THE CIVILIZATION

A 17-year-old Black Canadian girl with roots in an African country “not located on any maps” attempts to find her grandfather and is drawn into another world, where a battle rages against darkness.

Kadsa Abasi’s Grandpa Edoje wants her to care as much as he does about finding his homeland; he’s searched across the continent of Africa for a way back. During their exploration of a cave in Chad, he at last finds a portal that will allow him to return to Marut. Grandpa Edoje, who’s said “she’d make a good godtalker,” gives Kadsa a large crystal. But Kadsa, whose father is dead, starts researching her mother—and she discovers troubling information that implicates her grandfather in the events that led to their separation. Before they can be reunited, however, Kadsa spies something frightening as she gazes into the crystal: Grandpa Edoje appears to be fighting with a shaman they met in the cave. She returns to the site of the portal, where the shaman tries to take the crystal from her. In the subsequent struggle, Kadsa ends up in Marut, a world that’s struggling under the Dark Enchantment of Akwanshi, a power-hungry priestess—and some see Kadsa as their long-awaited source of salvation. The story’s worldbuilding and action sequences are engaging, although the uneven character development detracts from the narrative. Nevertheless, genre fans will find much to enjoy.

An original blend of African-inspired mysticism and adventure.