Tag Archives: science fiction

Binti

Review of Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor

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.

zoo city

Review of Zoo City, by Lauren Beukes

I bought a copy of Lauren Beukes‘ Zoo city.

Description from Goodreads:
Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit, and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she’s forced to take on her least favourite kind of job – missing persons.

Review:
A friend of mine saw that I was reading this and warned me that it gets quite dark toward the end. She wasn’t kidding. Though I admit I really like the last little tidbit of a chapter, do not go into this expecting a happy ending. I kind of did and had to readjust my thinking.

Having said all that, I liked the book. I liked the African setting and characters (They are from several African countries. I don’t mean to reduce a continent of peoples to a single, geographic designator.), the world and magic system, the plot and the writing. I got a bit thrown by some of the non-English words. I could have done with a glossary, but it was followable.

All in all, I liked it. I’m undecided about if I’ll read the next one in the series, but mostly I ended this one happy.

Wanted and Wired

Book Review of Wanted and Wired (Wanted and Wired #1), by Vivien Jackson

I picked up a copy of Vivien Jackson‘s Wanted and Wired from Amazon, when it was free.

Description from Goodreads:

Rogue scientist • technologically enhanced • deliciously attractive
Heron Farad should be dead. But technology has made him the man he is today. Now he heads a crew of uniquely skilled outsiders who fight to salvage what’s left of humanity: art, artifacts, books, ideas-sometimes even people. People like Mari Vallejo.

Gun for hire • Texan rebel • always hits her mark
Mari has been lusting after her mysterious handler for months. But when a by-the-book hit goes horribly sideways, she and Heron land on the universal most wanted list. Someone set them up. Desperate and on the run, they must trust each other to survive, while hiding devastating secrets. As their explosive chemistry heats up, it’s the perfect storm…

Review:
I quite enjoyed this. There were several points I especially liked and a few that irked me, but the average definitely fell on the positive side.

The things I enjoyed were the snark, the high quality of writing, the world, the woman with sexual agency, the fact that there were incidentally gay characters and that the main characters were other than white.

On the negative side was the rape-as-backstory, the fact that the sexual agency I appreciated eventually became distracting as Heron and Mari just never let up.

All in all, I can’t wait for more of Jackson’s Tether series.