12/04/2017
Okorafor’s lively, dramatic third and final Binti far-future science fantasy novella (after Binti: Home) finds Binti, the young protagonist, struggling to integrate new perceptions from the recently awakened alien technology in her body. This is an inheritance from her father’s tribe, the Enyi Zinariya, that allows her to communicate across long distances, view historical events at the sites where they happened, and experience other similarly disorienting things. Binti has always identified with her mother’s people, the Himba, who see her father’s folk as uncultured barbarians. The Himba, however, are in danger of being caught up in an outbreak of war between the human Khoush tribe and the jellyfish-like alien Meduse. Only Binti, who happens to be bonded to a Meduse in a hive-mind symbiosis, can possibly blend the cultures, technologies, viewpoints, and interests of all these groups and attempt to bring about a lasting peace. Incident follows incident in a dizzying array, action is fraught with enough emotion for drama to become melodrama, and several key plot points are inadequately foreshadowed, but Binti’s powerful feelings of displacement, loss, grief, and joy make this entertaining narrative vivid, funny, and memorable. (Jan.)
In an interview last month with the B&N Podcast, Hugo-winning author John Scalzi posited that we are currently in a new Golden Age of science fiction and fantasy, and it’s hard to disagree with him. Never before within the genres have their been so many excellent books on offer to so many different types of […]
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In Binti, a young Himba woman defied her family and left home for the first time—journeying from Namibia and across the stars to study at the galaxy’s most prestigious university. The sequel saw her return home, changed by an experience that was both harrowing and enlightening. Both novellas blend truly high-concept science fiction ideas with […]
In fantasy and science fiction, we cherish long-form storytelling and thoughtful worldbuilding. Which is why the fact that most every book gets a sequel or two (or eight) is a feature rather than a bug. Whether it’s in book two or book 20, we’re more than happy to revisit our favorite lands and characters. Here […]