Reviews with content warning for Death - Binti

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

rebekahg876's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.25

Content Warnings

estelagois's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

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