Welcome to Litsy!

Prepping for the Tucson Festival of Books. Brown is Ghanaian American & this book is based off Akan folktales. (I should get a handle on definitions around folktales, fairy tales, house tales, folklore, mythology, etc.) Although the MC is decidedly not a popular cheerleader, this is Buffy vibes (or maybe Buffy is Akan vibes). I‘m rooting for this group of slayers.

2 ⭐️s
Serwa has been raised to hate the very thing she learns she was born as: a black-magic vampire. Grappling with deep racism and prejudice, readers are invited to question taught biases and beliefs. Brown uses the folklore of her Ghanian heritage as a foundation for her story, creating an undertone of reality in Serwa and her family‘s adventures. This writing style wasn't my cup of tea, and I really hate vampires, but unique if nothing else.

This book was hard to put down. Serwa is very compelling with her desire to be a Ghanaian vampire slayer like her parents. What I found intriguing was that she doesn‘t know how to be a kid. She‘s trained her whole life, and such learns how to make friends and have fun. Even while her life gets turned upside down. The mystery unfolded at the end has me reeling - in a good way. #RiordanPresents

The amount of micro-aggression Serwa is encountering at this new school is INSANE. Being shown and how they‘re being handled is very well done. I just needed to point this out because it‘s important to see how these little things add up. #RiordanPresents