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Mwikali and the Forbidden Mask
12-year-old Mwikali is moving to a new school in Nairobi and just wants her life to be normal. But when she meets Soni, Odwar and Xirsi who reveal that she is descended from an ancient bloodline of legendary Kenyan warriors, all hope of a normal life fades. Now, with an array of malign forces massing, Mwikali must delve deep into the past to discover her ancestry, learn to harness her extraordinary powers, and enter a race against time to defeat a village elder who has turned to dark magic in an effort to gain ultimate power...
A fantasy adventure that will keep you on the edge of your seat right to the moment of its breathtaking conclusion!
A fantasy adventure that will keep you on the edge of your seat right to the moment of its breathtaking conclusion!
228 pages, Hardcover
Published October 11, 2022
1 person is currently reading
80 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
October 4, 2022
4.5 ⭐️
Such a page turner! I really enjoyed this adventure.
Such a page turner! I really enjoyed this adventure.
Read
December 23, 2022So excited about this accessible length fantasy! Easy booktalk sell and a page-turner. Bringing this one to all my upper-3rd and 4th grade booktalks.
Read
May 4, 2025Way above my reading age ‼️‼️
November 12, 2022
E ARC provided by Netgalley
Mwikali's mother has traveled around the world working for an airline, so she has attended many different schools. She is apprehensive about moving back to Kenya, where her mother is from and where she was born, although it's also a little bit of a relief to think that perhaps she will finally fit in somewhere. She is enrolled in the prestigious Savanna Academy and has an Auntie (a nanny) who gets her off to school when her mother has to travel for work, but she's still worried about an incident that occurred at her old school. Mwikali loves to draw and has a sketchbook that her mother gave her, but when she drew a picture of her best friend in the hospital, she ended up there in real life. Mwikali blames herself and is afraid to make other friends because of it. At school, she has an odd interaction with some of her classmates, who leave her a note that say "We know what you are."! Because she has already run afoul of a prefect, Charo, who has already caused her to miss her bus home, Mwikali is not in a rush to get to know Soni, Odwar and Xirsi. However, they tell her that she is descended from an ancient bloodline of legendary Kenyan warriors, the Intasimi, and that she doesn't cause things to happen by drawing them, but is just predicting what will be. The children have looked to Mr. Lemayian for help honing their powers. Mwikali is a seer, and the others have various supernatural gifts. When they realize that the Red Oloibon has been released and the only way to stop him from wreaking his evil upon the world is to find the Forbidden Mask and destroy it, the four are willing to try to accomplish this within the very small time frame they have, even though their powers aren't refined. In the process, Mwikali finds out about her grandmothers, father, and Kenyan heritage as well as some of the legends surrounding her powers. Will the four be able to save the world before nightfall?
Strengths: I love reading books set in other parts of the world and getting small details like bubblegum flavored milk boxes, Kenya's Jamhuri Day, and the public transportation. Mwikali's itinerant childhood and international upbringing will speak to some of my students who have a similar background and be a revalation to other readers who have never left Ohio. Her apprehension about her new school is realistic, but it's good to see that she quickly makes friends, and she remains positive. The fact that her powers and some needed artifacts were tied to her unknown family history added another layer of interest.
Weaknesses: There was a fairly standard middle grade fantasy; children get powers in middle school and have to use them to save the world. I knew immediately who the villain would be.
What I really think: This book is a good choice for readers who want to try fantasy books but haven't read too many of them, and who are interested in life in different parts of the world. Young readers who are just sure that they will soon get an invitation to hone their own magical powers, like the characters in Clayton's The Marvelers, Dumas' Wildseed Witch, and Okogwu's Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun will root for Mwikali as she navigates a new middle school while saving the world!
