Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms by Jamar J. Perry

She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. The cast of characters is made up of Black people of various ethnicities.Ī promising West African–inspired tale about courage and legacy let down by inconsistent characterization.Ī young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge. Some characters feel one-dimensional, making it difficult for readers to become fully invested in the novel. Its potential, however, is largely unfulfilled thanks to the cast members’ constant vacillation in thought and action. Themes of love, intergenerational hardship, and sacrifice are woven throughout the story. Perry presents a fantasy full of adventure, loss, bravery, and perseverance. There, Cameron finds out that the odd things he’s noticed were indeed real and that, as the only living Descendant of the people of Chidani, he has been tasked with saving the country from a power grab by the queen’s sister. Despite being strictly prohibited from entering the attic and reading The Book of Chidani, a record of ancestral history passed down through the generations of Cameron’s family, all three kids disobey and find themselves literally pulled into the book-and with it, the country of Chidani. At the start of summer vacation, Cameron has a sleepover with his two best friends, Zion and Aliyah. A young Black boy and his two best friends discover a new world in his family’s ancestral book.Ĭameron Battle is a 12-year-old boy of Igbo descent living in Atlanta who starts noticing strange happenings around his house but second-guesses himself, instead blaming his active imagination.

Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms by Jamar J. Perry