3.5 stars rounded up. I was so excited for this sequel to The Girl With the Louding Voice and it was nothing like what I expected! I thought we’d be getting perhaps a future Adunni returning to Ikati as a teacher, but it’s a direct continuation from where the first book left off.

The first half was a bit of a struggle, it felt disjointed with so many perspectives, but it was pulled back in the second half thankfully, and the cast of lovable girls and their tragic stories gripped me, leading to an absolutely devastating finale that I won’t forget for a while. These stories about girls and women suffering at the hands of patriarchal societies are such important stories to tell and I am so happy Abi Daré is giving them a voice.

Overall I feel like I got closure and some things from the first book were wrapped up nicely, I just think I would have preferred only Adunni’s voice.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the ARC! Greatly appreciated

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC in exchange for a review.

I was really excited to read this having loved The Girl with the Louding Voice, and it’s another fantastic book from Abi Daré (although you still can’t beat TGWTLV in my opinion!)

This book picks off where the last left off, with Adunni now living with Tia and eagerly awaiting her first day of school. (I was looking forward to finally reading about Adunni getting to experience some happiness but should’ve known it wouldn’t be that simple!) Before she gets to start school, she is sent back to Ikati to stand trial for the murder of Khadija and take part in a sacrifice ritual.

I enjoyed the narrative swapping between Tia and Adunni’s perspectives and learning more about Tia’s story but I felt there were too many new characters introduced and the book itself felt too long with some subplots/ chapters feeling a bit unnecessary at times.

That said, the exploration of how climate change is affecting women and girls in rural communities was really moving, as well as the plot line around FGM, which was heartbreaking.

Overall another excellent book from Abi Daré that I would highly recommend if you enjoyed her debut.

This is an amazing sequel to ‘Girl with The Louding Voice’ . I didn’t think the author would be able to follow up with anything equally impactful. But I was wrong. These books totally transport you to the culture and land of NIgeria. The way women are treated is truly shocking. Living our Western lives we are blissfully unaware of the struggle for education and rights for these women. I hardly know how to put into words the effect these books have on me and am so grateful to the author for enlightening me about the way of life over there. I always love to feel that I have learned something by the end of a book and this provides this in spades. The pace is astounding right from the start and the tension of that 24 hours palpable. I am extremely grateful to Netgalley, Abi Dare and the publisher for allowing me early access to this incredible book. I look forward to the author’s future works.

Let's just say I was lucky to have read this immediately after I finished reading 'The Girl with the Louding Voice.' I fortunately cannot relate to that long wait. Lol. I fell in love with Adunni's character and it was really beautiful to see her flourish even more in this sequel. I love the exploration of Tia’s character in this sequel. It gives the layers I wanted to see in TGWALV. Well done to the author and everyone involved in bringing this to life. I enjoyed this one.

I eagerly anticipated this second novel from Abi Daré and was thrilled to be granted an ARC to review ahead of publication. The Girl with the Louding Voice was a debut roundly applauded and much loved by everyone in my book club and I couldn’t wait to read its sequel.

It is with some trepidation, then, that I have to confess that I just didn’t enjoy this book half as much. My issues with it began on the first page where the narration begins with Ms Tia rather than Adunni. For me, Adunni is such a beloved character and I wanted to hear her distinctive voice again from the get-go.

In TGWYLV, it is the clever evolution of Adunni’s English in the narrative which really adds to the story. Here though the narrative switches back and forth between Tia and Adunni and I found this made the book feel disjointed.

I also found that I just didn’t care enough about Tia which meant I couldn’t invest fully invest in these parts of the story.

When Adunni is forced to return to her village, a whole host of other characters are introduced - all with their own unique back stories. The novel attempts to incorporate so much and to me the plot felt melodramatic and all over the place at times.

I think telling one girl’s story well is more than enough and Daré accomplished this so brilliantly in her debut. Perhaps she should have let Adunni have her happy ending and instead passed the megaphone to another new character from the start of this book. There are certainly plenty of interesting candidates in the Circle of Forest.

With thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for kindly granting me the ARC for this review.

Adunni is an amazing girl who goes through so much to access her freedom, her education, her wisdom, and her louding voice

A follow up to The Girl with the Louding Voice. Heartbreaking yet full of hope and joy. A rollercoaster of emotions!

And So I Roar by Abi Daré is a sequel to The Girl with the Louding Voice. I would highly recommend reading the novels in order otherwise you will miss so much. I absolutely loved Daré’s first novel so was very excited to get a copy of her second and it didn’t disappoint!
And So I Roar starts at a very fast pace leaving me quite breathless with expectations of what is to come. From the very first page we are back with Tia visiting her dying mother in hospital, an overheard snippet of conversation hints at family secrets that need to be told but not just yet. Adunni now fourteen, with Tia’s help, has won a scholarship and is due to start school the following day, Adunni’s excitement at finally getting an education is palpable. That night there is a loud banging at the gate with two angry men demanding the return of Adunni, she must return to her village to be tried alongside some other girls. A sacrifice must be made in order for the rains to return.
The story unfolds through the eyes and voices of Tia and Adunni, we learn of the cruelty that women endure at the hands of those in power, mostly men but not always. Secrets unfold that have serious consequences and voices are developed.
Abi Daré is a phenomenal writer who has developed strong, well developed characters and a novel with several themes and messages. I loved this book, many thanks to the author, Hodder and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This is the follow-up, the long awaited follow-up of her previous novel ‘the girl with the louding voice’. Which I feel you should read before reading this book that way, a lot of it will make more sense. Her previous book was about Adunni a 14-year-old Nigerian girl, sold into marriage because her mother died and the father needed money no surprise there. But all she wanted was an education so she could look after her little brother and provide a better life for them both.

Anyway, following on with this new book, it’s been a year now since Adunni was on the run and she’s now 15 about to start school when the worst happens. She’s been found! Her old aged husband with the tribal Chief have found her and want her back to their village, to be sacrificed because it hasn’t rained in months and they also think she killed the old mans second wife Khadeja.

Tia tries to make her escape her house but she refuses so Tia goes with her back to Ikati, her village which has changed. Her once best friend Kike, is married to the medicine man and is pregnant and her brother, Kayus, is now eight years old, taller and so thin and sad because of the life he has had to lead. But because Tia decided to follow Adunni to her village, she is now getting a sharp lesson in how life is that these girls have to lead growing up in a village and not in a big city, whilst trying to save these girls from their sacrifices and possible death sentences.

During this period Ikati, we realise that Adunni's mother had her for someone else and her father isn’t actually the father she thought he was. We also find out that love letters Tia had written aren’t actually love letters to a lover per se. Her husband suspects that she was having an affair, but I’ll make you read it to find out more about that later as it’s not what you think.

Anyway, during the sacrifices, one of Adunni’s friend dies, and she gives a rousing and heartrending speech about what goes on in the village and which Tia records and sends to her husband.

The speech then goes viral, the army is called and it all ends well. as the girls are rescued and the chiefs, who conducted and enforced the sacrifices, are arrested along with their wives for being accessories to the crimes. Adunni’s husband (read the first book) releases her from the marriage by paying her off, because he doesn’t want to be arrested, coward!

Tia takes Adunni and Kayus with her to live happily ever after and she also finds out that her daughter is actually alive, but her own mother dies so she’ll never know the persons name who her mother gave the baby to. Anyway, they all live happily ever after.

This book ties up the loose ends from the first book however, I thought this book was way too long, I actually skipped certain pages and pages chapters because it was just too long. It could’ve been at least 100 pages shorter and it still would’ve conveyed the message of hope given African village future. But it is beautifully written apart from being too long so it spoilt story flow for me anyway, you may enjoy it but I didn’t because of that.

It makes me sad to give such a low rating to this book. Having loved The Girl With The Louding Voice a couple of years ago (I bing read it on a trip!) I thought this was a brand-new story. To my surprise, it is a sequel to that book so I was excited when I realised!

