Amina is a Muslim name. One ruled in Zazzau in Northern Nigeria about 400 years ago. But the Amina in this novel is fictional and tells the story of the possibility and desire of women in Africa to be liberated from the oppression of their menfolk. Africans think of women only as child bearers and nurturers. 

The novel tells its story in five societal relevance. 

It hits you like a thunderbolt as you open the novel: “Amina is an oddball.” You know “odd,” which the dictionary defines as “being without a corresponding mate.” Good, but when does a ball become “odd”? Welcome, Queen Amina, Soldier on Horseback; welcome, your teacher in the English language. Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, has complained so painfully of the fallen standard of spoken and written English among Nigerian youths. Graduates of universities cannot put words together to form a coherent sentence. What English Soyinka reads on social media is very worrisome and must be corrected. The cause is a poor reading culture. That must change; teachers must read and influence pupils too. This is where Queen Amina, Soldier on Horseback, finds usefulness. How did Soyinka and Chinua Achebe attain their enviable heights in literature? They devoured books and were well educated. Let this generation also rise and read and read and read. Let the teachers read and recommend the books they read to their students; let the parents buy books for their wards and not aso-ebi. Let libraries spring up again in every corner. A reading nation is a great nation.

This is a smart generation. Your smartphone is good and useful, but it can distract you and make you lazy. Yet it is still a useful companion in your reading, especially as it can help you acquire vocabulary. AI is a good companion. The dictionary must be a good companion again; don’t let it go out of fashion. Gemini AI says this of oddball: an oddball is essentially a lovable misfit. It’s someone whose behavior, ideas, or appearance don’t quite fit the standard mold, but in a way, usually interesting or harmless rather than scary. Quite an overload, but you find that in the character of Amina. She was a change agent who wanted her society to change. She’s not old-fashioned; she’s new school, as Gen Z says. “Oddball” prepares you to see that the novel in your hand will help you to acquire new words and enrich your vocabulary. From page to page, you come across words, expressions, and metaphors you may be seeing for the first time. Let’s run through some pages. Page 6, oddball, puberty, agile, exotic, surfeit, suitors, tenets, old wives’ tales, and rough and tumble of the open field. Page 7, steely exterior, heart of gold, splendour of sunshine, outcast, pariah, ‘’Zamanda’‘ as the “personification of the supremacy, power, and glorious history of the Zaburshe.” Page 8: first among equals, pastoralists, enamoured, scatter into the winds, put down their roots, slink away and fortuitous. And on page 215, rogue king, keen and fierce, fate and circumstance throw her up; walked where men feared to tread and benevolent. The novel has thousands of these words, expressions, and phrases in its 217 pages spread across 31 chapters. It is a minefield for those who want to learn the English language and those who want to appreciate the beauty of the language. The AI in your phone will give the meaning of those words and many more.

Gender Parity Relevance. 

Again the novel takes up the sad issue of gender inequality in Africa. The continent is arguably the only continent where women are still groveling under the yoke of oppression and inequality and where........

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