5++ STARS!!

Superhero Vibes. Fantasy mixed with reality. Historical components. All this and more! My heart and mind were engaged throughout this book!

The Author, David Lee Norris, based the theme of this book on the factual historical Agojie Warriors. These women were also called Dahomey Amazons and were an all-female group in the West African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 17th to the late 19th century. Based on my internet research, they are the only all female army recorded in modern history. They were renown for their fierce combat skills, their extreme diligence, and they served as the King’s bodyguards.

The Main Female Character is Nyah who is otherwise known as Destiny, and then later on Trish. From the very first sentence we know she is more than your typical high school student. As she sits there fantasizing about the cute guy sitting near her, a sniper shoots in the classroom window. What follows is an action packed chapter which lets us know she is highly trained and capable of so much more than most kids her age. Her ability to handle herself in this moment of crisis was awe inspiring.

Nyah may be the MFC yet as any Superhero like character she needs her posse, or her allies. In this book they are Danny who is her adult guardian and serves as her ‘Alfred’, or tactical support guy. Then you have Quinn and Desi, students in her last High School who become true friends and supporters. Then like any true Superhero story you have the bad guys in the form of Bruno and Fiona who are a mob family. Roll all this into the fact that we also learn about Rose, her mother, and Esi her ancestor. WOW! So much packed into one book yet it all fit so very well together! In this book Nyah is on a journey of self discovery and acceptance of who she is and who she wants to be.

The one thing that was hard for me as I started to read was putting my desire to know more about Nyah on hold and focus on the flow of the chapters. Each chapter flips through different time periods giving a snippet to the bigger picture. Chapter 1- modern day, Chapter 2- Africa 1892 in the Akpa Village, Dahomey Kingdom. Throughout the book we switch from Nyah’s story to her ancestors, to what one might at first think are random people yet in reality are not random at all. However, after a few chapters my mind started to assimilate the information and I grew even more excited as the bigger picture unfolded. If you love a book unfolding as you read like the petals of a flower then this book is for you!

The only thing that kept me from crying in frustration at the end was the knowledge that as it says on the cover, this is only book 1. There will be more. Again, I give kudos to the author who took me on this amazing journey through time, teaching me history about amazing women, and also giving me a new Superhero to root for.

I HIGHLY recommend this book!!

I received a free copy of this book as an ARC and am voluntarily leaving a review.

AMAZON AVAILABLE 3/3/2026! https://a.co/d/021CemNS

https://sandrabooksbooksbooks.com/