For those who haven't read the first book, I would suggest reading it to have the background, even though this one can be read as a standalone but then you will feel you are missing out on something.

Unfortunately, for me, it doesn't feel the same as the first one. Everything happens in 1 day and Tia's story in between didn't work out for me. When I finished the first book, I felt that was it. I don't think her story needed to be continued.

I tried hard not to DNF but I gave up at 52%.

This is another powerful novel from Abi Dare. A tense story of strong women facing persecution from traditional Nigerian culture. A contemporary fight for justice.

from looking at the early reviews, i’m clearly the outlier in opinion when it comes to and so i roar, and i hate to give it a negative review. i reread the girl with the louding voice last month, having first read it in 2020, and i loved it even more the second time around (it’s my top book of this year). so to have to give the follow-up a 2* review is upsetting. but it feels like in the four years between books one and two, abi daré forgot how to write her characters well.

first of all, i didn’t realise that this was basically a direct sequel to TGWTLV (i don’t know why it’s not being marketed as such, but picks up pretty much exactly where TGWTLV ends). so that’s worth bearing in mind if you go into this thinking it’s a standalone book because it isn’t. it gives (very) brief context around characters and events that already happened, so you won’t be entirely lost, but you’ll miss out on a lot of important background. maybe the reason why it’s not being promoted as a sequel is because it’s written as a dual perspective novel from adunni’s and tia’s POVs, where the first book focused solely on adunni. for the most part, i don’t think it was a good idea to write this as a direct continuation of adunni’s story, and that’s both in the sense that i don’t think adunni’s story needed continuing and also that i don’t think this book in its final form was the right direction to take.

i don’t think this should have been written from tia’s perspective. her voice, her POV, was very difficult for me to connect with, and i realised i liked her as a character when viewed through the lens of Adunni and not so much on her own merit. her voice was distant, highbrow, and frankly annoying at times. i don’t know why her dialogue (spoken and internal) was so convoluted; she didn’t think or speak like a normal person. she overused metaphors and used extravagant words where they really did not make sense. she also came off as out-of-touch and a little bit dense when she kept speaking to non-English speakers with complex language. for example, she asks someone a question like “why would she continue to procreate with him?” and it’s just so bizarre? like, in what context would any regular person ever use the verb procreate in standard conversation, let alone with someone who you know does not understand English to a high level? she was so offputting. i found it hard to care about her storyline outside of adunni, and i had very little emotional attachment to her.

adunni… where to begin? her character felt so botched and like a caricature of who she was in TGWTLV. she was so lovable because she was an insightful, funny, quick-witted 14-year-old who was spirited despite her circumstances. it felt like abi daré dialled her character up to 11, to the point where suspension of belief was required. she’s not had a day of formal education since the previous book, but suddenly she’s a master of metaphor and can spout wise proverbs like the greats. a lot of what i loved about her the first time around was lost due to the pure unrealism of her character, and it’s such a shame. again, i lost a lot of emotional attachment to her where the first book literally had me tearing up at the thought of what she went through.

the pacing of ASIR is really bizarre. a whole lot happens and it’s over the course of about 24 hours? i found it hard to come to terms with the fact that everything had happened within just one day, again it felt a bit nonsensical. the middle section is incredibly bogged down when we switch between iya’s storytelling and the girls in the forest. i’m not gonna lie, i did not care about what happened with adunni’s mother and it all took entirely too long to relay. i actually loved the “talk show” hosted by the girls in the forest, but with it being interspersed with iya’s story it felt like it took up way too much time. i found myself getting bored desperately waiting for something to happen.

my other problem is there was just wayyyy too much melodrama. i can’t get into too much of it without spoiling the plot but again, it required some suspension of disbelief and it felt goofy so i lacked any emotional attachment to what was going on. adunni going viral was the cherry on the cake.

