D. T. Niane (1932–2021)

The son of Sogolon, the hunchback princess, and Maghan, known as "the handsome", Sundiata grew up to fulfill the prophesies of the soothsayers that he would unite the twelve kingdoms of Mali into one of the most powerful empires ever known in Africa, which at its peak stretched right across the savanna belt from the shores of the Atlantic to the dusty walls of Timbuktu. Retold by generations of griots, the guardians of African culture, this oral tradition has been handed down from the thirteenth century and captures all the mystery and majesty of medieval African kingship. It is an epic tale, part history and part legend. -- From back cover.… (more)

I enjoyed some aspects of the book, such as the magic/folktales. I was most interested in the first half of the book, when Sogolon (Sundiata's mother) is first introduced and the sections that talked about Sundiata's childhood. When Sogolon and her son are exiled, though, I thought the story became kind of complicated and there were too many people being introduced all at once (most of them being rather inconsequential). It was especially difficult keeping up because I was really just skimming through it. It was assigned reading for my Humanities class and we were only given two days to read it. I probably would have enjoyed it a bit better if I could have taken my time, but most likely I wouldn't have rated it higher than a 2.5 anyway. It's just not my type of book.

*I forgot as I was reading Sundiata, that this story was the inspiration for the Disney movie The Lion King. I'm surprised by that now because there are very, very little similarities between the two. The only thing I can think of that the two have in common is that the young prince unwillingly leaves his empire/kingdom and then returns to claim his throne a few years later when the empire is in trouble. It was kind of interesting trying to find other similarities between them that might be less obvious. For instance, I believe Rafiki (the baboon) is supposed to represent the griot (the poet-historian who tells his king's story). Honestly, I prefer the Disney version much better, and I'm sure I'm in the majority on that.… (more)