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A review by emmanovella
Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
I've heard nothing but good things about Nnedi Okorafor's books and was so excited for this one. I was struggling to stay engaged with this one - I couldn't find a speed that suited me along with the speed of the narrator, so I had to go slightly too fast and let it get ahead f me as otherwise it was too slow and I'd have completely turned off. This meant I wasn't really keeping up and not fully invested. I had debated just dnf'ing and accepting it wasn't for me, but I was still interested in where it would go.. however I wish I had stopped.
In the last 20% we are introduced to an evil chief who I don't think was referred to without mention of his fatness - going so far as to say his fatness isn't normal but a literal sign of how evil he is. It also got dangerously close to ableism with my liking when we're first introduced to him and Ejii says he's so fat he can't walk.
At one point there is a casual mention of him clenching his fists and it's written as "his fat fist". There is simply no need for it.
It made me, a fat disabled person, feel really uncomfortable and honestly a bit angry.
I can absolutely accept characters having problematic thoughts, but this was purely used to evidence how evil this man was. I saw nothing in Ejii to suggest she would be fatphobic and it wasn't used to better her character.
There was also a comment in regards to creatures knowing if the person riding them is a man or a woman even if they've dressed as the other which I would have worded better as with it being a throwaway comment, it does risk veering close to being transphobic.
I realise this was originally published in 2007, but I'd have thought one of the benefits of reworking and republishing a book so many years later is that you can change theses sorts of things. I guess not - though I'm not sure what the point would be in reworking it otherwise.
It does make me hesitant to pick up the sequel or more of this author's work as if they didn't feel they needed to change this now, I don't really want to risk reading more fatphobic content, which is a shame given how many good things I've heard and how great the plots sound.
In the last 20% we are introduced to an evil chief who I don't think was referred to without mention of his fatness - going so far as to say his fatness isn't normal but a literal sign of how evil he is. It also got dangerously close to ableism with my liking when we're first introduced to him and Ejii says he's so fat he can't walk.
At one point there is a casual mention of him clenching his fists and it's written as "his fat fist". There is simply no need for it.
It made me, a fat disabled person, feel really uncomfortable and honestly a bit angry.
I can absolutely accept characters having problematic thoughts, but this was purely used to evidence how evil this man was. I saw nothing in Ejii to suggest she would be fatphobic and it wasn't used to better her character.
There was also a comment in regards to creatures knowing if the person riding them is a man or a woman even if they've dressed as the other which I would have worded better as with it being a throwaway comment, it does risk veering close to being transphobic.
I realise this was originally published in 2007, but I'd have thought one of the benefits of reworking and republishing a book so many years later is that you can change theses sorts of things. I guess not - though I'm not sure what the point would be in reworking it otherwise.
It does make me hesitant to pick up the sequel or more of this author's work as if they didn't feel they needed to change this now, I don't really want to risk reading more fatphobic content, which is a shame given how many good things I've heard and how great the plots sound.
Moderate: Fatphobia