Set at the Scholomance, a school for magically gifted individuals. A Deadly Education follows Galadriel or El as she's better known, literally struggling for survival through school. The Scholomance is an unusual school, there are no teachers, no holidays and no escape until graduation. If you make it. That's because the school is literally alive with monsters that lurk in the corners, under desks, in the school canteen and literally eat the students. On graduation, students need to have allied up in order to find a route to the real world. Death is a very real threat.

This dark and spooky vibe is definitely delivered in time for October and Halloween. Having said that, I felt at times the novel did lack the intensity or scare factor I kind of expected with a school full of monsters and wish Novik had really ramped up the tension.

The premise is great and Novik puts a lot into the world-building. She details the history and structure of the school, the way magic works in the world and El's own history. On that, I cannot fault her for delivering on the world-building. Although at times the heavy focus on the world-building does come at detriment to the speed and development of the plot.

I really liked El as a character and although she was a little bit prickly she actually had a lot more to her character than first appears. The relationships she develops across the novel with Liu, Aadhya and Orion were slow but more believable. I particularly liked the moments between El and Orion as their friendship blossomed despite them seemingly initial polar opposites and El's initial complete rebuttal of his presence.

This book is definitely not for everyone as it's not a faced-paced fantasy but that's very much a Novik's style. I would also say the book had a very different vibe to Uprooted and Spinning Silver although the writing style is very similar. However, the build up in this first instalment leaves me excited for what hopefully is set to be an even better sequel. Thanks to @delreybooks and @netgalley for the arc.

Fantastic read as always, now in a beautifully illustrated copy.

Girl is an incredibly timely collection of essays having been finished up during the pandemic and written in the build up to the US election. This means Kenya Hunt has been able to touch on some of the emotions and feelings of 2020, particularly in the wake of June 2020 and the prominence of the Black Lives Matter protests. However, the collection of essays is much bigger than the landscape of 2020.

It covers a vast array of topics from the broader themes of terminology we use, communities and identities, Black motherhood, Black trauma and loss. To more specific situations such as the drama surrounding the British Royal Family and the anti-blackness exhibited towards Meghan Markle. There are also several contributed essays from other Black women such as Candice Carty-Williams who discusses the fallout to her book Queenie and how it's changed people's interactions with her.

From my own personal perspective what I found most interesting is that Kenya Hunt is an American expat living in the UK. This means she has a real critical insight into both the US and the UK political, social and cultural scene. For those that often consider the UK to be "not as racist as the US" I think this really brings home some stark realities.

Other elements that I really appreciated in this collection, which felt very relevant as I was reading this as the US election results were being counted, was the devastation she felt and discussed in response to Trump's election in 2016. Her focus on the hidden efforts and power of Black women to drive change. And then finally, not related to politics, but I really enjoyed her discussions about the power of Black Panther and Wakanda for Black culture.

Overall this was a fantastic and timely collection of essays that gave me a lot to think about and I devoured the whole thing in a few sittings. The length of these essays makes them really great for when you have short amounts of time to read. Thanks to @hqreads and @netgalley. Out 26th Nov.

"We all be speaking different because we all are having different growing-up life but we can all be understanding each other if we just take the time to listen well."

Wow. This book was a book club pick last month and I'm honestly pretty blown away. I'd heard a lot of praise, but I'd also read some reviews that were more sceptical of the book's style. I can firmly say I thought the book was brilliant on all levels. It also felt very timely and emotional to be reading a book that focuses on the vast inequalities, the disparities of wealth and problems in Nigeria given the awful events taking place there at the moment.

Adunni is the main character in this book and for those that don't know much about the plot. It follows 15 year-old Adunni who grows up in a small village in Nigeria. When her mother dies her father marries her off as the third wife to the local taxi-man to pay their rent. When something happens in the household she ends up becoming a house maid to a wealthy woman in Lagos. I won't spoil the plot by digging into some of the big themes that emerge from Adunni's story, which I think come through most pointedly as Adunni grows and learns across the book.

What I will say is Abi Daré uses Adunni's innocence and sheltered view of the world to truly express a damning and incredibly observant critique of society. The criticism I saw of the book was that Adunni's broken English is incredibly difficult to deal with and I just think that's ridiculous and ignorance speaking. Adunni levels everybody around her in her observations, she strips away the wealth and the privilege and shows that fluent English does not make for a better person or a more learned person. She demonstrates that many women are trapped by their circumstances and their level of English does not change that.

Adunni's voice is a powerful voice for change, a symbol of hope, of joy and continuous strength in the face of adversity. Her character is somebody I would describe as having a beautiful soul. She is a girl who wants to learn, who wants to make the world a better place and help others like herself.

I would also say, that although Daré criticises elements of Nigerian society, through Adunni's character she also shows that she has a deep love for Nigeria. The love of the people and the country and that should not be forgotten.
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Adunni's voice shined a light for me in times when the world can feel a little dark and despondent and although this book has some very heavy content it also felt like a warm hug and beacon of hope for a better future. There were so many moments of this book I loved and it's been a while since I found a book that I couldn't put down as much as this.