Top

We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.

Agu is just a boy when war arrives at his village. His mother and sister are rescued by the UN, while he and his father remain to fight the rebels. ‘Run!’ shouts his father when the rebels arrive. And Agu does run. Straight into the rebels’ path. In a vivid, sparkling voice, Agu tells the story of what happens to him next. His story is shocking and painful, and completely unforgettable.

Beasts of No Nation gives us an extraordinary portrait of the chaos and violence of war. It is a gripping and remarkable debut.

What's Inside

Read More Read Less

Reviews

The Bookseller
'Extraordinary ... you don't come across writing like this very often.'
Amitav Ghosh
This is a work of visceral urgency and power: it heralds the arrival of a major talent
Ali Smith, Guardian
'So scorched by loss and anger that it's hard to hold and so gripping in its sheer hopeless lifeforce that it's hard to put down.'
Waterstones Books Quarterly
'A harrowing and compelling vision ... the narrator's voice is so authentic you have to check you are still reading fiction ... This is a novel which leaves an impression like a blood-soaked hand print, disturbing not only for the terror around this cleaving, pulverising slayer, but the terror turning to 'ennui' within him. To call it shocking would be to do it a disservice. To call the writing beautiful would hardly be praise. To call the book staggering would be an understatement'
Independent
'The power of his material and its hideous relevance rolls all before it ... This book about children that is in no sense a children's book deserves to be read'
Sunday Telegraph
'This is an extraordinary book ... horrifying expose ... vivid ... It casts a powerful, if gruesome spell'
Times Literary Supplement
'Iweala makes a compelling story from experience which in its nature defies articulation ... Uzodinma Iweala's is a confident and promising new voice'
Observer
'Gives a name, a voice and a heart to one of Africa's innumerable child soldiers ... This is urgent writing, starkly unsentimental and convincing'
Waterstone's Books Quarterly
'His riveting revelations... make this a truly shocking and unforgettable book.'
Telegraph/Seven, Sally Cousins
'First-time novelist Uzodinma Iweala has made a virtue of simplicity and, in beautifully unadorned language, has captured the universal tragedy of war and its victims.'
Observer, Helen Zaltzman
'Linguistically ingenious, Beasts of No Nation is a remarkable debut, a hugely resonant discourse on an uncomfortable subject.'
Daily Telegraph, David Isaacson
'This sad, unforgettable novel is a fitting testament to the countless Agus who continue to kill and be killed across that most tragic of continents.'
Guardian/The Guide
'A chilling work of fiction that has visceral impact.'
Irish Independent
'Compelling ... perturbing, painful and powerful'
Big Issue
'A stunningly mature debut'
The Review
'Compelling, haunting and refreshing'
The Times
'Stream-like sentences that convey irrestible, rushing activitiy ... Iweala's powerful debut recalls Saro-Wiwa's first-person masterpiece of a soldier-boy'
Independent
'A searing first novel'
London Review of Books
'Beasts of No Nation is written with the authority of someone who knows what they're talking about'
Literary Review
'A simple and brutal account of war ... Beasts of No Nation is a raw, compelling first novel'
Bookseller
Extraordinary . . . you don't come across writing like this very often
Amitav Ghosh
A work of visceral urgency and power: it heralds the arrival of a major talent
Guardian
So scorched by loss and anger that it's hard to hold and so gripping in its sheer hopeless lifeforce that it's hard to put down
Waterstones Books Quarterly
A harrowing and compelling vision . . . the narrator's voice is so authentic you have to check you are still reading fiction . . . This is a novel which leaves an impression like a blood-soaked hand print, disturbing not only for the terror around this cleaving, pulverising slayer, but the terror turning to 'ennui' within him. To call it shocking would be to do it a disservice. To call the writing beautiful would hardly be praise. To call the book staggering would be an understatement
Independent
The power of his material and its hideous relevance rolls all before it . . . This book about children that is in no sense a children's book deserves to be read
Sunday Telegraph
An extraordinary book . . . horrifying expose . . . vivid . . . . It casts a powerful, if gruesome spell
Times Literary Supplement
Iweala makes a compelling story from experience which in its nature defies articulation . . . Uzodinma Iweala's is a confident and promising new voice
Observer
Gives a name, a voice and a heart to one of Africa's innumerable child soldiers . . . This is urgent writing, starkly unsentimental and convincing
Irish Independent
Compelling . . . perturbing, painful and powerful
The Times
Stream-like sentences that convey irrestible, rushing activitiy . . . Iweala's powerful debut recalls Saro-Wiwa's first-person masterpiece of a soldier-boy
Literary Review
A simple and brutal account of war . . . Beasts of No Nation is a raw, compelling first novel