Summary:
Bata, a young girl tormented by nightmares, wakes up one night to find herself standing sentinel before her cousin's door. Her cousin is to get married the next morning, but only if she can escape the murderous attack of a ghost-bride, who used to be engaged to her groom.
A supernatural possession helps Bata battle and vanquish the vengeful ghost-bride, and following a botched exorcism, she is transported to Ibaja-La, the realm of dead brides. There, she receives secret powers to fight malevolent ghost-brides before being sent back to the human realm, where she must learn to harness her new abilities as she strives to protect those whom she loves.
My Thoughts:
Bata, at eleven years old, is chosen as a bride sentinel. When her family learns of this, her father takes her to medicine man Dibia, who helps her connect with the spirits to gain her powers. But when something goes wrong and Bata is in Ibaja-La for longer than supposed to be, she comes back to the mortal world with different eyes and speaking a different language. While this is going on, one of her mothers is planning on running away with another man. But the man plans to kill her mother and take her money. When the mother dies, the man's fiancee is plagued by a vengeful ghost-bride, and Bata must save her.
This was a very interesting concept, but the book dwelled a bit too much in the land of the ghost-brides and not enough time in the mortal world. Once Bata returns to the mortal world, she doesn't really use her abilities until the end of the book, which was different than what was advertised on the summary of the book itself. However, it was a quick and fun read, as well as a look into African culture.
My Rating: 3 stars
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