Twelve year old Serwa Boateng catches fireflies. Unlike, the usually harmless summer activity, for Serwa it can be life or death. The fireflies she hunts are really shapeshifting vampires that prey on the innocent. They drain their victim's blood and possess their minds. Serwa and her parents have been protecting people from these threats for years in silence and secrecy.
Serwa is the best slayer for her age and she knows more about combat than things "normal" children do. However, everything changes when a witch destroys her home while searching for a drum that can bring about mass destruction. Instead of taking Serwa with them, her parents decide to leave her with her extended family for her own safety, while they search for the witch. Serwa is disappointed that she won't be joining her parents in the hunt. Serwa finds herself out of her element dealing with going to school and managing friendships.
When Serwa adjusts to her new norm, she realizes a vampire has infiltrated her school. After Serwa was unsuccessful at removing the vampire on her own, she decides to recruit a few friends to help. Will Serwa be able to fight the vampire with the help of her new friends?
I thought the book was an interesting read. I enjoyed reading about mythology and customs from Ghana. I loved that the author included an in depth informational guide about her culture. The beginning was a bit slow but, it gradually got better. I enjoyed reading how Serwa grew into her own independent person and adapted to her new surroundings. I liked how the book showed different sides of "good and evil" and none was portrayed as just good or bad but, shades of grey. I look forward to seeing how the series progresses.
**Disclosure - I received a free book in exchange for an honest opinion**
Author: Roseanne A. Brown
Pub. Date: September 6, 2022
Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 400
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org
Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents best-selling YA author Roseanne A. Brown's middle grade debut about a pre-teen vampire slayer with a strong helping of Ghanaian folklore.
For most kids, catching fireflies is a fun summer activity. For twelve-year-old Serwa Boateng, it's a matter of life and death.
That's because Serwa knows that some fireflies are really adze, shapeshifting
vampires from the forests of Southeastern Ghana. Adze prey on the blood of
innocents, possessing their minds and turning them into hulking monsters, and
for generations, slayers like Serwa and her parents have protected an unknowing
public from their threats.
Serwa is the best adze slayer her age, and she knew how to use a crossbow
before she could even ride a bike. But when an obayifo (witch) destroys her
childhood home while searching for a drum, do Serwa's parents take her with
them on their quest to defeat her? No. Instead, they dump Serwa with her hippie
aunt and cryptic-obsessed cousin in the middle of Nowheresville, Maryland
"for her own safety." Now, instead of crossbows and battle armor,
she's dealing with mean girls and algebra, and for the first time in her life
she doesn't have to carry a staff everywhere she goes, which is . . . kind of
nice, actually.
Just as Serwa starts to get the hang of this whole normal girl who
doesn't punch vampires every day thing, an adze infiltrates her
school. It's up to her to whip some of her classmates into monster-fighting
shape before all of them become firefly food. And when she uncovers a secret
that upends everything she thought she knew about her family's role in the
slayer vs. adze war, Serwa will have to decide which side of herself--normal
girl or slayer--is the right one.
After all, seventh grade is hard enough without adding vampires to the mix.
About Roseanne A. Brown:
Roseanne
“Rosie” A. Brown was born in Kumasi, Ghana and immigrated to the wild jungles
of central Maryland as a child. She graduated from the University of Maryland
with a Bachelor’s in Journalism and was also a teaching assistant for the
school’s Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House program. Her debut novel A Song of
Wraiths and Ruin was an instant New York Times Bestseller, an Indie Bestseller,
and received six starred reviews. She has worked with Marvel, Star Wars, and
Disney among other publishers.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub
Giveaway Details:
1 winner
will receive a finished copy of SERWA BOATENG'S GUIDE TO VAMPIRE HUNTING, US
Only.
Ends October 7th, midnight EST.
a Rafflecopter giveawayTour Schedule:
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