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| Trade paperback, 90 pages Published 2015 Borrowed from my wife Read May 2018 |
Nnedi Okorafor is one of my wife's favorite writers, so I was glad that the Hugo Awards finally gave me the impetus to sit down with the Binti series (book two of three is a finalist for Best Novella this year). The first book is pretty simple: Binti leaves her people to go to space university. But on her way there, her ship is attacked by evil aliens, and only she is left alive. I liked the premise of the story, and the milieu is well-constructed-- the Himba and Khoush are two distinct human ethnic groups with their own distinct culture and politics, not all subsumed together as "humans" in the future. I love stories of people going to multiplanetary space universities, and Binti ending up on her own among hostile aliens is a great set-up.
But I did find the way the story wound down a bit lacking. Binti does some brave things, which I like, but also two highly convenient things save her, which I liked less. A great premise, but only an okay story. Further adventures in this world could have great promise, though. I've already started the sequel, Home, so I'll see what I think of them soon enough.
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