Mwikali's mother has traveled around the world working for an airline, so she has attended many different schools. She is apprehensive about moving back to Kenya, where her mother is from and where she was born, although it's also a little bit of a relief to think that perhaps she will finally fit in somewhere. She is enrolled in the prestigious Savanna Academy and has an Auntie (a nanny) who gets her off to school when her mother has to travel for work, but she's still worried about an incident that occurred at her old school. Mwikali loves to draw and has a sketchbook that her mother gave her, but when she drew a picture of her best friend in the hospital, she ended up there in real life. Mwikali blames herself and is afraid to make other friends because of it. At school, she has an odd interaction with some of her classmates, who leave her a note that say "We know what you are."! Because she has already run afoul of a prefect, Charo, who has already caused her to miss her bus home, Mwikali is not in a rush to get to know Soni, Odwar and Xirsi. However, they tell her that she is descended from an ancient bloodline of legendary Kenyan warriors, the Intasimi, and that she doesn't cause things to happen by drawing them, but is just predicting what will be. The children have looked to Mr. Lemayian for help honing their powers. Mwikali is a seer, and the others have various supernatural gifts. When they realize that the Red Oloibon has been released and the only way to stop him from wreaking his evil upon the world is to find the Forbidden Mask and destroy it, the four are willing to try to accomplish this within the very small time frame they have, even though their powers aren't refined. In the process, Mwikali finds out about her grandmothers, father, and Kenyan heritage as well as some of the legends surrounding her powers. Will the four be able to save the world before nightfall?
Strengths: I love reading books set in other parts of the world and getting small details like bubblegum flavored milk boxes, Kenya's Jamhuri Day, and the public transportation. Mwikali's itinerant childhood and international upbringing will speak to some of my students who have a similar background and be a revalation to other readers who have never left Ohio. Her apprehension about her new school is realistic, but it's good to see that she quickly makes friends, and she remains positive. The fact that her powers and some needed artifacts were tied to her unknown family history added another layer of interest.
Weaknesses: There was a fairly standard middle grade fantasy; children get powers in middle school and have to use them to save the world. I knew immediately who the villain would be.
What I really think: This book is a good choice for readers who want to try fantasy books but haven't read too many of them, and who are interested in life in different parts of the world. Young readers who are just sure that they will soon get an invitation to hone their own magical powers, like the characters in Clayton's The Marvelers, Dumas' Wildseed Witch, and Okogwu's Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun will root for Mwikali as she navigates a new middle school while saving the world!
February 17, 2023
Mwikali is a 12-year-old child born in Kenya who has lived all over the world with her single mother, who works for an airline company. Finally they are able to settle down in their hometown of Nairobi, but Mwikali has been an outsider for so long that she is unsure she will belong in this community, either, even though her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother are from the same area. Her dad was too, but he has vanished without explanation.
What's really on her mind is the freakish thing she did at her last school, something that confused and disturbed her so deeply that she is working hard to make sure nothing like it happens again; she drew her best friend in the hospital just a few hours before she ended up in the hospital!
Attentive readers will figure out before Mwikali does that she doesn't *cause* disasters, she merely *predicts* them. Nevertheless, it is satisfying that her eyes are opened by a crew of other kids her age that also all have their own unique abilities. Each step of Mwikali's journal feels authentic to the age - obsessing over the worst-case possibility, even when a more-likely possibility is less shame- and guilt-inducing.
I do not have enough knowledge to know how much of the backstory of past heroes - the ancestors of the four classmates - is based on cultural traditions of Kenya, but it feels cohesive and surely the characterizations and specific stories reflect the beloved East African mythology of the author's Kenyan home culture.
Bicultural Shiko Nguru - born and raised in Kenya, but spent some years of her childhood in the U.S. - has crafted a story that seems like it would appeal equally to both American and Kenyan young readers. The cover illustration gives a good feeling of the vibe of the story.
What's really on her mind is the freakish thing she did at her last school, something that confused and disturbed her so deeply that she is working hard to make sure nothing like it happens again; she drew her best friend in the hospital just a few hours before she ended up in the hospital!
