A review by grandiose_r
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

adventurous emotional fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

I enjoyed it a lot, though I do understand why some reviewers felt like the resolution of the main conflict happened rather quickly. Small gripes I had were how often there were descriptions of "this group's men do x, and the women do y", making several groups very very binary gendered. This binary gendering was especially weird to me when encountering the main alien species in this book, who are so distinctly non-human, and yet are immediately viewed with a male/female lens and, conversely, who make gendered (and at one point vaguely misogynistic) judgements about humans.

Also, there's a throwaway line about the main character not being proud of having some lineage from a certain people whose only description is that they have very dark skin and wiry hair. This was especially jarring seeing as how the main character's journey is very much informed by her experiences with discrimination, more precisely anti-Blackness and colorism.

All in all though, I enjoyed the storytelling, the worldbuildung and the character and will be reading the next book in the series.
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