I have read most (all?) of the Rick Riordan presents books thus far and I am a big fan of them all. Serwa Boateng’s Gudie to Vampire Hunting may not be my all-time favorite but it has definitely sealed a spot in the top three. Roseanne A, Brown’s middle grade debut features a pre-teen vampire slayer and Ghanian folklore. Serwa is unlike most twelve-year-old girls. She has spent most of her life traveling the US with her family hunting adze, which are a shapeshifting vampire who originated in Southeastern Ghana. However, after the first few chapters, she finds herself in an unexpected and absolutely terrifying situation. Her parents are going on their next vampire hunt without her. Serwa will be staying with her aunt and cousin in Maryland “for her own safety” and worst of all she has to start at a brand-new middle school!



Now I know I opened by saying this book is one of my favorite Rick Riordan presents stories and it is but most of the book itself is only a 3.75 of out 5 stars. The characters are interesting. The folklore is exciting. The plot moves well. The book is well written. But...it just lacks that special something. Then, you get to the end of the big boss battle and....



SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!




DO NOT READ PAST THIS POINT UNLESS YOU WANT THE BOOK’S ENDING SPOILLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





SERIOUSLY, LAST CHANCE TO TURN AROUND.



Serwa spending 90% of the book convinced that the mean, obviously racist teacher who delights in daily microaggressions is the monster. She is not. There's a great line within the text that describes something I was trying to put into words throughout the story. “Nah, some people don’t need a vampire playing around in their head to get them to do bad things. They just want to treat others however they like. And the only way to win against them is to live your life the way you want to, because nothing makes them madder than knowing they can’t get to you.” Then, Serwa discovers her parents have been lying to her for her entire life. Worse than that, they have cast a spell on her to prevent her from using the full power of her own magic. Serwa breaks the “protective” spell, wipes her friend’s memories, and runs away and learns that dark magic is not inherently bad, and “monsters” are not inherently evil by nature. This shocking twist was enough to push the book into 5-star territory and ensure I will read the sequel whenever it comes out.

Signed,



Mz. Rachel

Not so patiently waiting for book 2.

Serwa is in the family business of vampire hunting. No, not the North American, Anne Rice, Twilight, type of vampires, but the African adze, a creature that can take over a human host, and morph between its true horrifying form and the form of a firefly. Her parents home school her as they travel the world killing the bad guys.

When an obayifo (witch) gets through their home defenses, Serwa's parents go to hunt her and leave Serwa with her aunt Latricia and cousin Roxy. Worst than being left behind is that Serwa will have to attend middle school. But she figures if she can kill vampires, she can also survive middle school, right?

Of course, nothing goes right at school. Serwa and several other students get in trouble and, as their punishment, have to spend their last period each day cleaning up the campus and doing other good works. The fact that all of the students who are punished are black and brown, even though other students were involved, isn't lost on any of them. They aren't friends to begin with, but when an adze attacks them, they form a monster-fighting crew.

One of the things I really loved about this book is the discussion of good and evil, and how sometimes it's hard to tell one from the other. This is a Rick Riordan Presents book; I always enjoy learning about different cultures and mythologies from them. I learned more about adinkras (symbols that cast spells and call gods), adze, Nyame and the other gods of West Africa, some of which also are featured in the Tristan Strong series by Kwame Mbalia. But this book expanded my knowledge of the mythology of Ghana, and I absolutely loved the ending. I can't wait to read the next in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book.

Always happy to read a new Rick Riordan print book. Loved the Ghanaian culture and creatures, found our main character to be the right mix of fighter and friend.

When Serwa Boateng and her parents, members of an elite Ghanaian vampire-hunting group called the Abomofuo, suddenly find themselves on the run, fleeing for their lives, they end up in a quiet town called Rocky Gorge. Serwa's parents depart to complete a secret mission, leaving Serwa with some cousins. For the first time in her life, Serwa finds herself having to attend middle school, trying to blend in with the other students. Even worse, there is a vampire in their midst. Will Serwa be able to use her skills to find and defeat the enemy before it's too late?

