Tag Archives: Nnedi Okorafor

remote control

Book Review: Remote Control, by Nnedi Okorafor

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I borrowed and audio copy of Nnedi Okorafora‘s Remote Control from the local library.
remote control nnedi okorafor

“She’s the adopted daughter of the Angel of Death. Beware of her. Mind her. Death guards her like one of its own.”

The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit. From hereon in she would be known as Sankofa­­—a name that meant nothing to anyone but her, the only tie to her family and her past.

Her touch is death, and with a glance a town can fall. And she walks—alone, except for her fox companion—searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged; searching for answers.

But is there a greater purpose for Sankofa, now that Death is her constant companion?

my review

I quite enjoyed this piece of Africanfuturism*. It has a near-future, Ghanian setting that is alive and real to the reader. The writing is sharp and visceral and the narrator brought it to life well. The main character, Fatima/Sankofa is marvelous to spend time with as she becomes a living myth. All in all, I seem to have no real complaints. It’s a short little thing, so I guess it gets a short, little review

remote control

*I have been using the wrong term and was corrected. I’ve learned something today, Afrofuturism vs Africanfuturism and I apologize to Dr. Okorafora for having gotten it wrong. She’s apparently spoken widely about this distinction.

Binti

Review of Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor

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I borrowed an audio copy of Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor, from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.

Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti’s stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.

If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself – but first she has to make it there, alive.

Review:
Really wonderful. I enjoyed this a lot. I liked the way the author created so much of a world (universe) with so little. I loved Binti and the slow(ish) trust that develops between her and her enemy. But I was a tad bothered that despite her skill as a harmonizer, her success ultimately depended on chance, on something she randomly found years earlier. And I thought the ending came about far too easily. But mostly I adored this.

Robin Miles did a wonderful job with the narration too. She had a whistle on her hard S that was painful in headphones, but that was my ONLY complaint.