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M y screen time from last week was at a whopping 10 hours and 56 minutes. Granted, I’m an editor so there’s allowance for that. But I’ve also been on a TV show binge switching from Love Island (both UK and USA) to Bridgerton and a whole lot more. I’m hyper aware of how much time I spend looking at my screen, so I like to take time to unplug every once in a while, and what better way to do that than with a good book?
I’m one of those readers who sees scenes play in my head when reading so the perfect way for me to detach from my devices is with an epic story that plays out like a Netflix original in my head.
That’s why in our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of seven addicting books that will keep you glued to the page and not your screen. Our recommendations include a chilling mystery thriller, the second part of a gripping fantasy duology, a surreal tale set on water, and more.
Read our recommendations below.
AVENUES BY TRAIN
AUTHOR: TFARAI MUDZINDWA
GENRE: FICTION
When seven-year-old Jedza witnesses a tragic incident involving a train and the death of his close boyhood friend in his hometown, Miner’s Drift, he is convinced that his life is haunted. Now in his mid-20s, Jedza is a down-and-out electrician, moving to Harare in the hopes that he will escape the darkness and superstitions of the small town. But living in the shadowy restless atmosphere of the Avenues with its mysterious pools of water rising under musasa trees, he is tormented by the disappearance of his sister and their early encounters with ancestral spirits, the shapeshifting power of the njuzu and a vengeful Ngozi. To move forward, he must stop running away and confront the trauma of his past. Avenues by Train is a brash and confident debut by an exciting new voice. Buy this book here.
CHILDREN OF ANGUISGH AND ANARCHY
AUTHOR: TOMI ADEYEMI
GENRE: FICTION
New allies rise.
The Blood Moon nears.
Zélie faces her final enemy.
The king who hunts her heart.
When Zelie seized the royal palace that fateful night, she thought her battles had come to an end. The monarchy had finally fallen. The maji had risen again. Zélie never expected to find herself locked in a cage and trapped on a foreign ship. Now warriors with iron skulls traffic her and her people across the seas, far from their homeland.
Then everything changes when Zélie meets King Baldyr, her true captor, the ruler of the Skulls, and the man who has ravaged entire civilizations to find her. Baldyr’s quest to harness Zélie’s strength sends Zélie, Amari, and Tzain searching for allies in unknown lands.
But as Baldyr closes in, catastrophe charges Orïsha’s shores. It will take everything Zélie has to face her final enemy and save her people before the Skulls annihilate them for good.
BLOOD SCION
Author: Deborah Falaye
Genre: FICTION
This is what they deserve. They wanted me to be a monster. I will be the worst monster they ever created.
15-year-old Sloane can incinerate an enemy at will—she is a Scion, a descendant of the ancient Orisha gods.
Under the Lucis’ brutal rule, her identity means her death if her powers are discovered. But when she is forcibly conscripted into the Lucis army on her fifteenth birthday, Sloane sees a new opportunity: to overcome the bloody challenges of Lucis training and destroy them from within.
Sloane rises through the ranks and gains strength but, in doing so, risks something greater: losing herself entirely, and becoming the very monster that she abhors.
Cassava Republic Press is proud to announce the launch of their inaugural $20,000 Global Black Women’s Non-Fiction Manuscript Prize dedicated to exceptional works by Black women. Deadline: 30th June 2024. Learn more here.
CAGED OCEAN DUB: GLINTS & STORIES
AUTHOR: DARE SEGUN FALOWO
GENRE: FICTION
There are dragons in Lagos and witches who wear their sons’ skins, while an alliance of otherworldly beings are collecting intelligent life forms in the depths of the universe. Falowo’s poetically precise language and spine-tingling plot twists are reminiscent of both Poe and Kafka as they tackle themes of belonging, abusive maternal relationships, and tragic love in an unforgettable literary adventure.
THE HOUSE OF RUST
AUTHOR: Khadija Abdalla Bajaber
GENRE: FICTION
The House of Rust is an enchanting novel about a Hadrami girl in Mombasa. When her fisherman father goes missing, Aisha takes to the sea on a magical boat made of a skeleton to rescue him. She is guided by a talking scholar’s cat (and soon crows, goats, and other animals all have their say, too).
On this journey Aisha meets three terrifying sea monsters. After she survives a final confrontation with Baba wa Papa, the father of all sharks, she rescues her own father, and hopes that life will return to normal. But at home, things only grow stranger.
CHILDREN OF QUICKSANDS
AUTHOR: Efua Traoré
GENRE: FICTION
Simi is sent to stay with her grandmother in a remote village deep in the forests of Nigeria. Witch-like and tight-lipped about the past, her grandmother hints at a tragic family secret but won’t tell Simi the truth. Simi is desperate to discover it for herself, but it’s only when she’s caught in the red quicksand of a forbidden lake that her adventure truly begins. Along with new friends, Jay and Bubu, Simi must bring her family back together and restore peace to the village.
Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon
AUTHOR: WOLE TALABI
GENRE: FICTION
Shigidi is a disgruntled and demotivated nightmare god in the Orisha spirit company, reluctantly answering prayers of his few remaining believers to maintain his existence long enough to find his next drink. When he meets Nneoma, a sort-of succubus with a long and secretive past, everything changes for him.
Together, they attempt to break free of his obligations and the restrictions that have bound him to his godhood and navigate the parameters of their new relationship in the shadow of her past. But the elder gods that run the Orisha spirit company have other plans for Shigidi, and they are not all aligned-or good.
From the boisterous streets of Lagos to the swanky rooftop bars of Singapore and the secret spaces of London, Shigidi and Nneoma will encounter old acquaintances, rival gods, strange creatures, and manipulative magicians as they are drawn into a web of revenge, spirit business, and a spectacular heist across two worlds that will change Shigidi’s understanding of himself forever and determine the fate of the Orisha spirit company. Read our review of this book here.