This story definitely has the potential to be popular. It has so many elements students enjoy reading about, including vampires, witches, fight scenes, action, and interesting stories adapted from Ghanaian mythology. However, there is another element in the plot that was unexpected and disappointing. Unfortunately, this book contains racially divisive content woven throughout the storyline. Here is one example from a part of the book where five kids get in trouble for participating in a food fight: "the five of us were easy to blame because we aren't white." That is one way to get kids to dislike each other and be unhappy with who they are. What a harmful message. It is possible to celebrate diversity without being divisive. Come on, Disney, you can do better.

“I’ve seen High School Musical, like, nineteen times. I fight vampires on a daily basis. Compared to beings made of unspeakably evil magic, how hard can middle school really be?”

Twelve-year-old Serwa Boateng has been fighting adze, shapeshifting vampires from Ghanaian folklore, her entire life. Her parents are two of the best slayers in the world, so Serwa has been trained well. But when things are finally looking like they’re about to get truly exciting after an obayifo (witch) attacks her family, Serwa’s parents leave her at her cousin’s house in the middle of Maryland while they head off on the thrilling quest to track down the obayifo. For the first time in her life, Serwa now has to deal with the perils of middle school instead of her daily death-defying adventures. Except it looks like danger has followed her when Serwa discovers an adze in the building. Left with practically no slayer resources, Serwa turns to a mismatched group of kids to help her save the school, the town, and yes, even the world. And when she discovers a secret that flips everything she knows about magic and her family history upside down, Serwa has to fight to find the truth if she wants to defeat the forces of evil in time.

The Rick Riordan Presents imprint has done it again! I am a major fan of every single one of the stories that have come out of this imprint, and Roseanne A. Brown’s Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire Hunting is absolutely no exception. Filled to the brim with action, adventure, humor, heart, and rich Ghanaian folklore, I loved every second reading this book. I honestly wish my time in middle school had been this exciting! Serwa is a brilliant protagonist, but it was her diverse group of adze slayers/friends that really brought the heart of the story for me. Brown has crafted a fantastic novel, and after that action-packed climax, I cannot wait to read the sequel! With a such creative cast of characters, magic that flies off the page, and a plot that will blow your mind, Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire Hunting truly has something for everyone!

Content Warnings: Blood, violence, death of a loved one, racism, discussions of slavery, mentioned domestic violence, fire, anxiety, deportation, memory loss

(Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change upon final publication.)

the Rick Riordan Presents formula WORKS if you work it and this book WORKS. The snarky tone and young hero's quest format are familiar and functional and Serwa's Ghanaian specificity makes it interesting. Really fun addition to the RRP canon!

This is the real deal. If you or your middle grade reader love adventure and mythology, here is your next must read. I enjoy reading and reviewing many middle grade books, but it’s been a long time since I’ve read an adventure that I couldn’t put down. Roseanne A. Brown does a brilliant job of weaving together action adventure, mythology, new school blues, friendship, and family. The twists and turns in this book are satisfying and will leave you wanting more.

Twelve-year-old Serwa Boateng leads an exciting life with her loving parents. That’s right, it’s published by Disney Hyperion in the Rick Riordan Presents series and both her parents love her and are still alive! This family of adze hunters or slayers of the transforming vampires from Ghana, travel the world together until an important mission forces Serwa’s parents to leave her in a safe place while they’re on a quest.

Serwa adapts to attending middle school like other kids her age, but finds the picture-perfect small town she’s living in isn’t as safe as her parents thought. Unable to contact her parents Serwa must battle an adze on her own, well not completely on her own, her new friends join in.

So much more folk lore, history, and adventure runs through these pages but I don’t want to put out any spoilers. I will tell you there’s a witch and some major surprises for Serwa and the reader. Enjoy this magical tale.

Well worth preordering now. Will be available for purchase September 6, 2022.

Learn more here…
https://www.readriordan.com/book/serwa-boatengs-guide-to-vampire-hunting/

Adze are the only vampires I want to read about now. This vampire hunting guide is an invitation into Ghanian folklore, smart, funny and definitely proves that fighting monsters isn’t nearly as scary as being in middle school. I loved that Serwa, who feels stranded between so many worlds, carves out a space for herself and forges battle-tested friendships with her hastily-trained band of slayers. Perfect for spooky season!

