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A review by boocwurm
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
3.0
Binti is the first of her people, the Himba, to be accepted into the prestigious intergalactic Oomza University—but her people do not leave their ancestral land. Armed with her personal belongings, a jar of <i>otjize</i> and a mysterious <i>edan</i>, Bitni leaves the world she knows behind... only to come face to face with danger on her journey.
Okorafor's novella blends Namibian culture with maths-based concepts to create a believable, futuristic world. Binti encounters similar issues she would find on Earth—cultural and skin tone-based prejudices, judgements from those outside her community and warring groups that fundamentally don't understand one another. I thought the concepts here were really interesting.
However, I never really came to like the writing style here. At times, sentences flowed nicely and helped to build this new world with rich descriptions. At others, the sentences were choppy, fragmented or stilted. It didn't feel like this fit the overall voice of the novella or Binti herself and made it harder to get through.
I was also left a little confused about some of the world building. The special <i>edan</i> Binti wields uses mathematical theorems to communicate and change the world, but I never felt like I really grasped what was happening in the scenes where it was truly critical. I also felt like the resolution of the novella was a bit rushed and perhaps naive?The Meduse are introduced as a group that hates the Koush—a group of humans—but then reveal they're also warring with Oomza University, which hosts a breadth of species, including Koush, for taking the Chief's stinger. Either way, the "harmony" Binti helps to foster after the Meduse murder and entire ship's worth of her friends felt a little far-fetched.
I don't plan to continue with Binti's story, but I am eager to try out Okorafor's other works.
Okorafor's novella blends Namibian culture with maths-based concepts to create a believable, futuristic world. Binti encounters similar issues she would find on Earth—cultural and skin tone-based prejudices, judgements from those outside her community and warring groups that fundamentally don't understand one another. I thought the concepts here were really interesting.
However, I never really came to like the writing style here. At times, sentences flowed nicely and helped to build this new world with rich descriptions. At others, the sentences were choppy, fragmented or stilted. It didn't feel like this fit the overall voice of the novella or Binti herself and made it harder to get through.
I was also left a little confused about some of the world building. The special <i>edan</i> Binti wields uses mathematical theorems to communicate and change the world, but I never felt like I really grasped what was happening in the scenes where it was truly critical. I also felt like the resolution of the novella was a bit rushed and perhaps naive?
I don't plan to continue with Binti's story, but I am eager to try out Okorafor's other works.