also, a less important but equally irksome point - i hate the cover? the cover for this edition and the alternative one i’ve seen are both horrid, truly bad.

so to return to the fact that i don’t think and so i roar should have been the continuation (conclusion?) to adunni’s story, i think there were better ways that we could’ve closed the book on her journey. to be honest, i think TGWTLV should have been left as was and really didn’t need further exploration, but alternatively, i think this book should have focused on one of the other girls (efe, zenab, hauwa etc.) and had adunni cameo. i really don’t think adunni needed to go through additional trauma and i’m not sure what the purpose of that was. there were a lot of incredibly compelling stories to explore that the new cast of girls brought to the table, and i think a new narrative should have been the way to go.

again, i’m so sad to have to rate and so i roar so low given how much i adored adunni and TGWTLV. but all in all, i just didn’t feel the heart that i felt from the other book, and i really had to keep pushing myself to read it as i didn’t want to DNF. i think i would still keep an eye out for other releases from abi daré as i do think she’s a talented writer, but i do hope that there’s no further exploration of adunni’s or tia’s stories. i’ll probably just consider TGWTLV to be a standalone and not give much thought to ASIR again. massive thanks to Hodder & Stoughton, Sceptre and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ And So I Roar by Abi Daré

This is the follow-up novel to The Girl with the Louding Voice and we catch up with Adunni as she gets ready to start school. She is so excited the night before she wears her uniform to bed. Unfortunately, things don’t go to plan and she is whipped out of her bed in the middle of the night and taken back to her village, Ikati, Nigeria, to face an accusation of murder.

Ms Tia who has been helping Adunni escape her past and acquire an education just returned from her mother’s sick bed. Whilst there she overhears a conversation between her mother and her aunt that proves her mother lied to her throughout her childhood. Now she must seek the truth whilst also helping to free Adunni and save her from the punishment of death.

But as her mother becomes sicker and there are less than twelve hours to help her dear friend Tia must act fast and pray for a miracle.

I loved Daré’s first novel and is one of my favourite books of the year so far. So I was thrilled when I was approved for this one on NetGalley.

We hear more of Ms Tia’s story this time which I loved and also other girls who were being sacrificed told their stories of cruelty and heartbreak which I found so intriguing. I enjoyed learning about the cultures and traditions of Nigeria even if some of them were so bizarre and extreme.

There were some very heavy topics in this book including rape, violence, torture, mutilation of the female genitalia and a lot of grief and sadness felt by many people. There was an undertone of climate change which is such a current and important issue of the moment and had a real feeling of hope and progression.

The time between Adunni being captured and her condemnation does drag on quite a while and there are some parts where I felt Daré was just trying to fill pages. However, I still enjoyed catching up with these wonderful characters again and laughing at some of the girl's English pronunciation. The lives they all led were so tough and shockingly painful that you want them to succeed in every way possible. The way women are treated in these poor countries is awful while men are seen as kings and can behave in any manner they choose.

Daré’s books are always a real eye-opener for me and she writes so beautifully that she will always be one of my go-to authors.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a virtual copy of this book. And So I Roar will be published on 8th August 2024

I LOVED, LOVED Abi Dare's debut book, The Girl With The Louding voice. I picked this up and didn't realise it was a sequel. The plot really didn't have enough meat to it for me. I really couldn't finish it and had to move on.

How can we not fall in love with the charismatic teen, Adunni, all over again - ‘The girl with the louding voice’ from the Nigerian village Ikati, whom gets her chance ‘to roar’ and teach us the reader, oh so much.

To receive a formal education is Adunni’s ultimate dream, and the book opens with the imminent promise of her starting a new school in Lagos, under the new care of Tia. Everything is prepared for her attendance the next day and Adunni’s excitement is palpable, until the fated knock on the door throws everything and everyone into jeopardy. Lives are literally at stake.

The story is largely told from the perspectives of Adunni and Tia, but we also hear from a number of smaller, but very important female voices with their own stories to tell (via the ‘Zee Zee’ show) relaying the often traumatic and brutal treatment they have received from the hands of men in control / power.

