I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the SERWA BOATENG'S GUIDE TO VAMPIRE HUNTING by Roseanne A. Brown Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
About The Book:
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, Book Depository
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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.
Rating: 5 Stars
Release Date: September 6, 2022
Format: eARC (Courtesy of Disney Books and Rockstar Book Tours)
Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents (Disney-Hyperion)
Roseanne A. Brown’s middle grade debut, Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire Hunting, is a powerhouse that stands strong next to the other Rick Riordan Presents imprint titles. Ms. Brown mixes pieces of Ghanian myth and folklore with thoughtful social commentary and the trademark tween shenanigans that everyone loves at the middle grade level to kick off the series with a bang.
Serwa is the latest in a long line of vampire slayers, sworn to protect humans from adze and others who practice black magic. She’s been training with her parents (some of the best Abomofuo in history), but when they are ambushed by a rival they thought long gone her parents leave her in the supposedly quiet town of Rocky Gorge ‘for her safety’. Once there, Serwa must quickly adjust to normal tween things like sleepovers and middle school. When an adze infiltrates the school she’s forced to team up with her new friends to stop it, and decide what she wants to do when secrets her parents thought long hidden come to light.
One feature I’ve loved about every Rick Riordan Presents title is the invitation to learn more about different world cultures, and this book is no exception. Readers get to learn about the nefarious vampires, or “adze” (pronounced ah-DJEH) that live to terrorize humans. They also get to learn about the order of vampire slayers, Abomofuo (pronounced ah-boh-moh-FWO) that exist to protect humans from the adze and other practitioners of black magic. There are also references to gods like Anansi (I noticed the Tristan Strong reference!), mmoatia, and obafiyos. As a side note, for readers (like me) who have no idea how to properly pronounce some of the Twi words, the author has provided a convenient glossary (and pronunciation guide) at the back of the book for reference.
“Some people don’t need a vampire playing around in their head to get them to do bad things. They just want to treat others however they like. And the only way to win against them is to live your life the way you want to, because nothing makes them madder than knowing they can’t get to you.”
While this book undoubtedly serves as an introduction to Ghanian folklore, Ms. Brown also takes the time to bring up some relevant social issues (in a very middle grade friendly way). For example, she brings up some of the issues that Black people face in a predominantly white America. When Serwa goes to middle school for the first time, she has to deal with a very obviously racist teacher (who’s also very much in denial about her own racism). The teacher uses her kindness to one of the students (who is a person of color) to justify being unkind to everyone else, and unfortunately that’s not uncommon to see at any age. She also acknowledges that while everyone who is a person of color inevitably faces problems of this kind, Black people tend to have it worse. I appreciated the reminder that it’s an awkward conversation (and “not nearly as fun as talking about magic or battle strategy”) but still an important one to have at all ages. Some of the other commentary includes how the country has tried to cover up its darker past with shiny new things (Serwa’s school is built on the site of a former slave plantation), and how the existence of one religion doesn’t have to take away from all the other belief systems in the world.
The humor and the heart in this book is evident. Ms. Brown’s ability to create characters (and a world) such that you can’t help but care about them is impressive. I was giggling to learn about Boulder’s obsession with reality TV, and quite amused when they used the ego of the goddesses' against them. There are other small features of the book, like using an abandoned theme park as a training ground (amazing choice) or enchanting Barbies to be training dummies that really helped tie the whole story together in my opinion.
Overall, this was a fantastic middle grade debut for Roseanne A. Brown! If you love action-packed humorous fantasy novels that explore cultural mythology (and some more modern day social issues) than Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire Hunting (or really any book in the RRP imprint would be a great choice). After that painful cliffhanger (probably in my top five middle grade cliffhangers of all time, though not as heart wrenching as the cliffhanger in The Mark of Athena), I’m beyond excited to read the sequel Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Witchcraft and Mayhem next year so I can figure out what happens next.
Thank you to the author Roseanne A. Brown, the publisher Disney Books, Rick Riordan Presents, and Jaime at Rockstar Book Tours for providing me with a complimentary review copy. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review immensely! Please note - I voluntarily read and reviewed Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire Hunting. All opinions expressed in the review are my own and not influenced in any way.
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:
Week One:
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9/1/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/2/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/3/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
Week Two:
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9/4/2022 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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9/5/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/6/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/7/2022 |
IG Review |
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9/8/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/9/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/10/2022 |
IG Review |
Week Three:
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9/11/2022 |
TikTok Review/IG Post |
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9/12/2022 |
Review |
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9/13/2022 |
Review |
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9/14/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/15/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/16/2022 |
Review |
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9/17/2022 |
IG Review |
Week Four:
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9/18/2022 |
Review |
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9/19/2022 |
Review |
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9/20/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/21/2022 |
IG Spotlight |
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9/22/2022 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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9/23/2022 |
IG Review |
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9/24/2022 |
IG Review |
Week Five:
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9/25/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/26/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/27/2022 |
Review |
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9/28/2022 |
YouTube Review/IG Post |
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9/29/2022 |
IG Review/TikTok Post |
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9/30/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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