Attentive readers will figure out before Mwikali does that she doesn't *cause* disasters, she merely *predicts* them. Nevertheless, it is satisfying that her eyes are opened by a crew of other kids her age that also all have their own unique abilities. Each step of Mwikali's journal feels authentic to the age - obsessing over the worst-case possibility, even when a more-likely possibility is less shame- and guilt-inducing.
I do not have enough knowledge to know how much of the backstory of past heroes - the ancestors of the four classmates - is based on cultural traditions of Kenya, but it feels cohesive and surely the characterizations and specific stories reflect the beloved East African mythology of the author's Kenyan home culture.
Bicultural Shiko Nguru - born and raised in Kenya, but spent some years of her childhood in the U.S. - has crafted a story that seems like it would appeal equally to both American and Kenyan young readers. The cover illustration gives a good feeling of the vibe of the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2025
There's so many west African fantasy stories coming out now, and it's refreshing to see one from East Africa. I liked this book a lot at the beginning but felt it didn't end as well as it began.
Modern day Kenya. African author. Fantasy middle grade. Like a Kenyan Percy Jackson. Setting feels strong. Main character solid. Other characters relatively flat. Plot somewhat predictable but interesting. Learning about Kenyan mythology was cool!
The story got a bit didactic towards the end - and having the epic ancient ancestor appear only to give a 21st-century-style pep talk about believing in yourself felt pretty lame. Plus there were a number of other cheesy things like characters saying #girlpower. I did appreciate that the main character, while being a "strong female lead" is not your typical angry, sassy female lead who gets rewarded for breaking rules and being rude. She has strength and she has goals AND she talks respectfully to adults! Who knew it was possible?!
That magic is mostly in the realm of legendary figures, mythology, and superpower type abolities. But parent should note that the main character uses a divination horn given to her by a traditional healer, and uses it to predict the future.
Modern day Kenya. African author. Fantasy middle grade. Like a Kenyan Percy Jackson. Setting feels strong. Main character solid. Other characters relatively flat. Plot somewhat predictable but interesting. Learning about Kenyan mythology was cool!
The story got a bit didactic towards the end - and having the epic ancient ancestor appear only to give a 21st-century-style pep talk about believing in yourself felt pretty lame. Plus there were a number of other cheesy things like characters saying #girlpower. I did appreciate that the main character, while being a "strong female lead" is not your typical angry, sassy female lead who gets rewarded for breaking rules and being rude. She has strength and she has goals AND she talks respectfully to adults! Who knew it was possible?!
That magic is mostly in the realm of legendary figures, mythology, and superpower type abolities. But parent should note that the main character uses a divination horn given to her by a traditional healer, and uses it to predict the future.
October 2, 2022
This Middle Grade fantasy tells the story of Mwikali, a young girl who has traveled and moved to many different schools, seeing as her mother works for an airline. She feels unsure about returning to Kenya, the place she was born, but hopes that this change may mean she will fit in better than in some of her previous schools. Mwikali enjoys drawing, but she is worried that her pictures are going to predict the future. In her old school, she drew a picture of her best friend in the hospital, and then her friend ended up needing to be hospitalized. As a result, she is afraid to make friends in her new school and worried that someone might find out about the power of her drawings. As the story progresses she learns that she descends from a group of legendary warriors in Kenya and that her drawing power might just be real.
I love the cultural and geographical elements of this story, as it will bring readers to new places to learn about different groups of people. I also like that it is a fantasy but it is set in the real world. I think this is perfect for middle grade readers! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book!
I love the cultural and geographical elements of this story, as it will bring readers to new places to learn about different groups of people. I also like that it is a fantasy but it is set in the real world. I think this is perfect for middle grade readers! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book!