There are some hefty subjects dealt with here - rape, female genital mutilation, grief, tribal tradition and superstition, climate change, violence, childhood marriage, motherhood and identity. There are also numerous lighter moments of heartfelt humour, when I literally laughed out loud; Adunni’s broken English and misinterpretation of English, often adds to this.

It’s through the course of the novel that we truly come to further appreciate how crucial education is; in preventing catastrophes and cruelties toward women and girls, particularly in third world countries where misogyny and ignorance is rife.

As Adunni declares - ‘Our land is bleeding, the world is bleeding, and it is the girls that are suffering the most’.

With Adunni’s roar, will she attain the freedom and justice she deserves, along with her fellow female companions? You must read it to find out.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Hodder for providing an ARC. I absolutely loved it!

📚ARC Book Review📚

🔖 And So I Roar by Abi Darè
Genre : General Fiction (Adult), New Adult, Women's Fiction
Pub date: Aug 8, 2024

When Tia accidentally hears a secret conversation between her very sick mother in a hospital bed in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and her aunt, it sets off a chain of events that makes her determined to uncover a secret her mother has been hiding for almost twenty years.

A few days later, back home in Lagos, a brave fourteen-year-old girl named Adunni, who ran away from her village in search of a better future, is lying awake in Tia's guest room. Tia has helped Adunni enroll in school, fulfilling her long life dream of getting an education. Suddenly, there's a frightening knock on the front gate. This is just the beginning of a scary experience that forces Tia to make a difficult choice between protecting Adunni or finally discovering the truth.

📖: Adunni is one of my favorite book characters, and I was really excited to read this book. I strongly recommend reading "The Girl with the Louding Voice" before reading this one.

With dual POVs (Adunni’s and Tia), I witnessed Adunni's life after her rescue from Big Madam and her husband. I also gained a lot of insight into Ms. Tia's life and how her past experiences have shaped her beliefs and the causes she fights for.

Adunni, driven by her courage and strong moral compass, returns to Ikati to clear her name of Khadijah's mvrder and help her brother Mayus. The majority of the plot unfolds in Ikati, revealing a string of events and secrets.

I must commend Abi for her remarkable storytelling skills and her ability to weave words together with near-perfection. Adunni's character remained delightful and humorous, even in the midst of tense situations. She truly is an extraordinary character.

The book covered so many themes without overwhelming me, effectively conveying its message. The plot swingled back and forth between very slow (dragged a little) and very fast pace that kept me on the edge of my sit. With its length, binge reading is almost not possible, you'll most likely need more time to read and absorb the plot.

Adunni finally “roared” and it was so lovely to see her win her fight against patriarchy, barbaric traditions and illiteracy.

And So I Roar is the captivating sequel that both stands on its own, yet also seamlessly continues the story from "The Girl With The Louding Voice." Set in Nigeria, the novel follows the intertwined journeys of Adunni and Tia,
Through their experiences, the novel confronts themes of tradition, misogyny, and the impact of global issues such climate change on vulnerable communities.
Although the book can be read on its own, it’s even better if you’ve read The Girl With The Louding Voice.- I can’t think why you wouldn’t want to read it anyway!!!

An engrossing read that educates, inspires, and tugs at the heartstrings. Both books should be on the shelf of every High-school library!

