Nnedi Okorafor – Page 3 – Cannonball Read 17

Who fears fantasy tropes?

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

April 20, 2021 by TylerDFC Leave a Comment

Take an ancient prophecy, a genocide-fueled war, a post-apocalyptic setting, a reluctant teacher, band of friends, and a powerful heroine with anger management issues and you have Who Fears Death. This was award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor’s first novel for adults after publishing a few YA novels. This novel feels more like a hybrid of the two formats. The romance and coming-of-age aspects of YA with the more mature themes of an adult novel. Okorafor threw every fantasy trope she could into this brutal novel to […]

Book Club Re-Read: Binti

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

March 10, 2021 by wicherwill Leave a Comment

Original review, July 2018: Awkward writing hampers an otherwise nuanced and interesting novella Re-read review: Picked this up again for Book Club tonight. My reviews have certainly gotten longer–I read this in 2018, and had only just begun to dip my toes into reading (!) again, much less writing 500 word reviews of things I’d read. I think I still agree with my original synopsis, although perhaps not for the same reasons that I originally had while writing it. I read this book for the […]

A world-building amuse-bouche

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

January 12, 2021 by esme Leave a Comment

This is a delightful amuse-bouche of a book! I haven’t really read novellas before, but I really enjoyed how Nnedi Okorafor sketched a fascinating ‘working’ world (well, universe) in just a few pages. The brushstrokes created a lovely, multisensorial universe and a few interesting characters that I assume are more fleshed out in other works. Texture and smell and color and sensation were all integral to the story. Binti, the heroine, comes from an isolated desert community, and, at 16, she runs away from home […]

An intriguing but ultimately disappointing take on aliens coming to Earth

Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

August 21, 2020 by Bothari43 Leave a Comment

This was such a cool idea! Aliens land in the ocean outside Lagos, and basically start granting wishes to sea creatures. This swordfish wants to be enormous? Done. This eel thing wants to be able to fly? Done. Then the aliens come ashore and are basically like “Yo, earthlings, we’re here, we plan to stay, there’s nothing you can do about it, hi!” No nefarious plots, no interstellar war, no kidnapping humans for experiments. The main alien ambassador chooses three humans to be her representatives, […]

The Book of the Phoenix-a great work by a new favorite author

The Book of the Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor

February 29, 2020 by MarkAbaddon 3 Comments

I first heard of the works of Nnedi Okorafor through a friend who attended a writing workshop with her many years ago but this is the first work of hers that I have read. And I loved it but it is a complicated, dense work. The story begins in Africa. The world has been devastated by some calamity and this older man is seeking shelter to avoid an unusual storm. In a cave, he finds computers that provide him with a recording of the woman […]

A pox on novella cliffhangers!

Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor

February 23, 2020 by Bothari43 Leave a Comment

I listened to the first Binti story as an audio book without knowing that it wasn’t a full-length book, and then had looooots of road trip left when it was done. So I was prepared this time, but it still ended very abruptly and left me in the lurch! I like Binti a lot, though, and I am very interested to see how she gets out of this latest cliffhanger. Binti and her jellyfish alien friend Okwu have completed their first year at university, and […]

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Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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