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Again, as with book one, the action is fast and you are left desperate to keep reading to know what’s happening next. If you’ve already read book 1 you must read this one and I was delighted to see that there will be a book 3 in 2024! However while they are both playing in the water something happens and Cheyenne ends up in distress. Onyeka, not a strong swimmer to begin with, cannot sit by while her best friend drowns. She has to help her, thus she learns the magic power of her hair. Having recently finished Tolá Okogwu’s first installment of Onyeka I was eager to begin Onyeka and the Rise of the Rebels. Book 2 is brilliant, yet another middle grade wonder for readers of around 8 years plus. Onyeka and the Rise of the Rebels Synopsis Onyeka and the Rise of the Rebels continues just where we left off in book 1. I want to be careful not to give away any spoilers for either book 1 or 2. Here goes… Onyeka and the rest of Nchebe are on the run. Each safe haven becomes more perilous. Soon they are forced to ally themselves with the most unlikely of people to try and help return Niyì’s Ike superpower and save those they love. Not to mention trying to enlighten and save the whole Solari race.
What had me less enthusiastic, however, was the ending. Imagine any derivative kids' film where the generic villain reveals their dastardly evil plan and then gets foiled at the last second by sheer stupidity. That's ONYEKA's climax. The villain first thoroughly underestimates Onyeka and friends. Powers get hurled around everywhere in a confusing word mishmash of limbs and bodies, and even though there are a dozen or so trained adults who presumably know the dangers of fighting Solari as they understand what Ike is, they lose badly to four thirteen-year-olds. Then the villain gets captured, only to mysteriously manage to escape so there can be higher stakes in the second book. I wasn't expecting anything hugely mind-blowing, but come on, maybe something a little more exciting than that? It’s thoroughly fulfilling getting to know the characters we met in the first book even more deeply. Tolá masterly creates such vivid imagery of her characters in your mind. Each so unique with diverse skills that blend together wonderfully. Cheyenne’s got Turner’s syndrome, and she has to take special hormones to help her grow properly. Her mouth is plenty big though. I once watched her shut down a Year Eleven girl with just one sentence. The girl was chatting about my hair, so I guess she deserved it. My eyebrows lift at her tone, but she’s right, and I don’t want to mess up her special day. I snatch the ugly cap from her.Her eyes shift to my head and the tangle of curls, coils, and kinks sitting on top. It springs straight out of my head in an impressive riot that Mum finds overwhelming, so I rarely leave it loose. My hair has broken more combs, trashed more hair dryers, and made more hairstylists cry than I can count… so maybe Mum has a point. An inspiring, original and exciting roller coaster of a book.’ Katie Tsang, co-author of Dragon Mountain
I don’t fit in here either, but it’s not always a bad thing” she replies with a grin. “Besides, it’s not as if you can change who you are, so you might as well own it.” Onyeka is the superhero you’ve been waiting for.’ Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Girl of Ink and Stars The only objective issue I can highlight is that the characters, aside from Onyeka, fell a bit flat. They all had one main characteristic each and that was that; I couldn’t tell them apart from time to time and that was a shame, because I liked Onyeka as a main character. She was extremely flawed and a bit too stubborn, but she was a strong MC and I would have liked all the other characters to be as well built as she was. Seeing as this is just the first book in a series, maybe they will be more developed in later instalments.I ignored the bit about my rubbish swimming skills because she was right and I’d already told Cheyenne as much. Mum was also right about the ear infections. Cheyenne gets them a lot because of the Turner’s syndrome.
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