Genre Fiction: Historical romance.

Blurb “It is a story of love and loss, of choice and consequences. It is a story of a woman’s search for happiness and the near illusiveness of ‘happily-ever-afters’. Yet it may be a Biafra story, for as Stephen Covey once aptly wrote, “Two people can see the same thing, disagree, and yet both be right. It’s not logical; it’s psychological.”

Review

Lady B Hi guys, so this is a review I wrote nearly 3 years ago when I read Sector IV, long before Mo and I conceived this blog-Literary Everything. My first “proper” review of a book. I have reproduced it below as it was originally published. It’s the author, Abigail Anaba’s debut novel.

Sector IV is a treat for lovers of fictional historical romance. It takes place during the Biafran war in a village called Nchara, in present day South East Nigeria. The book explores various themes which resonate with the reader including love and sacrifice, loveless marriages, childlessness, self-preservation and vanity as downfall.

Sector IV adopts a unique style as it is written in present tense. This brings the book alive and keeps the reader actively engaged with the story.  I particularly liked the names of the four parts of the book (Revelation, Exodus, Chronicles and Genesis) which I thought captured the content of each part very well.

The characters in the book speak to you and are relatable and the author ensures that the characters have a story within the story.

The best thing about Sector IV is its unpredictability. The author makes it quite difficult to second guess what happens in the book and captivates the reader. My favourite scene is the sex scene between Onyinyechi and Duke which is very unusually but beautifully written.

The author set out to write a love story which takes place during the Biafran war and I think she succeeds. The ongoing war does not detract from the main idea of a love story and the relationship between the choices one makes and the consequences of those choices.

The only dip in the otherwise engaging plot is the beginning of the fourth part, though that is only because of how intriguing the rest of the book is.

Sector IV is a romantic tragedy which is set around the Biafran war, inevitably there is suffering, death and destruction but what I found really tragic was that the story ended without Onyinyechi really knowing…really knowing what? Well, you would have to read the book to find out.

As I read the final paragraph of what was a brilliantly written novel, my main thoughts were captured by this quote: “Vanity can easily overtake wisdom. It usually overtakes common sense.”

Number of pages 312.

Publisher El-Jara Connections Limited.

Damage N500 on Okadabooks.

You can buy Sector IV on Amazon, Okadabooks and Roving Heights.