Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

24 reviews

eclipse799's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Child death, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Classism, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Racism, Sexism, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, War, Xenophobia, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, and Pregnancy

ramreads5's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Slavery, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Incest, Grief, Sexual violence, Rape, War, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Bullying, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Violence

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This will probably be a 5 star when I reread it one day. Wow. It's a complex story, feels epic in scale, but also has relatable and realistic characters. My new favourite Nnedi Okorafor book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Hate crime, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Racism, Death, and Sexism

Moderate: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Slavery, Blood, Infidelity, Death of parent, Body shaming, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Bullying, War, and Fire/Fire injury

Female genital mutilation

bites_of_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Dr. Nnedi Okorafor writes the most interesting characters and hasn't failed for me yet. 

Here we follow Onyesonwu throughout her life as she goes through many trials to find out exactly what it is that is her purpose. Onye is a child of rape and is discriminated against because of her mixed heritage, which can be easily seen on her features. Set in a far future Sudan, this novel still carries issues that have been known in the region, such as weaponized rape, child soldiers, violence against women, racism, etc. 

I really appreciated how Okorafor built the spiritual and magical aspects of the story. In many ways, they reminded me of magical realism as well as showed me a completely different way to think about ancestors and the way that people can be connected via their spiritual beliefs. 

Overall what it came down to were the characters. I love it when characters aren't just the idealized hero and the perfect side characters. They are all flawed in different ways, they might be stubborn, be incredibly impatient, or even let their carnal desires take over when they might need to prioritize other things in their lives. 

All in all, if you want to see a completely different take on fantasy that features a strong woman and also strong supporting partner and companions, do check this out. Do take the content warnings seriously before reading though! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Animal death, Blood, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, War, and Violence

dannilmp's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.75

This is a book I picked up for the Storygraph reads around the world 2023 challenge, and it was not a disappointing read. A very dark and emotional read, full of a lot of violence, grapic detail and mature themes from the start. I would recommend a thorough checking of trigger warnings beore reading this novel. 

We follow a female sorcerer, unusual for the times, as she goes on a journey to discover more about herself in a world who views her as a threat just for the circumstances of her birth. I feel there is a lot to reflect on within this novel about the nature of human beings, the advancements of technology and what we can learn moving forward. 

While I thought the overall novel was great, I did get a little bit lost reading the epilogue and trying to figure out what this meant for the ending of the story and how this epilogue fits in. I still haven't come up with a satisfying conclusion days later. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual violence, Death, Rape, War, Gore, Sexual assault, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail

blackbird2210's review

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

 Beautifully written. The world building, magical elements, and character relationship are amazing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, Colonisation, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, War, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Grief

krys_kilz's review

adventurous dark slow-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? Yes

3.75

This book felt a little slow paced for me and then rushed at the end. A lot of the story was focused on Onyesonwu's coming of age, so I would describe the book as a Bildungsroman/hero's journey with post-apocalyptic and fantasy elements. Some of the elements in this book fell a bit flat for me, but I still plan to continue reading Okorafor's work as I deeply appreciate the worlds she imagines.

Please be mindful of the content warnings before reading as there are a lot of heavy topics discussed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death of parent, Genocide, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Vomit

kharlan3's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Death of parent, Sexism, Sexual assault, Rape, and War

Moderate: Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Grief, and Gore

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, Animal death, and Body horror

female genital mutilation

tigger89's review

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I don't want to say that I enjoyed this book, because I didn't. The content warnings aren't a joke, and I encourage you to check the list. But I am glad I read the book, especially after also reading the afterword which pointed me to the real-world atrocity that inspired the Ewu(the mixed-race group the main character belongs to). If it had come entirely from the author's mind it would have been too much, but of course it was based in reality, because humans never stop finding new ways to be monstrously cruel to each other.

The thing I liked the most about it was diving into the magic systems(yes, plural - there's the more commonplace juju, and also the sorcery that the main character learns to wield), particularly that they were explained enough to give me the flavor without being explained to death. I also loved the almost-meta themes surrounding destiny and agency, and the ending of the book was perfect(fight me). Something else I appreciated was that the characters were allowed to be human, with all the flaws, tempers and mistakes that come along with that.

The main thing I didn't like was how much sex and relationship drama was in the story. Once they were adults, it seemed like every chapter someone was having intercourse with someone else and a third person was being salty about it. Realistic? Yes, but not my cup of tea. Also, the way the novel revolved around pregnancy was a bit squick for me, though I'm aware this one is a me problem. Nothing in this point seemed out of character, it just very much wasn't for me. The other criticism I have is that the book was extremely gender binary, which isn't too surprising for a book published in 2010.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Slavery, Death, Death of parent, Racism, Sexism, Genocide, Pregnancy, and Rape

Moderate: Incest, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and War

The main character undergoes(and spends a lot of time thinking about) female genital mutilation.

This is used as a means of controlling women, presented as wrong, and is later reversed by her sorcery.

isotobel's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racism, Hate crime, Gore, Genocide, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Incest, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Minor: Trafficking, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts

Graphic FGM