Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Book review: Binti by Nnedi Okorafur





Book: Binti
Author: Nnedi Okarafor
Year published: 2015
Date finished:December, 2017
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 9/10
Review: Binti is a short novel by Nnedi Okorafur. It's a truly remarkable work.  The eponymous protagonist is an African girl of the Himba tribe. At the start of the novel she has won a scholarship to one of the most prestigious universities in the galaxy and she has opted, against her family's wishes, to accept. Along the way, she encounters various aliens, some of them very hostile indeed.


There are at least two things that are remarkable about this novel. One is that, sadly, it is one of a relatively small group of books published in English that feature Africans as heroes and that draw those Africans in ways that are anthropologically and culturally correct (I actually did some research after reading the novel, because the description of the Himba tribe is so interesting and because, since Binti is a science fiction novel, I wanted to know how accurate it was).  The other reason it's remarkable is that it is so well done!


About the Author: Nnedi Okorafor is a Nigerian-American author; she has written SF, fantasy, and magical realism with African themes for both children and adults.
Sources: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/588356.Nnedi_Okorafor
 

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