Loved! What a spectacular addition to the Rick Riordan imprint. Serwa is a strong and yet flawed character who has much to learn about herself and the world around her. Making friends for the first time in her life gives her an expanded world view as well as an understanding that there is more to a person than meets the eye. A definite page-turner.

Fabulous main character? Check! Vampires? Check! Interesting cultures and difficult topics tackled in a riveting world? Check!
The Rick Riordan Presents books continue to wow, and I'll continue to recommend them!

Thank you to Disney Publishing Worldwide and NetGalley for providing a copy of this eARC for review.

I very much enjoyed this novel. I feel that it is a fantastic start to a series. The geography and cultural differences were well explained, and gentle reminders were included for more complex concepts without overstating throughout the novel. While it was written in a way that is very accessible to a young person, it kept me interested as an adult as well. I really felt that we got to know the characters, and I’m hoping that the character development continues throughout the series.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 5/5 stars.

Look, I haven't read a whole lot of the "Rick Riordan Presents" mostly because they're LOW middle grade -- like PJO started with them being 12. There's nothing wrong with that, but I'm at a point where 1) my students won't be interested at first to read a 12 year old protagonist in HS and 2) that's just SO young for me. BUT I do think I need to pick up more of them.

Even with this not being written by Riordan, Brown holds true to Riordan's humor in the novel that is seen in PJO. The chapter titles are GOLDEN too, and the little one liners here and there made this novel super enjoyable in overall readability. I finished it quickly, and I can't believe the CLIFF HANGER? LIKE HOW DARE YOU? WHAT EVEN?

Serwa is a sorta not really average 12 year old. She's from Ghana and hails from a line of legendary vampire -- Adze -- hunters...or so she thinks so. Her parents have to leave her in Royal Gorge, Maryland, while they go on a hunt for one of the world's most dangerous obifayo's -- a witch. Serwa, in true 12 year old fashion, ignores all of the advice her parents gave her about staying out of trouble and assembles a ragtag band of BIPOC 12 year olds who find themselves discriminated against which leads them to being forced into a club sort of restorative justice thing...and they all hate each other until an adze nearly kills them, they have no idea what it is, and Serwa assembles them into a vampire hunting squad.

Seriously, this book was beautiful with Serwa finally experiencing friendship and learning more about herself. I really also like the Ghanian folklore and the emphasis the novel also had on social justice issues and discussions and implications of enslaved populations.

I wasn't planning on reading this, and I saw Riordan tweet about it and knew I wanted to read it -- so thank goodness I was autoapproved for Disney. This one is GOOD.

Let me start with this. Serwa Boateng's Guide to Vampire Hunting is hands down the best middle-grade book I’ve read all year.

Roseanne A. Brown uses first-person writing very effectively, and she had me entertained from start to finish. Her writing style is funny and emotional all at once.

She also does a masterful job at describing Ghanaian folklore to the reader, making it both easy to understand and fascinating. And it’s definitely done in more of a show-don’t-tell way, which I always love. I started reading this book knowing absolutely nothing about Ghanaian folklore, and came out of this wanting more!

This book wasn’t perfect - a few parts of the plot were slightly predictable for me, and the ending felt rushed. But these were minor issues and didn’t affect my enjoyment.

My biggest issue was not actually with the text itself. They always say don’t judge a book by its cover, but covers can often be the deciding factor in which books get purchased. This cover looks very dated to me, almost like the covers of books from the 80s and 90s. I would love to see a reprint with an updated cover!

To anyone who found this book through the Read Riordan imprint and is looking for books to read after Percy Jackson, read this! This is one of my favorites in the Read Riordan imprint, and out of all of them, it reminds me the most of Percy Jackson.

Overall, even though I’m older than the target audience, I greatly enjoyed reading this book and will be purchasing a copy for my own bookshelf. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys middle-grade fiction and especially to fans of Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

And now I’m off to go check out this author’s other books while I wait for the sequel!

4.75 stars.

I received a digital Advance Reader’s Copy from NetGally in exchange for an honest review.

This is honestly one of the best books I have read in awhile. It dives into beautiful and rich Ghanaian culture and mythology. It takes on serious topics such as racism and slavery. The main character Serwa is so complex and well written. This book literally had me laughing out loud at times. If you like Percy Jackson, you will love this book. 100% recommend this book everyone, not just kids, and will be recommending it to every kid that comes into my library.

