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hanz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, Death, Blood, and War
hannahhmh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Blood, Racism, War, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Sexism
wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
When I write that I wept in this review, it was the ugly kind of bawling that happens when you get very attached to characters.
The world building, the characters, the technology, the journey.. Impeccable.
The world building, the characters, the technology, the journey.. Impeccable.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Child death, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Cursing, War, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Bullying, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Body horror, Murder, Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Violence, Grief, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Hate crime
tifftastic87's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a collection of four short stories about Binti, three previously published and one new story. In the first story, Binti, we follow our main character of the same name as she leaves her large family in the middle of the night to go to a planet called Oomza Uni where the best Universe in the Galaxy is. This is hard for her because her family and culture doesn't leave, but Binti believes she's made for more. While en route to Oomza Uni, the living ship (Third Fish) is attacked by a race of jellyfish like people. Binti is the only survivor and must continue to survive the remainder of the journey. However, Binti is a master harmonizer and she uses this skill to communicate with the attackers. She is forever changed from this interaction. In the remainder of the stories we follower her growth as she comes to terms with those changes and hones her harmonizer skills.
Binti has a lot of discussions about racism, xenophobia, colorism and sexism within the realm of Afrofuturism. These conversations are always based in reality and I find them at times really well done and at times a little heavy handed, I liked the nuance in Binti though. We analyze some of our preconceived biases about people different than us through the use of an alien race, which was nicely done here.
Binti as a character seemed to actually fit the actions of a teenager fairly well, she wasn't one of the chosen one types that is just "oh so strong." She had a lot of emotions, often crying a lot, but finding her resolve to get the thing done.
The story was surprisingly inclusive of trans folk, which I didn't expect. However, there were still a couple of throw away lines about gay folk that were a little off.
The stories are also extremely connected and have a really good through line.
Binti has a lot of discussions about racism, xenophobia, colorism and sexism within the realm of Afrofuturism. These conversations are always based in reality and I find them at times really well done and at times a little heavy handed, I liked the nuance in Binti though. We analyze some of our preconceived biases about people different than us through the use of an alien race, which was nicely done here.
Binti as a character seemed to actually fit the actions of a teenager fairly well, she wasn't one of the chosen one types that is just "oh so strong." She had a lot of emotions, often crying a lot, but finding her resolve to get the thing done.
The story was surprisingly inclusive of trans folk, which I didn't expect. However, there were still a couple of throw away lines about gay folk that were a little off.
The stories are also extremely connected and have a really good through line.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Xenophobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Death, War, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Gore, and Confinement
Minor: Infertility and Eating disorder
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
5 ⭐ CW: Violence, death, descriptions of blood and gore, PTSD, grief, war
Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor is a set of three novellas in one compendium. Binti is an African Futurist scifi that almost feels like Octavia Butler. I really enjoyed this series. I wasn't so sure at the beginning, but the last book really cemented the five star rating for me.
We follow Binti, a Himba girl who is a master harmonizer and gifted in mathematics. When she is accepted into prestigious Oomza University on a distant planet, she makes the controversial decision to leave her home planet in order to learn. Himba people do not leave and they don't embrace change. They always go inward. On the way to the university jellyfish like aliens, called Meduse, board and kill everyone on the ship except Binti and the pilot. Binti then has to broker peace between the Meduse and the university.
There is so much that happened in three books! I can't even summarize it all and have it make sense. The technology in this book is so cool! Living ships that can survive in space and are sentient. So many non-humanoid aliens! Mathematics is a key part of the story. Binti's story is really about the concept of change. Binti is the embodiment of change for the Himba people. The first to leave her planet and tribe, the first to befriend a Medusan, and the only one of her kind in the end.
There are many messages about learned prejudice, the lies we tell ourselves about people who are different from us, and the constant way humans try to treat others as less. I think a big part of Binti's story is also about intersectionality. How you can be many things at once without losing who you are. All of the cultures that were talked about were fascinating.
Because everything is math, that means everything is connected, everything has already been predicted and foretold in complex equations. Apparently, destiny is just math. I've seen some criticism of these books about there not being enough since they are novella, but I appreciate it when authors can be succinct and still get their point across. However, I wouldn't mind a whole book just about Oomza Uni, that place is fascinating with all the diverse aliens.
