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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I love her books. Very engaging and they transport you to another world. Corporations are bad. Favorite quote.. “People don’t care as long as they are comfortable”.
As always, Okorafor writes a good story, set in the future but with lots of correspondences to modern life. This one is set in Nigeria at a time in which one particular corporation is running pretty much everything.
The protagonist, AO, is a young woman with a lot of cybernetic parts, due to both birth defects and a later accident. They work better than the usual human arms and legs, but they freak people out, and early in the story, she is attacked in the marketplace and responds with automatic violence. Running away from the mess, she is pursued – by the government, or by the corporation, or are they one and the same? Pairing up with a Fulani herdsman who is also on the run, she goes into an ecological wildness, a desert of swirling winds where humans can’t easily live.
There are a few facile tropes in this novel – like the wise man in the desert – but generally, it’s very well plotted. AO finds a community of people running from the government/corporation, and manages to prove her innocence, and expose the wrongdoing of the higher-ups. It’s exciting, adventurous, and hits on a number of important issues.
The protagonist, AO, is a young woman with a lot of cybernetic parts, due to both birth defects and a later accident. They work better than the usual human arms and legs, but they freak people out, and early in the story, she is attacked in the marketplace and responds with automatic violence. Running away from the mess, she is pursued – by the government, or by the corporation, or are they one and the same? Pairing up with a Fulani herdsman who is also on the run, she goes into an ecological wildness, a desert of swirling winds where humans can’t easily live.
There are a few facile tropes in this novel – like the wise man in the desert – but generally, it’s very well plotted. AO finds a community of people running from the government/corporation, and manages to prove her innocence, and expose the wrongdoing of the higher-ups. It’s exciting, adventurous, and hits on a number of important issues.
I coincidentally read this book right after reading the Circle. There are very similar themes here but explored with a better developed female protagonist and from a Nigerian perspective.
The pacing felt off, but I did appreciate what Okorafor was trying to do.
A short but packed story, about technology and identity. Emotional and thought-provoking.
Not what I'm used to from this author. I felt like it was really repetitive, and I couldn't get into it. I listened to most of it, but kept having to rewind because I was zoning out.
There was also confusion, like it seemed the Red Eyes were either people or ... sandstorms. Noor .. not quite sure what that was, either.
It was more than annoying that when she ran into Force, DNA just ... disappeared. It was like he wasn't ever really in the story. Just very stilted and clumsy.
That said, I LOVED that the protagonist is a disabled person. That's so rare. I'm glad that Nnedi Okorafor was the one who did this, because she knows. When someone who is not disabled writes disabled characters, I do not trust the experience or the knowledge, so my disbelief is never suspended. I could relax in this novel without those worries. I liked how she showed the real hatred that people have for disabled folks. I hope that able bodied people who read this and are freaked out about how she was treated understand that this is real.
But ultimately, I couldn't finish it.
There was also confusion, like it seemed the Red Eyes were either people or ... sandstorms. Noor .. not quite sure what that was, either.
It was more than annoying that when she ran into Force, DNA just ... disappeared. It was like he wasn't ever really in the story. Just very stilted and clumsy.
That said, I LOVED that the protagonist is a disabled person. That's so rare. I'm glad that Nnedi Okorafor was the one who did this, because she knows. When someone who is not disabled writes disabled characters, I do not trust the experience or the knowledge, so my disbelief is never suspended. I could relax in this novel without those worries. I liked how she showed the real hatred that people have for disabled folks. I hope that able bodied people who read this and are freaked out about how she was treated understand that this is real.
But ultimately, I couldn't finish it.
Identified a lot with AO's status as being someone who should have died.
The vibes and setting of this book were *chef's kisses* and I really enjoyed the writing style. The relationship between AO and DNA felt very forced and I don't think it really added anything to the story. I just want bada** female protagonists that do bada** female protagonists things, without a forced romance component. Is this too much to ask? But nonetheless, a good book
AO is a Nigerian woman living with a lot of body augmentations due to being born disabled and after a horrible car accident growing up. However, many average people fear her for all her “unnaturalness.” One day, when a normal trip to the market goes wrong, she flees north, heading to the area known as the Red Eye, a massive, constant dust storm in the northern deserts of Nigeria. Along the way, she meets a Fulani herdsman who is also fleeing from a horrible incident. Together they will look for a place where they can live in peace, and they will fight for that chance.
This was a really interesting book with a lot of interesting ideas, but I feel like it needed to be longer to fully flesh them out and give them all adequate space. This book explores ideas about albeness, about cybernetic enhancements, about environmental changes due to human activities, about mega-corporations, about the controlling nature of capitalism, and about the influence of media framing & the 24 hr news cycle. The world-building and the characters were interesting, but I feel like it needed to be longer because the story-telling gets jumpy at times.
More of 3.5 stars, but I’m gonna round up to 4 stars ‘cause I really liked the world-building.
This was a really interesting book with a lot of interesting ideas, but I feel like it needed to be longer to fully flesh them out and give them all adequate space. This book explores ideas about albeness, about cybernetic enhancements, about environmental changes due to human activities, about mega-corporations, about the controlling nature of capitalism, and about the influence of media framing & the 24 hr news cycle. The world-building and the characters were interesting, but I feel like it needed to be longer because the story-telling gets jumpy at times.
More of 3.5 stars, but I’m gonna round up to 4 stars ‘cause I really liked the world-building.