My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Nic Stone's really on a roll this year, first with her MG debut in Clean Getaway, and now, with a welcome side trip to the world of Marvel, a solo story for T'Challa's whip-smart, sharp-tongued sister Shuri. A truly all-ages adventure, Shuri takes us to Wakanda and Kenya and even London, following Shuri on a journey with her friend K'Marah, an equally wisecracking (in a way only Nic Stone could write) young Wakandan who wants to get into the Dora Milaje. The objective: figure out, before T'Challa's upcoming Challenge Day, who or what is causing the Heart-Shaped Herb, the source of the Black Panther's legendary powers, to mysteriously die off. It's a short but sweet little story, laden with feminist commentary (Shuri really wants, rightly, to prove how much she could be the Black Panther someday), extremely on-point humor that the movie version of Shuri would appreciate (all those American movie and meme jokes...), and quite a few unexpected cameos to make any and all fans smile. I was especially surprised to see a grown-up Hunter, the white boy whom T'Chaka had adopted after his family's plane crashed on Wakandan land (and made his debut in Ronald L. Smith's MG novel, Black Panther: The Young Prince), making an appearance as this particular Marvel-verse's version of the White Wolf as opposed to Bucky Barnes. The other big cameo, well, you'll have to see it for yourself, but I'm really hoping to see that particular character enter the MCU in Black Panther 2 someday - that'd be sooooooo perfect. All in all, I'm glad Nic Stone got this book out there, and I'm also really hoping to see more Shuri adventures with her name on the covers!
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