The science fiction in this is so great. I cannot recommend it enough.
Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor is a set of three novellas in one compendium. Binti is an African Futurist scifi that almost feels like Octavia Butler. I really enjoyed this series. I wasn't so sure at the beginning, but the last book really cemented the five star rating for me.
We follow Binti, a Himba girl who is a master harmonizer and gifted in mathematics. When she is accepted into prestigious Oomza University on a distant planet, she makes the controversial decision to leave her home planet in order to learn. Himba people do not leave and they don't embrace change. They always go inward. On the way to the university jellyfish like aliens, called Meduse, board and kill everyone on the ship except Binti and the pilot. Binti then has to broker peace between the Meduse and the university.
There is so much that happened in three books! I can't even summarize it all and have it make sense. The technology in this book is so cool! Living ships that can survive in space and are sentient. So many non-humanoid aliens! Mathematics is a key part of the story. Binti's story is really about the concept of change. Binti is the embodiment of change for the Himba people. The first to leave her planet and tribe, the first to befriend a Medusan, and the only one of her kind in the end.
There are many messages about learned prejudice, the lies we tell ourselves about people who are different from us, and the constant way humans try to treat others as less. I think a big part of Binti's story is also about intersectionality. How you can be many things at once without losing who you are. All of the cultures that were talked about were fascinating.
Because everything is math, that means everything is connected, everything has already been predicted and foretold in complex equations. Apparently, destiny is just math. I've seen some criticism of these books about there not being enough since they are novella, but I appreciate it when authors can be succinct and still get their point across. However, I wouldn't mind a whole book just about Oomza Uni, that place is fascinating with all the diverse aliens.
The science fiction in this is so great. I cannot recommend it enough.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Gore, Grief, Violence, and Death
maximauve's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, War, Death, Grief, Xenophobia, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
boglord's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Body horror, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Dysphoria, Gore, Bullying, Classism, Confinement, Medical trauma, and Genocide
Minor: Mass/school shootings and Emotional abuse
autumnnovels's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Blood, Death, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Bullying and Injury/Injury detail
katiehicks's review against another edition
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this- I really wanted to like it but some things just really didn’t do it for me. I’ve read and enjoyed both Nnedi Okorafor’s short fiction and her full novels, but I don’t think this story really lent itself to the short format. The pacing felt way off for almost the entire series. The first book moves almost overwhelmingly fast, I feel like I barely get to know what's going on, who the characters are, or how anything in the world really works before we’ve moved on to sometime else. Nothing is really explained, even things which have an important effect on the plot (like what does it mean to be a harmonizer? What does it mean to “send out a current”? Is that something that Binti can do because she’s a harmonizer, or can anyone do it? Also, after reading the entire series I’m still very confused about how the living ships work. They’re organic, living creatures, but they’re born with walkways, doors, and windows inside them? How are they piloted? What do they even look like on the inside?) But by the last book, it felt like the opposite was happening. I really struggled to get through the last 30 pages of Night Masquerade because it felt like the story was over, but we had to keep going just to explain some things that hadn’t been explained before. It made those pages drag quite badly. Basically, I think the worldbuilding was not done very organically, which was a real shame because what parts of the world were incorporated were unique and memorable.
I loved the idea of math and spirituality mixing, and math being a part of Binti’s connection to the natural and spiritual worlds. I loved the blending of spirituality and traditional African mythology with “hard” science fiction elements like space travel. I loved the university populated primarily with non-humanoid aliens. In fact, a big part of the reason I wished these books were longer was so that we could spend more time at the university because it seemed such a rich vein to explore.
The TL/DR is that this series has some amazing imagery and utilizes sci/fi elements in a new and interesting way, but it really didn’t suit the format of short fiction. It’s difficult for me to think about this story as 3 separate novellas, and I think that would have been a frustrating way to read it (I honestly don’t think I would have read the third book after that second book cliffhanger). I really wish this had just been one epic 500-page sci/fi novel that was more evenly paced.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders
theblerdnewsletter's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Classism, and Racism