both human and demon ass but doesn't have the time. Seeing the story from her POV is key to the impact of the book and is my favourite aspect as it is unique from anything I've read before, I loved her character.

It took me until around 30% in to get fully immersed, but after that point, I was hooked, and I finished the rest in one sitting. The world building is very unique and we developed, I really liked the way the world is described and given such a distinct style with the mix of Japanese and Black cultures. The demon aspects are really interesting, and the fight scenes are well described and easy to follow (which I sometimes struggle with).

Overall, I rated this 4⭐️. It only lost a star due to the slower start in such a short book, but honestly, this is a great novella, and I'll be looking into the authors other work. I think this book is an amazing celebration of black women and packs an emotional punch in such a short number of pages. I highly recommend you pick this up! 💛