A review by katnortonwriter
Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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

4.5

There is a line toward the end of this series about “pushing tradition to grow,” and that’s what will stick with me most about this series… not just the phrasing, but the idea that Binti ‘defies’ the traditions of her community, becoming many this intersectional being on a genetic level while still clinging to the parts of her identity and culture that empower her. She outgrows what is expected of her, but she wants her community to grow with her. When she feels limited by her community’s expectations, she urges their expectations to change, rather than walking away from them entirely.

There’s something a bit clinical about Okarfor’s descriptions that took me a minute to appreciate, but by the end of the series, I was all in. There’s something sparse about the prose that allows some of the more metaphysical concepts to work without over-explaining. In book 3, we also get some narrative outside of Binti’s POV and I loved how that allowed the reader to see more of what was going on without Binti as a filter. 

Tl;dr, everyone was right, this series is amazing. I recently struggled with The Shadow Speaker, which I know is some of her earlier work, but this took my back to reading Zarah The Windseeker for the first time and falling in love with her world-building style. Makes me remember what I love about scifi in the first place. 🤩🥰