Sọmadịna
by Akwaeke Emezi
High School    Knopf    304 pp.
4/25    9780593309070    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780593309094    $10.99

Fifteen-year-old Sọmadịna has always been close to her twin brother, Jayaike. He is the one person she can count on to support her in the face of anything, from prejudice to their mother’s emotional withdrawal after their beloved older sister leaves to train as a dịbịa, a special type of magic user with more than one gift. However, a budding romance with their shared best friend and the arrival of their own magical gifts begin to create a rift between Sọmadịna and her twin. Suddenly, there are things she cannot share with Jayaike, whose ability seems so different from her own destructive one. Then, the worst comes to pass: Jayaike is stolen away by a sinister figure who aims to consume the twins’ power. To rescue her brother, Sọmadịna must set out on a dangerous journey and learn to harness the magical gift she fears. Emezi draws on their Igbo heritage to craft an immersive world, bringing it to life with absorbing prose that heightens the emotional impact of Sọmadịna’s coming-of-age story. Her journey is at once physical and spiritual, her magic connecting her to the collective history and inheritance of her people as well as to the divine. A haunting and healing tale of transcendent familial bonds.

From the May/June 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.