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jenhurst's review against another edition
4.0
4.5.
This book is amazing. Beautiful writing and I loved the fusion of science fiction, fantasy and the dystopian setting.
This book is amazing. Beautiful writing and I loved the fusion of science fiction, fantasy and the dystopian setting.
mitziatratum's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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? No
4.0
kaylabsimon's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent book! Strong female protagonist. Very unpredictable and great world-building. I’m looking forward to reading more by Nnedi Okorafor.
chelseareads's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.5
Maybe my favorite Okorafor yet. Occurs before the events of "Who Fears Death." Very heavy.
rwxtd's review against another edition
3.75
"Hey Rebecca, you haven't read or reviewed anything in like two months, what's going on" listen. I cannot explain it to you. I spent four years studying neuroscience and I still know next to nothing about how brains work, especially my own, so we're just all gonna have to be ok with the fact that this is just how things go.
Anyway, shoutout to this book for uh being required reading and forcing me out of my reading slump against my will, I guess. I liked it well enough. There's enough going on that it kept me decently invested, I wasn't ever really bored and I never had a bad time at any point during the reading process. The beginning was a little harder to get through, but that was probably more a fault of the reading slump than the book itself, because it starts off pretty fast and action packed basically immediately. It definitely got easier and faster in the second half, at least for me- again, whether this was a result of the reading slump or my actual investment in the story is hard to say, but I think probably it was a mix of both. I did care more about what was happening in the second half. I will also say, if loose ends bother you in stories, this is probably not the book for you. There were quite a few unanswered questions. I thought it did a good enough job of justifying why it didn't need to explain things or why it left them a mystery that it didn't bother me- but there were also points where it was definitely obvious that the author was basically saying "this thing doesn't need an answer, don't worry about it". So if that's irritating to you, you probably won't like this book.
One thing I didn't love: I felt the writing style was a little clunky at times. It was pretty obvious about the points it was making, and not necessarily in a way that felt intentional. It was very tell-not-show, I think, or at the very least it was both show AND tell, and I don't think both were required.
That being said, I did find Phoenix to be a really interesting character. Even if I don't necessarily agree with her, everything she says and does makes sense- all her actions are justified based on how she and the people around her are treated. I also liked the framing device the story used- sort of a story within a story, and the way it ended I thought was also really interesting. I'm not going to spoil it, but I did think it brought up some really interesting ideas about translation, time, truth, and all that.
All in all- pretty good, didn't love the writing style but I did find it interesting and I liked it well enough. Might recommend it in certain circumstances, but not to everyone. I feel like this probably won't end up being particularly memorable for me.
Also- and I wouldn't count this as a criticism of the book, it's mostly just personal preference and something I wanted to comment on because I find it interesting- there were a weird number of romantic/sexual relationships for a book that is super not about either of those things? Like some of it makes sense to a certain extent- Phoenix is frequently reacting to the fact that Big Eye is taking away people she loves, so giving her love interests makes sense. There are other relationships she has that elicit similar reactions, and the romance aspect isn't strictly *necessary*, but it does make sense. That being said- the romance stuff definitely falls in the "tell not show" category. Both relationships develop off screen, and we only see the characters interacting after we have already been informed that they are in love. Additionally, two of the characters besides Phoenix are mentioned or implied to have had sex off screen at various points, and I'm not entirely sure what the purpose is in either case. Why did you mention this to me? Why does it matter? What does it add to the plot or characters? I genuinely can't think of a reason why. And none of these relationships are the point of the book- they provide motivation for Phoenix, but the actual romance element of things is so minimal and so not the point. Literally the only reason I mention this is because it happens all. the. time. It's such a bizarre blind spot for most people- romantic and sexual relationships always get put in the weirdest places, for no reason, and no one bats an eye because everyone's so used to it. Again, not even really a criticism, I just think it's strange.
Anyway, shoutout to this book for uh being required reading and forcing me out of my reading slump against my will, I guess. I liked it well enough. There's enough going on that it kept me decently invested, I wasn't ever really bored and I never had a bad time at any point during the reading process. The beginning was a little harder to get through, but that was probably more a fault of the reading slump than the book itself, because it starts off pretty fast and action packed basically immediately. It definitely got easier and faster in the second half, at least for me- again, whether this was a result of the reading slump or my actual investment in the story is hard to say, but I think probably it was a mix of both. I did care more about what was happening in the second half. I will also say, if loose ends bother you in stories, this is probably not the book for you. There were quite a few unanswered questions. I thought it did a good enough job of justifying why it didn't need to explain things or why it left them a mystery that it didn't bother me- but there were also points where it was definitely obvious that the author was basically saying "this thing doesn't need an answer, don't worry about it". So if that's irritating to you, you probably won't like this book.
One thing I didn't love: I felt the writing style was a little clunky at times. It was pretty obvious about the points it was making, and not necessarily in a way that felt intentional. It was very tell-not-show, I think, or at the very least it was both show AND tell, and I don't think both were required.
That being said, I did find Phoenix to be a really interesting character. Even if I don't necessarily agree with her, everything she says and does makes sense- all her actions are justified based on how she and the people around her are treated. I also liked the framing device the story used- sort of a story within a story, and the way it ended I thought was also really interesting. I'm not going to spoil it, but I did think it brought up some really interesting ideas about translation, time, truth, and all that.
All in all- pretty good, didn't love the writing style but I did find it interesting and I liked it well enough. Might recommend it in certain circumstances, but not to everyone. I feel like this probably won't end up being particularly memorable for me.
Also- and I wouldn't count this as a criticism of the book, it's mostly just personal preference and something I wanted to comment on because I find it interesting- there were a weird number of romantic/sexual relationships for a book that is super not about either of those things? Like some of it makes sense to a certain extent- Phoenix is frequently reacting to the fact that Big Eye is taking away people she loves, so giving her love interests makes sense. There are other relationships she has that elicit similar reactions, and the romance aspect isn't strictly *necessary*, but it does make sense. That being said- the romance stuff definitely falls in the "tell not show" category. Both relationships develop off screen, and we only see the characters interacting after we have already been informed that they are in love. Additionally, two of the characters besides Phoenix are mentioned or implied to have had sex off screen at various points, and I'm not entirely sure what the purpose is in either case. Why did you mention this to me? Why does it matter? What does it add to the plot or characters? I genuinely can't think of a reason why. And none of these relationships are the point of the book- they provide motivation for Phoenix, but the actual romance element of things is so minimal and so not the point. Literally the only reason I mention this is because it happens all. the. time. It's such a bizarre blind spot for most people- romantic and sexual relationships always get put in the weirdest places, for no reason, and no one bats an eye because everyone's so used to it. Again, not even really a criticism, I just think it's strange.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, and Death
Moderate: Torture, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Body horror
Minor: Death of parent, Genocide, and Cancer
It's not particularly graphic-it doesn't go into much detail- but it does mention/briefly describe a lot of really awful things happening to people so lots of content warnings herequarkie'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
mjspice's review against another edition
Plagiarizes Octavia Butler
https://twitter.com/zorafuture/status/1777351491537211659
https://twitter.com/MsWOCReader/status/1777687787224870988
https://twitter.com/zorafuture/status/1777351491537211659
https://twitter.com/MsWOCReader/status/1777687787224870988
nikki_silk's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
4.0
linburg50's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't find the writing style comfortable - I know, the narrator is only 2 years old, but how many books has she read, and how intelligent is she? To then speak in half-sentences with unnecessary repetitions and explanations ...
There was nothing original or exciting here.
There was nothing original or exciting here.