Yet another fantastic book from the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. This time, the story deals with folklore from Ghana.

What I liked most about this book is that it didn’t follow the typical theme of introducing a normal kid who all of a sudden finds out they have magical powers, or that they are the one to save the world. Instead, we meet Serwa, who is part of a family of vampire slayers. All of a sudden, her family says she cannot join them on their next mission, and instead, she has to move in with her regular extended family, in a regular town, and go to a regular school. Where she then has to teach her non-magic friends how to become vampire slayers.

Then there is the ending. I won’t spoil it for you, but the ending does not follow the same formula that you would expect, and I am definitely going to be waiting anxiously for the sequel. I cannot wait to see where this series goes!

I received a print ARC of this book from the Publisher and a digital ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.

It has taken me days to gather all my thoughts about this absolute gem of a book.

First off, I would like to thank NetGalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've read many books that focus on a normal child with a normal life who finds out that they are some sort of chosen one, and are subsequently plucked out of their normal life and pulled into a world full of fantasy, magic, or the supernatural. However, this book did the complete opposite and it was such a delight! Serwa Boateng is a slayer-in-training from a family of vampire slayers, a family that she loves more than anything. Going from mission to mission and coming back to their safe house is the only life Serwa has ever known, and she wouldn't trade it for anything. However, after a terrifying encounter with an obayifo (a witch who uses dark magic), her parents are sent away on the ultimate mission and she is left behind with her Aunt and cousin in a boring, regular town, to go to public school for the first time ever. Yikes.

This book has everything you could ever want. It has found family, it has an amazing cast of characters (even the villains! Sorry Serwa!), it has Gods & Goddesses from Ghanaian folklore. Magic! Enchanted swords! A rock concert with ghosts! Conversations about trauma and race between middle schoolers! Slowly mending friendships! Newly growing friendships, and so much more!

I was able to guess many of the plot twists ang big reveals but guess what? That did not make my reading experience any less enjoyable nor did it make it any less of a gut-wrenching moment when they were revealed in text. Besides, I am not the intended audience for this book!

I can not recommend this book more. I screamed, I laughed, I cried, I gasped, and that ENDING? Whew. I need the next one right away. I can't wait to buy a copy or 2 for my school's library and promote the heck out of it so that every kid will read it.

If you read only ONE middle grade book in your life (which hopefully you read more, but I digress), please make it this one!!! It is so good!!

this was a great addition to the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. I loved learning about Ghanaian vampire, I enjoyed reading this because it was a different type of vampire. The story was really well done and was a great start to this series. Wow, that ending was an emotional gut-punch and it really left me wanting more in this world. I can't wait to read where this is going to go.

What is a vampire, well in Ghana they are known as adze, hunter supposed to do when dumped on her aunt and cousin, who really aren’t related to her, and told to fit in while her parents go fight a really bad adze. She freaks out when she finds a adze in the town. But her parent don’t believe Serwa so they cut off communication. This leaves Serwa no choice but to recruit her new friends, which is totally against the rules but if she doesn’t they might all be killed.
This is another hit in the Rick Riordan presents collection. Serwa is awesome and I think any reader will love her like I do. This book is good for all readers of any age, or reluctantness. There is a ton of action and suspense that will have you wanting to read past your bedtime to see what happens next. This is a great book and I hope every loves it like I do and I can’t wait to see what Serwa gets into next.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

Kerwa is the new hero and we have vampires and Ghanaian folklore. Thanks to the author, Mr. Riordan and Disney. This is the first in an exciting series. No spoilers here. It is a must read for the entire family.

I cannot rave enough about this addition to the RR Presents imprint, which adds something new with its tales of vampires that are rooted in Ghanian folklore. It will intrigue readers who are interested in horror and vampires, while also appealing to those who love reading RR, folklore, and about the traditions of other cultures. Brown shows a talent for the pacing of this story, simultaneously engaging in world-building, character development, and immediately developing action-packed fight scenes. It might be one of my favorite RR Presents stories so far, and a surefire purchase for any elementary school library.