Reviews

Where the sparseness of the first book in this trilogy did wonders by presenting an incredibly narrow intro point into a clearly wide and intriguing world, Home struggles by opening up the world building but sticking to the shorter format.

If you’re going to do immersive worldbuilding while also trying to tell a story of someone completely unstuck from basically any society, you simply need more pages. A lot of potential avenues for interesting fleshing out get obliquely handwaved away with Binti thinking a string of questions to herself before deciding not to voice any of them (this happened more than once).

But what WAS there was great. Binti’s strained relationship with her family, her friendship with Okwu, and her constant struggle with PTSD grounded an increasingly high-stakes story. But as noted above, I wish there was more times with these story beats.

And then the world-building, whew! So much more room to flesh out what this futuristic society looks like, plus some hints at how Earth became the way it was and an amazing dash of futuroindeginous(?) practices made it all so tantalizing. But as mentioned above, those drip drops of information don’t play as well as in the first book.

With one (also small) book to go, I hope Okorafor finds better balance, because I’m definitely still excited to read it.

lauraborkpower's review against another edition

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3.0

This was a terrific progression from the first installment of the series, and, again, I wanted a bit more. I'd have liked to spend more time at Oomza University before Binti decided to leave for her pilgrimage, to explore the interesting world that Okorafor has created. But she kept the story moving, and it's a good story.

jenmangler's review against another edition

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4.0

I'm really enjoying this trilogy. I loved getting to know more about Binti's family & history.

_ibukun_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

kashna83's review against another edition

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3.0

Me ha gustado mucho... Pero me he quedado con ganas de más! Se me ha hecho corto

marimiab's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

chasejon's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

I loved the additional exploration of Binti's home and historical context. I also appreciated the development of Binti herself and the continual evolution of her motivations and beliefs. That said, I think this was a weaker story than the first book. I wanted more space content and less repetition of themes. The conflicts with the Meduse also felt one note, where the fear and hatred of the relationships between Meduse and the Khoush was not as tangible and impactful as I think it could have been. Overall, still love the characters and perspective here, but I think there were areas of this iteration that fell flat.

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