Malika is a African warrior queen who has united her kingdom. Yet she still has battles to fight. The Ming Dynasty from China has come to Africa to take over. Malika has aligned herself with her neighboring country of Atala and its king Bass, who just happens to be her secret husband. She faces opposition from her counselors, but prevails in battle. 

This graphic novel has a lot of potential that is a bit obscured by the book itself. It is sometimes hard to follow the story based on the placement of speech bubbles. Some of the illustrations are also difficult to decipher. I really enjoyed the fact that the African nations in the book are based on actual historical African nations. I do wish there was more development of the mythology of this world. The magical elements kind of come out of nowhere in a story based on history. I was also a little confused by the fact that the Chinese were trying to take over Africa. Why not have another African country as the enemy? That would make more sense historically.