November 13, 2022
This is a great novel for the global schools I work with. Like so many of their students, Mwikali is a third culture kid, a TCK, coming to live in the passport country where she was born but that feels very much like a foreign land. I love that she's Kenyan. So many of the TCK characters in books are American or British. In many ways, Nguru's book follows a tried and true pattern: a group of kids discovers that they have unique powers and learns to work together to defeat evil. Of course, as with any good series, the evil is only temporarily defeated in this first book. It's a good sign that I already am wishing for the next in the series. As an adult reader, I did feel like there were a few plot gaps, especially in terms of what happened to Mwikali's dad. But these are easy to overlook as readers get caught up in the engaging characters, authentic Kenyan setting, and a fascinating fantasy story with a lot of action. Recommended for fans of Aru Shah and Tristan Strong.
December 19, 2024
A Kenyan-set fantasy inspired by East African mythology.
After moving from the U.S. to Kenya with her mother, Mwikali learns that her gift of second sight doesn't make her a freak but a powerful Intasimi warrior capable of saving the world. And upon meeting monsters at her new school who harbor nefarious plans, Mwikali joins a trio of other magically gifted kids to do just that.
I enjoyed the unique setting and I think that Mwikali's emotional journey (her self-doubt, her struggles to fit in, her run-ins with bullies) will resonate with young readers.
After moving from the U.S. to Kenya with her mother, Mwikali learns that her gift of second sight doesn't make her a freak but a powerful Intasimi warrior capable of saving the world. And upon meeting monsters at her new school who harbor nefarious plans, Mwikali joins a trio of other magically gifted kids to do just that.
I enjoyed the unique setting and I think that Mwikali's emotional journey (her self-doubt, her struggles to fit in, her run-ins with bullies) will resonate with young readers.
September 29, 2024
I really enjoyed the story line, if you’ve watched me on Apple TV, it really does give off the same vibe… new school, new friends, new abilities you didn’t know you had.
The power going out when they were in the middle of figuring out how to save the world was hilarious, trust KPLC to interrupt 😂
Good book! I’d read the sequel for sure
The power going out when they were in the middle of figuring out how to save the world was hilarious, trust KPLC to interrupt 😂
Good book! I’d read the sequel for sure
December 7, 2023
A magical romp through Kenyan folk tradition and magic, and a real page-turner! Main characters were fully realized, with plenty of foreshadowing and excitement. The story ends with the setup for Book 2, so I hope Shiko Nguru is hard at work on the rest of the series.
December 9, 2023
A fun fantasy adventure story that follows a young girl and her move to Kenya. Through her introduction to her traditional culture and folklore, we too can learn about the interesting traditions. Friendship, honesty, and family are strong themes.
October 5, 2022
Absolutely brilliant! Full review to come to suckerforcoffe.com
November 17, 2022
What can I say, this is a gem of a book!
A page turner for sure, I can't wait for book two. I'll rate it 5/5
A page turner for sure, I can't wait for book two. I'll rate it 5/5
October 17, 2023
Loved this book that shares Kenyan history in a fantasy/mythology way. Can’t wait for the next in the series! Grades 3 and up
November 22, 2023
I found this fun and entertaining. A delightful read!
November 25, 2023
A fun, action-packed story that moves quickly. Middle grade readers are sure to enjoy the superpowers and agency the kids experience. A good book for discussing characterization and conflict.
January 31, 2024
Took me ages- far longer than it should have done! For some reason this was slow to start and never managed to fully hook me in. An accessible read for children, a cultural take on Marvel.
Want to read
April 28, 2025J FIC NGURU, S.
May 22, 2025
The beginning journey of 4 adolescents discovering their unique gifts passed on by their ancestors. Good kick start to a series about fighting monsters as a team. Would read the next one!
September 29, 2025
4/5 - Fantasy
4/5 - Juvenile
3/5 - Characters
3/5- Story
3.5/5 - Rating
4/5 - Juvenile
3/5 - Characters
3/5- Story
3.5/5 - Rating
October 31, 2025
What a fun fantasy story for elementary students! I really enjoyed reading this and can’t wait to share it with my kids.
December 16, 2025
The writing wasnt that strong for four stars, but the extra star is kudos for being a series out of Kenya. Id certainly like to read more of her when her voice matures.
March 22, 2024
Great Kenyan fantasy for pre-teen audiences.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews