Adia Kelbara and the Circle of Shamans

July 10, 2023
Adrenaline-fueled action and inventive worldbuilding personify this captivating Afrofantasy, a series-starting debut by Hendrix. Orphan Adia Kelbara lives with her neglectful aunt and uncle, who publicly claim that she is an Ogbanje—a child possessed by a demon said to cause misfortune—which leads to her becoming locally ostracized. She starts to believe them, though, when she suddenly develops mysterious abilities, as when an intense emotional reaction results in tremors erupting across her hamlet. Witnessing the destruction wrought by her burgeoning powers, Adia determines to find help in harnessing—or removing—her perceived curse. When she is selected to spend her Year of Practicality, during which youths train in a trade, as a kitchen apprentice at the famed Academy of Shamans, she hopes that a resident can extract the Ogbanje. But nothing is as it should be upon her arrival: the school has fallen into disarray and an ancient evil has returned to wreak havoc. Fully fleshed out characters—including a snarky goddess and several effervescent allies—populate this clever adventure, which teems with smartly rendered twists and oodles of hope and heart. Ages 8–12.

August 15, 2023
A 12-year-old orphan sets out to save herself and her homeland. Adia Kelbara lives in the Swamplands of Zaria with her aunt, uncle, and cousin. Much to the dismay of Aunt Ife and Uncle Eric, who have embraced the missionaries' new god, Adia's year of practicality placement is an apprenticeship in the kitchens of the Academy of Shamans. Even worse, Adia suddenly develops magical powers, causes an earthquake in her village, and is labeled an ogbanje, or cursed child who's destined to bring misfortune. Adia desperately hopes a shaman at the academy will help rid her of demonic influences. But life there is not what she expected. She meets Nami, a boy training to become one of the harshly punitive capital soldiers, and makes an enemy of Mallorie, the richest girl at school. She also learns that Emperor Darian, who will be visiting the academy, has been possessed by the demon Olark the Tormentor, whom many believe had perished--and the guardian goddess Ginikanwa thinks Adia may be critical in the plan to exorcise him. Hoping that helping Gini might also solve her own magical problems, Adia embarks on a quest with the goddess, Nami, and Thyme, a warrior girl from a centuries-old queendom. Hendrix's skillfully built, West African-inspired fantasy is populated with multidimensional characters. Readers will become invested in Adia's journey of self-discovery. The story organically touches on loss, grief, religion versus spirituality, and racial and socioeconomic inequalities. An engrossing and layered series opener. (map) (Fantasy. 8-12)

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Starred review from August 1, 2023
Grades 3-7 *Starred Review* Adia's life hasn't been easy. Orphaned when she was only a baby, Adia is forced to live with an aunt and uncle who believe she was born cursed. When Adia gets a coveted kitchen internship at the Academy of Shamans, she knows it's her only chance to escape her suffocating life. The only problem is that Adia discovers that her ""curse"" is actually magical powers--dangerous powers that cause destruction in her home village. With her cat in hand, Adia escapes to the Academy hoping to be fixed, only to discover that everything that she thought was a myth is true, including gods, goddesses, and a demon that wants to watch the world burn. She must learn to control her powers and join forces with other magical beings to defeat the evil demon before he destroys everything Adia knows and loves. Hendrix's awe-inspiring debut novel is a truly masterful addition to the Afrofantasy genre. Hendrix intertwines the cultural richness of African mythology with the visceral history of colonization in a package that will entice middle-grade readers. Her universe interrogates both fantastical and realistic conflicts with equal care. This immersive fantasy, the start of a planned trilogy, deserves to be on every shelf.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2023
When twelve-year-old Adia Kelbara is placed as an apprentice cook at the Academy of Shamans for her "year of practicality," her exploitative aunt and uncle try to forbid her from leaving their repressive village. Adia somehow causes an earthquake that destroys the village, then flees to the Academy in the resulting chaos. Afraid that she must be possessed by an evil demon to have caused such destruction, she hopes one of the shamans can perform an exorcism, but the Academy has been taken over by rich foreigners, none of whom can do any magic. Then, while searching the school's libraries for information on exorcisms, Adia inadvertently eavesdrops on three Alusi (celestial guardians) and learns that the emperor of Zaria, Darian the Warlord Child, has been possessed by Olark, a rogue Alusi, for a year now. If Adia follows the wisest Alusi to watch her exorcise Olark from the Warlord Child, perhaps she'll learn how to exorcise her own demon. Igbo cosmology forms the basis of this engaging fantasy, and Hendrix not only uses the surviving mythology but also depicts some of the ways Western hegemonists have contributed to its loss. Adia's emotional growth remains central to the narrative, which lays out intriguing tidbits that build over the course of the novel to support the satisfying reveal at book's end. Anita L. Burkam

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)