The Dark Lady

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I just feel like, had Akala put more focus on the magic of this world - maybe even explained it and developed it a little better - then this book would've been an outstanding read for me. But he didn't, so that definitely made this story fall flat in that aspect. Akala receives honorary doctorate | The Voice Online". Archive.voice-online.co.uk. 24 June 2018 . Retrieved 21 May 2020. Webb, Adam. "BBC - Music - Review of Akala - It's Not a Rumour". www.bbc.co.uk . Retrieved 17 April 2020. Henry faces challenges and learns a lot about himself and those around him. I confess the melodramatic climax put me off somewhat, especially Henry’s sudden onset of naivety. However, considering the target age group, I’m probably overthinking it. The ending is either a new beginning or a cliffhanger for a sequel, I’m not sure which. Akala". Brighton.ac.uk . Retrieved 21 May 2020. He told graduates: "I can't lie, I often envy those of you who do get to go, people like you … who are about to remake the world, or at least this country. That's how serious these four years are. What will you do with the time you spent here and the education you have been privileged to be loaned by the rest of society?

Henry’s rivalry and outsider status engaged me as a reader from the outset. His journey is incredible but then so are his magic powers. Kingslee James McLean Daley, better known by the stage name Akala, is an English rapper, author, poet, and political activist. The Nottinghill Carnival takes central stage in this story about families, memories and the power of dance and festivals. Author Yaba Badoe tells... The Dark Lady might be Akala’s first YA fiction, but it’s unlikely to be his last. Writing books that young adults feel they have an affinity with is, he says, “something I’ve always wanted to do, and will probably do more of.”Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19thed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p.18. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. This brilliant, at times brutal, first novel from the amazing imagination that is Akala, will glue you to your seat as you are hurled into a time when London stank and boys like Henry were forced to find their own route through the tangled streets and out the other side. Daley attributes his escape from poverty not to personal exceptionalism but to the vagaries and chaotic injustice of race, class and privilege. [46] Daley asserts that Britain is not a meritocracy where the barriers of race and class can be simply overcome through hard work and perseverance. He explains his success as the absurd and unexpected consequence of an unequal system that allows the rise of a few while leaving behind the many, no matter how brilliant they are. He claims several times in the book that some of his friends could have been academics or scientists if the obstacles of what he terms 'structural racism' and 'class oppression' had not been there. [47] Visions [ edit ] Books played such an important role in my life growing up,” reflects Akala over Zoom. “I don’t think there’s any way of overstating how important that is.” Following on from his bestselling nonfiction, Natives: Race & Class in the Ruins of Empire, the BAFTA and MOBO award-winning artist, writer, and social entrepreneur has made his first foray into Young Adult fiction. Bestselling author Alexandra Christo, author of TikTok sensation To Kill a Kingdom, introduces her new book, The Night Hunt (Hot Key Books), a dark...

Brilliantly atmospheric debut YA novel...The Dark Lady is a compelling rollercoaster of a journey. It's incredibly atmospheric, you feel transported to the sights, sounds and smells of Shakespearean London, all thanks to the incredibly engaging storytelling of Akala. It's full of guilt, revenge and a little bit of magic, the perfect combination for this sophisticated YA historical novel. You simply won't be able to put this one down. Cue the sequel!' - ReadingZoneHenry is an orphan, an outsider, a thief. He is also a fifteen-year-old invested with magical powers ...' Love the references to Shakespeare. The use of Tudor street speak is a great way of gently exposing YAs to the language of the period in an accessible way. Daley got his stage name from Acala, a Buddhist term for "immovable", [17] and started releasing music in 2003 from his own independent music label, Illa State Records. He released his first mixtape, The War Mixtape, in 2004. [18] The book reads like an incredibly long intro and spends inordinate amounts of time on pointless exposition, long-winded and repetitive descriptions of London and life in Tudor times (which I ought to have found interesting, given how much the subject generally fascinates me), and scenarios that contribute little or nothing to story or character development.

Author Anna Kemp introduces The Hollow Hills, the sequel to her dark magical tale, Into Goblyn Wood. And the thing is, because he has such a poorly defined personality, you really don't care much about Henry either. In fact, I found him rather irritating. So there’s a lot of potential here, but it didn’t quite work for me. More work needed to go into building up the secondary characters and the magic system so that they didn’t feel like incidental add-ins. More importantly though, there needs to be a main narrative hook and I suspect that won’t materialise until the sequel, as this is certainly not a stand alone. It’s almost like it’s a prequel to the action really starting rather than a full novel in and of its own right. Written with the kind of lyrical dexterity and power that one would expect from Akala, The Dark Lady references the Bard's sonnets as well as crafting an uncompromising of street life in Renaissance England' - All About IpswichWhilst at first that did not sound impressive to me whatsoever, it's as the story goes on that you realise the significance of such a talent in a world - but more so, in a time - such as this one. Agnes finds out that Henry has punched mathew and tries to punish him but when Joan steps him, she’s told him to write 10.000 words for punishment, without his powers. when Henry went to go see one of the plays he knew then that he is weathly and and not poor like he used to be.

The Dark Lady, like much of Akala’s work, compares Shakespeare’s time with contemporary England. There are many parallels including the rising racism and poverty. And calls to deport people who aren’t white, regardless of how long their families have lived in England. Sex Although Henry uses the services of a sex worker, sex is not explicit. By the time children are in middle school they should be aware of how babies are made and that sex can be enjoyable. For a book that appears aimed at middle school and high schoolers I would like some kind of safe sex message, which is conspicuous by its absence. And yet I can’t think of a suitable Elizabethan way of discussing safe sex. At least Henry’s sex is completely consensual. The verdict He has a lot in common with a slew of other badly written YA protagonists who are written not as actual people, but as tools the authors can use how and when it suits them. These protagonists can't have too much personality, because if they do, the authors have to organise the plot so that the protagonist actually works within it. As it is, Akala, like many other bad YA authors, simply makes his main character fit whatever situation he wants him to.

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Ablaze with atmosphere and adventure, Akala’s The Dark Ladyis a radiant, resonant tale of magic, a missing mother, and treachery in Elizabethan London. But before that he met Lucia and she offered to sell the golden bird and meet him before 12 so she could come to Venice with him.