When I first fell in love with urban fantasy stories, I began longing for books which had great fantastical elements but were based closer to home , rather than in the typical American or British backdrop. I found a lot of African fiction, but rarely found anything targeted at young adults. There were either folk stories for very young readers, or depressing case study type stories, often strictly set in rural Africa and seemed to simply check all the NGO interest boxes – poverty, AIDS, and tragedy. While these stories were often well written and important in highlighting the issues, they were far too monotonous for me when it came to mood and pacing. They became clichés of the "hut and dust" Africa, leaving the cities that I've lived in largely invisible in the narratives... or else the urban locations featured as a strange contrast for the village based main characters. I wanted stories with the pace, creativity, and excitement of Harry Potter, ...
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