Twins Somadina and Jayaike live in a world where the aftermath of a terrible war has gifted everyone with powers. When their magic eventually arrives it threatens to ruffle the closeness of their bond and Somadina's power drives fear into her family and community. When her brother vanishes she is determined to face any dangers to get him back.

This was fantastic and had all the things I love about this author's writing. Compelling characters, captivating world building, stunning prose. Somadina is a wonderful central protagonist. She is determined, headstrong, often doubts herself and heavily impacted with the reaction of her family and friends to her new powers. She's torn between wanting to preserve the close uniqueness of her bond with her brother and her growing romantic feelings towards their best friend. The relationship she has with her mother is especially complex and heartbreaking. And for much of this story she is grappling with loneliness and struggling to accept what she is becoming. Family relationships are a huge central part of this story, not only the bond between Jayaike but also her older sister and grandfather. Inspired by pre-colonial Igbo mythology it concerns Dibias who are vessels for divine knowledge and intermediaries between visible and invisible worlds . This is a coming of age story infused with magic, danger and a quest at the heart. It's about othering and acceptance, being able to face and embrace the consequences of your choices and those of others. It's also set in a world dealing with the fall out of a war and the change it wrought on the land as well as the people - and the author has spoken about being partly inspired by the Biafran war. It's beautifully written as you would expect from this author. My only criticism is the pace, which really gripped me at the start, almost slowed a little too much in the centre but I'm being very nit piccy because I really enjoyed this. Not quite as much as Pet but nothing is Pet.

Somadina and her twin brother, Jayaike, are practically the same person. When the twins come of age, their magical gifts begin to develop, but while Jayaike's powers enchant, Somadina's cause fear to ripple through her town. Things go from bad to worse when her brother, the one person she trusted, vanishes. Somadina knows that no matter the dangers, she must track him down, even if she might not survive...

I loved the characters - I felt like they were so fleshed out and so interesting to learn more about. I loved Somadina and Jayaike's bond as twins and how their bond is utilised within the book Their friendship with Uwafulamiro was so beautiful to read about and I loved his character because he was a ride or die for the twins and I was so here for it. I honestly want to rave about so many of the characters because their development throughout was absolutely incredible, especially Somadina's. I loved being inside of her head as she was trying to work through everything - she was a brilliantly complex character. The magical elements that each character had was so interesting and I loved learning about them, especially seeing the twins come into their magical powers and learn how to use them.

Akwaeke's writing never fails to grip me and not let me go until the end of the book and even then, their books stay with me long after finishing. They are one of my favourite authors and I will never stop raving about their books. Their ability to be set up the atmosphere and really let you feel the tension and emotions that the characters experience never fails to amaze me. Their use of imagery to make the settings, characters and atmosphere comes to life is one of my favourite things that I look forward to when reading their books. I always feel like with their books I'm there with the characters watching everything play out, which I love.

Thank you Faber & Faber and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early, in exchange for an honest review.

⚠️ CWs: physical assault, vomit, murder, grief, abandonment, alcohol use, blood, death, kidnapping, war, bullying, domestic abuse; mentions child loss, animal death, injury detail, fire, derogatory language, panic attack, cannibalism, body horror ⚠️

Identical twins Somadina and Jayaike live with their older sister and their parents in a world that has been overrun by magic after a terrible war. When children reach the age of 15 they gain gifts but the twins have reached age and haven't seen any changes. When they finally get their gifts it threatens to drive them apart.

Somadina struggles with her gift and is shunned by her town, not only for being a twin but for allowing a god to overpower her. When Jayaike goes missing, taken by someone through the spirit realm, she, along with her sister and best friend, have to find him while she tries to come to terms with her new magic.

This is my favourite novel so far by Emezi, the West African world that is created is lush and beautiful. The prose is fast paced and their is enough intrigue to keep the reader guessing. Emezi's writing always has some layer of darkness to it and despite this being YA it is no different. The characters are complex and flawed yet by the end Somadina has accepted what she is and embraced her magic and her flawed family. This is a great YA story about found family and blood family, embracing who you are and accepting help from those around you.

The imagery really helped with my film in my head and I would absolutely read from this world again. Simply stunning.