First, some confessions: First, this is a Coming of Age novel about a young African girl. I am a middle-aged white male. I am not the target demographic for this book, nor will I pretend to be. I'll give you my reaction, and speculate about the possible reactions of a member of the target demographic. I've actually met a few, but I am wholly unqualified for this task. My target demographic in writing this is other middle-aged comic nerds who might be considering reading this, or, better still, giving it to a young friend or relative who might be a more suitable audience.
Second, the title character is a younger version of someone who will later be an important member of Marvel's X-Men. I have a lot of complicated issues regarding the X-Men, and while they're not relevant to this book, I must acknowledge my antipathy as well as the fact that I'm not as well versed in X-Men lore as might be desired for this task.
I'm aware that Storm, true name Ororo, grew up as a scavenger and thief on the back streets of Cairo before her super powers manifested. She was later worshipped as a Goddess before being recruited into Professor X's team of mutants, the X-Men. Decades later (real time, not Comic Book Time) she married T'Challa, the Black Panther. At the time I thought this to be rather contrived. Marvel's two most prominent African characters marrying, despite, to the best of my knowledge, having only limited interaction and no discernable chemistry beforehand, or indeed, after. Perhaps this is my ignorance showing. I'm not a close follower of either character.
The story tells how Ororo, who is half American, which I'd never known, but Wikipedia assures me is canonical, was orphaned and learned to survive on the streets by finding a new family among the street kids of Cairo. When her mutant powers become too obvious to conceal, she attracts the attention of bigger players, including both Professor X and Amahl Farouk, the Shadow King. While the Professor is willing to watch and wait, Farouk wants her for his own and she is forced to flee, abandoning the only family she's known for the past decade. Spurred on by rumors of a clan ruled by white-haired goddesses, he decides to seek her mother's people far to the southwest.
Fortunately, she soon runs into T'Challa, a young but supremely confident young warrior. He, too, is on a journey of self-discovery, tooling around Northern Africa on a dilapidated motorbike. He tells her of the wonders of his own country, Wakanda and helps her make her way to her homeland.
We are only privy to Ororo's inner thoughts and doubts, which may be why T'Challa appears to be so much more confident. Ororo is more introspective and emotional, easily distracted by his strong arms around her as they hide overnight in a tree to avoid the Shadow King's forces. This being a novel for young teen girls, her emotional responses to the people and situations she encounters are more important than the situations themselves.
This was the primary flaw of the book for me (a middle-aged comic book nerd). Bestselling young adult author Tiffany D. Jackson doesn't really Sell the peril of Ororo's situation, preferring to dwell on her reactions to it. The immediacy of the threat that forces her to leave Cairo is less important than the fact that she has to leave her family behind. Her growing feelings about T'Challa receive more words per page than the reality that she needs to escape the hunters threatening to enslave her. Her feelings about her growing powers are more important than the powers themselves. A member of the Target Demographic might not consider this a flaw. I plan to give my copy to one of them. When she reads it, I'll ask her.
Storm: Dawn of a Goddess, by Tiffany D. Jackson, was released earlier this month. It can be found wherever you buy books.
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