Reviews with content warning for Incest - Who Fears Death

An incredible book that deals with mature themes of sexual and ethnic violence in a genuine way that leads to character development and fantastic story telling.

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kylieqrada's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad medium-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? Yes

4.0

I was so psyched to find a copy of this at Value Village when we were visiting family on the west side. Dr. Okorafor is one of the most iconic names in Afrofuturism, and while this is clearly one of her early works, that doesn't lessen the impact that it has. The writing, although not as developed in style as her later works, is conversational and even funny at times. I liked how that narrative choice cut through the intense topics that this book covers. Speaking of which, CHECK CW'S BEFORE PICKING THIS ONE UP, Y'ALL. Dr. Okorafor pulls no punches, and the ending leaves you pretty much desperate for the second book. I'd recommend it if you can handle the subject matter and don't mind a little bit of an odd tone.

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estosnosonlibros's review

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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jojo_'s review

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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likejennybutwithad's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

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katiehicks's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

This is going to be a really difficult book to review, and I'm sure I'm going to be changing it many times. I only finished this book last night, and I've already changed my mind on it twice, so I think its fair to say that I have a lot of mixed feelings. Mostly this is due to the fact that the structure of this book is very unusual, and I'm sure inspired by African methods of storytelling which I am not familiar with. Because I am not super familiar with African story structures, I can never be sure if the unusual pacing was deliberate and a nod to traditional techniques, or if it was just unusual pacing.

Usually, when I am trying to decide if I like a book, I try to think separately about characters, setting, and plot, and decide if I liked them or not. Overall, I liked the characters, but I didn't love them. I don't feel like Mwita was called out nearly enough for his patriarchal views, (though I did find their relationship overall to be quite sweet), but my biggest problem with them was that none of the other characters really had strong enough personalities to be memorable. They each seemed to just show up when there needed to be added drama, but their actions never really seemed justified by any established characterization. I do love strong female friendship, though, and I appreciated that the relationship between Onye, Binta, Diti, and Luyu was complicated and peppered with misunderstandings and sometimes even jealousy, which made it feel real. I could have done without the fighting over a boy, though.

The setting was amazing, I loved that the desert suffused everything, and informed so much of the story in a really atmospheric way. The imagery inspired by African shamanism was so magical and evocative and some of the best parts of this book.

BUT I already know that this is going to be a suuuuper long review, just because I have so many mixed feelings about the plot, and I have to write all of them down. For me, this book had 3 very distinct parts, and because it took me a little while to read, by the end the first quarter almost felt like an entirely different book, so I think it would help to break it down:

The Beginning (about the first quarter)

For me, this section took the longest to read, even though in many ways it was the most interesting. Because the bulk of this section was a flashback within a flashback, it felt like I was just reading backstory and I hadn't actually gotten to the actual story yet. I almost wish there had just been the prologue to establish that this story was being narrated by a future Onye, and then we had jumped right into her childhood.

Instead, we get the prologue narrated by 20-year-old Onye (which was very cool and I think set just the right tone for the rest of the story), then the first chapter was a flashback to 16-year-old Onye at her father's funeral (at which point we know nothing about her father or anyone else at the funeral, not to mention that we know nothing about Onye's powers or how they work), then the second chapter is another flashback to 11-year old Onye, where the story actually begins. By the time we catch up to the first flashback, the context had completely changed, and I felt I had to go back and re-read that first chapter. It meant having to introduce characters like her father and Aro twice, and gave that entire first quarter a weirdly detached feeling from the rest of the book. It made that chunk of her life (from age 11 to 16) feel like a self-contained story- which is why by the end, it felt like a separate book.

Again, I don't know if this is a nod to traditional African story telling methods, which is why this whole book is very difficult for me to rate, but for me, I think I would have found the beginning much more engaging if that first chapter had just not been there, and we only had the first initial flashback.

The Middle (the entire quest-y part)

I found this whole section to be the most read-able and compelling, even though it probably is the slowest part. This is probably because this part, which is the bulk of the book, is a pretty typical prophecy-driven, chosen one, quest storyline. Personally, I loved the characters wandering around, encountering different villages, fleshing out the world by exploring different cultures and different types of magic.

I'm not sure the story needed to slow down quite so much, since we spent a good amount of time in the beginning establishing these characters and setting some ground rules about the magic, so a lot of the character moments felt a bit repetitive. It was also strange that Onye kept finding new powers along the way- it felt like the goal posts kept being moved about what magic could really do. It was also established many times that Onye was super powerful, so I'm left not even really knowing if half these powers are her super-special-chosen-one gifts, or if anyone else can do them, too.

All that being said, I did really enjoy this section, and I flew through it despite its slow pace and relatively long page count.

The Ending (everything after they reach their destination)

I think I need to sit with this book for longer to fully examine my feelings about the ending. Something about it just felt... off in a way I can't really explain. The climax seemed to happen much too quickly after all the build-up to what promised to be an epic fight. Everything felt a little rushed, and too many big character moments happened off-screen.

I'm also still trying to make up my mind about the epilogues, plural. I still don't know if their contradictory nature was really cool and mystical, or just confusing and unnecessary. Again, this seems to be a section where the author was diving deep into an exploration of storytelling as a vital aspect of cultural transmission, but it may have just gone over my head as someone unfamiliar with African storytelling.

I am planning on reading many more African-inspired books in the future, so I think this book would be really great to re-examine in the future when (and if) I ever feel qualified to talk about the unusual pacing. For now, though, I found this story to be extremely atmospheric, both in its African-ness and in its desert setting, and I'm sure I'll be thinking about it for a long time.

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bookish_calirican's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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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thereadingrambler's review

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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