Reviews with content warning for Gore - Binti

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Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

33 reviews

clea's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-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

3.25

I found the setting and overall story arch of this novella very interesting. But I would've loved to get more explanations, to learn more about the planets and the aliens living there. The "world-building" felt a bit superficial to me.
Even for a novella, the pacing was very rapid. Therefore, the plot seemed rushed and the characters lacked a bit of depth, I couldn't really connect to them.
But it is still an engaging, quick read with relevant themes and interesting ideas.

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podanotherjessi's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective 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? No

4.0

This was very much not what I expected, but I liked it! Very quiet and introspective. I loved Binti as a character and the growth she goes through. This story is ultimately about her and her struggle to keep her home and heritage with her even while leaving and changing.
My one real complaint for the story was that it went far too fast in the beginning. There was a time jump early on, and I wish we'd seen what happened there so the events later would have more impact on the reader like they did on Binti.
Looking forward to the rest of the trilogy!

Characters: 9
Plot: 6
Setting: 7
General appeal: 8
Writing style: 8
Originality: 9
Ending: 8

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nmcannon's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

Binti was an impulse borrow from the library. Like speculative fiction fans the world over, I know Nnedi Okorafor is a master at the craft, a true magician with her words, and her ability is never more apparent than in this small novella.

Far in the future, Binti is a genius “harmonizer” among the Himba people. In other words, she has a talent for bringing nature, numbers, and people into harmony. Though the Himba people are highly talented engineers, they rarely interact with the neighboring Khoush people, and they’re thought to be “savages” on the outskirts of society (while somehow also producing the planet’s most advanced tech—listen, prejudice doesn’t make sense). It’s absolutely unheard of for a young Himba woman to travel in space or attend the prestigious Oomza University. Yet Binti does both. Things seem to be going well right up until the alien Meduse begin ritualistically slaughtering everyone on the ship, except for her.

Okorafor does so much in such a little page count. The world-building is top-notch, especially with the aliens and technology. Neil Gaiman wasn’t kidding when he said readers will fall in love with Binti—I love her too. She carries and draws strength from Himba culture, and Himba culture, in turn, saves her. She’s wise and knowledge, but also incredibly young and fragile, and Okorafor doesn’t shy away from that. I’m lucky I found this series so late, because I can immediately continue reading Binti’s adventures.

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ejb44's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring tense 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

5.0

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor centres itself on Himba woman Binti who decides to go against what her village expects of her and go to university. On this journey she faces one of the hardest experiences of her life, one that will follow her through the rest of the series and be a key factor in her trauma-healing and decision making. From themes of identity and culture-mixing to friendship and family struggles, Okorafor doesn’t fail to beautifully explore what it means to be from various cultures.

For such a short book, Okorafor manages to create such a detailed world without compromising character and plot development. This skill is fairly unique, and I think the balance between these three aspects of a novel entangle with each other so well. Every aspect of the science fiction in this novel is capitalised to its maximum, without feeling overbearing like I felt it did in her other novel Lagoon.

Okorafor’s exploration of identity, migration and how others’ perceptions of you can shape those aspects of your life really root this story – it is obvious from the beginning the message she is trying to put across. By placing themes of migration and identity in a post-colonial context and exploring these conversations free from European influence, Okorafor is expanding the limitations faced by black women. These themes permeate the other books in the series and never once become repetitive. The message really hit home for me, as someone who has grown up not really fitting in with any other culture in my family (the perks of growing up with parents from two countries!). Okorafor brings in her own ideas as she is Nigerian but was raised in America, and you can tell from the writing it really is a topic that means a lot to her and is close to her heart.

Overall this book is fantastically brilliant, short, vibrant and deals with important topics in such a short space of words. I would also recommend the book Shame On Me by Tessa McWatt to accompany you’re reading of this series as it deals with the same subjects from a non-fiction point of view.

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shadereads's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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jenkneebee's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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obscurepages's review

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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

4.5

Okay I need the next two books in this trilogy!

Binti was such a nice surprise. I read this book without knowing anything much about it and was pleasantly surprised with what I read. From the writing, to the characters, to the world-building, they were all so wonderful. I definitely need to know more about their fictional world though, I'm so curious about it—imagine it, humans and aliens interacting and co-existing with each other.

I loved the subtle suspense and thrill of the story, and I also loved how Binti's culture and customs were highlighted in the story. I hope I see more of it in the next books.

Exact rating: 4.5 stars!

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ellornaslibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Given I was taking part in the 4 Nations Readathon round for July, I needed a book that fit a 'one word' title prompt and remembered that I wanted to read the audiobook. Plus it made sense as well since I wanted to finish this book come August as part of a yearly goal and as part of The Final Book Support Group's 48hr Readathon round. So, I grabbed the book off Scribd and tucked in for a re-read. I knew already that I enjoyed this book — my rating for the Kindle Edition was 4/5 stars — yet I didn't expect the audio would jump my rating up an entire star. The narrator does such an amazing job that it felt like a fresh read. While the content of the book is powerful, and Binti's journey definitely traumatizing, you feel all the things Binti does more strongly due to the emotions that comes through in Robin Miles' voice. A testament to her skill. I was excited to continue on, and finish, this series before, but I'll definitely be doing it on audiobook going forward.

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fionac326's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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jourdanicus's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

I feel like you can't ever go wrong with anything written by Nnedi Okorafor. Her stories always make me think. This was an engaging, quick read and great as an audiobook.

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