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quarkie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
When I picked it up, I didn't realize this book was a prequel. I think I probably would have liked it better if I had read the main novel first.
What I liked: I really liked the characters. I think they were all interesting, with unique points of view, backstories, and motivations. They were all multi-dimensional, and their actions matched with their characterizations. They all had their strengths as well as their flaws, and they kept the story interesting while being believable. The world itself is fascinating - it's (what I earnestly hope is) a pretty pessimistic view of the (again, hopefully) far future, when global warming has drastically changed the world order. I would have liked to be able to learn more, but maybe this is something that is more of a focus of the main novel.
What was good but could have been better: I really liked the author's writing style. For me, it was very rhythmic, and matched the tone of the story well. Unfortunately the rhythm didn't quite match up with the rhythm that I read with, and I found myself having to go back and reread large passages, which disrupted the flow a bit.
What I didn't like: I think there were a number of plot holes. They were extremely minor, meaning that they had no actual impact on the plot, but they were distracting, causing me to go back and re-read sections. For example, a character would be handling a closed box, and then the author would go on the describe the sound the box made as it closed, leaving me confused on the state of the box. So nothing major, but enough to be annoying. Everything was also pretty fast-paced, meaning that there were also a number of plot points that I thought could have been explored further, but maybe that is something that is left for the main novel.
My take-aways: Overall, this book was an interesting examination of a way that modern-day slavery could occur. There were many allusions to dangerous trips across the Atlantic, well-meaning bystanders doing nothing to stop the atrocities that occur around them, and the role that corporations and governments have in upholding unjust systems that benefit them.
Overall, I thought it was a good book and I enjoyed it, but there was nothing that made it particularly stand-out for me.
What I liked: I really liked the characters. I think they were all interesting, with unique points of view, backstories, and motivations. They were all multi-dimensional, and their actions matched with their characterizations. They all had their strengths as well as their flaws, and they kept the story interesting while being believable. The world itself is fascinating - it's (what I earnestly hope is) a pretty pessimistic view of the (again, hopefully) far future, when global warming has drastically changed the world order. I would have liked to be able to learn more, but maybe this is something that is more of a focus of the main novel.
What was good but could have been better: I really liked the author's writing style. For me, it was very rhythmic, and matched the tone of the story well. Unfortunately the rhythm didn't quite match up with the rhythm that I read with, and I found myself having to go back and reread large passages, which disrupted the flow a bit.
What I didn't like: I think there were a number of plot holes. They were extremely minor, meaning that they had no actual impact on the plot, but they were distracting, causing me to go back and re-read sections. For example, a character would be handling a closed box, and then the author would go on the describe the sound the box made as it closed, leaving me confused on the state of the box. So nothing major, but enough to be annoying. Everything was also pretty fast-paced, meaning that there were also a number of plot points that I thought could have been explored further, but maybe that is something that is left for the main novel.
My take-aways: Overall, this book was an interesting examination of a way that modern-day slavery could occur. There were many allusions to dangerous trips across the Atlantic, well-meaning bystanders doing nothing to stop the atrocities that occur around them, and the role that corporations and governments have in upholding unjust systems that benefit them.
Overall, I thought it was a good book and I enjoyed it, but there was nothing that made it particularly stand-out for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Police brutality, War, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Torture, Body horror, Slavery, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, and Murder
Moderate: Kidnapping, Racism, Abandonment, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Medical content, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual content
Minor: Sexism, Xenophobia, Excrement, Misogyny, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Trafficking
ejb44's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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
3.0
The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor is a Afrofuturist short novel following SpeciMEN creations in Tower 7, set (we can assume) a couple hundreds of years into the future. Sunuteel, the character who brings this story to us, is transmitted a file called The Book of Phoenix upon stumbling across a cave with computers, and we hear the story of Phoenix, a creation, and her life.
As someone who doesn’t particularly like sci-fi or fantasy, I was worried about disliking the book, particularly because I find tropes are repeated in this genre – good guys vs bad guys; intense love story; a “be all and end all” atmosphere. However, luckily for me, the author added amazing complexities to her novel, exploring themes of post-colonialism (despite independence in Africa being years ago), bodily autonomy and what it means to grow up and develop as an individual.
The best part of the book was the structure and the way the author chose to explore the story of Phoenix through this audio file. This was a really unique way to explore a story, and brings in the conversations of narration, storytelling and what counts as narration. In the world we live in, with new technologies constantly replacing the last, and the on-going (pointless) debate about whether listening to audiobooks is the same as reading books (fun fact, they are), I thought it was quite telling that Okorafor uses an audio file to explore both Phoenix’s story and allow for conversations about how media can be conveyed.
Despite this brilliance in artistry, I still found it quite difficult to connect with the characters and the overall setting because, again, I don’t like sci-fi and think the genre overall just doesn’t sit quite right with me. Even though themes and conversations woven into the novel were poignant and brilliant, it just didn’t hit me as hard as I had hoped.
To add to this, there is one part of the book where the protagonist, Phoenix, “realises” something about one of her doctors, however, she then also discovered it about 30 pages later, as if for the first time. This slight mishap in the writing did make it a little difficult to remain immersed in this post-apocalyptic fictional world, sadly.
Overall, if you’re looking for a fantasy sci-fi novel that deals with real issues, talks about the effects of colonialism and engages in meaningful dialogue about technology and the treatment of black people as objects to be tested on, then this book is brilliant. If you love Star Trek, any Lovecraft book or narratives like Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee, then this book is probably right up your street.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence
rubyhosh's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
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