ARC REVIEW- This book was my book of April; I love books about women of all backgrounds finding their voice, and this really is that. Set in Nigeria, Adunni and Tia are the two protagonists, and each character gets their own POV chapters. The plot starts immediately- maybe because this is a sequel, but can absolutely stand alone- and doesn’t stop.. It’s honestly an unputdownable read. Each line gets more intense and the pressure made my palms sweat but it was
This book is simultaneously heartbreaking and joyful- celebrating the strength and resilience of girls in impossible situations, expertly and carefully crafted to not be so triggering, to be empathetic and not at all sensational. The book covers key issues relevant today through perspectives rarely regarded in reality, giving a voice to the voiceless. And girl, are the voices LOUD.
Adunni is a young girl, coming from a small and poverty stricken village in Nigeria, and is honestly the highlight. I have never encountered a character like her- she was so real, so vibrant; her character voice so roaring. She is so lovable and so it makes it even more difficult to go through what she goes through, both in her backstory and throughout the plot. She’s so full of love and pure feminist delight that warmed my heart and broke it simultaneously. The characters are so gorgeous, Tia, too, has such a distinctive voice- so separate from Adunni’s perspective you can hardly believe it’s the same author, except for the absolutely masterful way she is crafted, that can only be from Abi Daré and Abi Daré alone.
I don’t want to spoil it with the plot points, but the way this character-led story weaves in environmentalism, highlighting the socio-economic disparity between states that have plenty decimating the ecosystem of places like Nigeria, which in turn then leads to further difficulty when already impoverished and underprivileged areas begin to further rely on traditionalism due to the lack of infrastructures in place, which kickstarts a lot of this plot. Moreover, it is impossible to escape the beauty of the women throughout this novel, the way that even in the worst places and the worst situations, and no matter what each of them are going through- the perseverance and love and respect shown by each to each. I adored this book and can’t wait to read more from this author.
Received an ARC, thanks for NetGalley and Hodder

The girl with the loading voice is one of the last books I read before I started writing book reviews I enjoyed that book and love this way the way this book carries on from where the last book finished so we discover more about the main characters in the first book
I particularly liked the way the lead adult character writes to her lover letters even after he died it was a very clever way of telling us more of her backstory.
The story starts immediately the previous book finishes and we discover the Young woman Adumni seemingly saved from her servitude and about to start school at the age of 14. unfortunately things are not as smooth sailing as it looks like and the story progresses with her being taken back to her village of origin where a ceremony is due to take place accusing her of murder.
The setting of most of this novel is back in the home village and is extremely atmospheric
The novel covers lots of big issues such as illegitimate birth ,genital mutilation and early marriage of African girls as well as effects of climate warming and deforestation with subtlety so that you don’t feel you’re being preached at
The author has a clear easily red flat flowing pros style and I found the novel an easy relaxing read
The author has the skill to describe her characters very well and the way that they behave in the unusual circumstances they find themselvesin seems entirely real
I originally copy of the novel on NetGalley UK. The book is published in the UK on the 8th of August 2024 by Hodder and Stoughton.
This review will appear on NetGalley UK, Goodreads, and my book blogbionicsarahsbooks.wordpress.com.
After publication it will also be on Amazon UK

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an early Kindle copy of 'And So I Roar' by Abi Dare.

And So I Roar is the much-anticipated follow-up to the incredible 'The Girl With The Louding Voice', published in 2020.

At the start of the book, Adunni has been offered a school scholarship and is finally safe from being owned and physically and emotionally hurt. Adunni is excited to start school and is living happily with Ms Tia and Doctor Ken.

Unfortunately, the night before school starts events transpire that make the next few days crucial for her future as she is forced back to Ikati to fight for her freedom and that of many other women too. We also hear Ms Tia's story, her relationship with her Mother, and her life before meeting Ken Dada, both Adunni and Ms Tia's future lives are dependent on one another and the story twists and turns, building to a climactic ending.

This book covers many major issues in the world today, as we all should be aware climate change and global warming are at a frightening pinch point, and we see a not often reported perspective, of how it affects Africa, and how it may be the fault of bigger and greedier economies around the world.

We are also shown the disparity between modern and traditional Nigeria, the latter bringing me to tears more than once, villages that are uneducated and hiding behind tradition to perpetuate misogyny, FGM, and general abuse of women.

Adunni is a stunning character who believes that women are stronger when we work together. I'll finish with my favourite line from the book which illustrates this.

Adunni: "if they are removing the ladder for us to climb, let we women bend our backs on top of each other, and make a ladder for ourselves by ourselves".