Disclaimer: This book is a participant in the Indie Ink Awards 2022 and I read it as a judge. My personal rating does not reflect its score for the contest.

Tomori Jomiloju (TJ) is a regular teenager, albeit not a very likable one. He thinks his knowledge of pop references is the only special thing about him. Soon it becomes evident there’s something else, something that’s won him the nickname “lucky charm”.

TJ Young & The Orishas series is packed with Yoruba mythology and features an African-American family and a full cast of BIPOC characters.

I’m not a fan of MG (middle grade) and I believe this played hugely into my enjoyment of it. This probably shows this was more of a me problem rather than the book itself. Having said that, it wasn’t without its flaws.

• Condescending teachers.
• Fatphobia with a character named Joshua, who’s smelly and gross and all he thinks and talks about is food. And while Josh is friendly, another overweight character is a bully.
• Some teenager with bursting pimples is called “Juice”.
• One boy is insinuated to be gay because he’s always seen with girls.

Teenagers are already insecure enough to be taught that having acne or being fat is enough reason for people to talk about them behind their backs to say how disgusting they are.

Even when I haven’t read enough MG, the tropes were clear and the execution wasn’t particularly original, making it very derivative.

It also could have been shorter. It caught my attention only after the halfway mark. It felt longer than it actually is, and that could be a problem to catch the attention of younger readers. Fortunately, the audiobook was more lively with the narrator portraying different voices and accents. Though I can’t comment on the accuracy of the accents, I enjoyed the narration, otherwise, I would’ve DNF.

I think the story would work fine as a TV series. Of course, after dealing with all the problematic stuff.