Binti: The Complete Trilogy

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Where have I been? Apparently under a rock because there is a bit of a Nnedi-naisance going on. Her work, whether short story, novella or full-length novel are everywhere and very well respected in the science fiction/fantasy community.

This story is pretty straightforward. A fish out of water tale. However, what is not straightforward is the depth of character that Okorafor created in such a short novella.

Binti is a 16-year-old girl from the isolated Himba region on Earth. She applies and is accepted into the prestigious intergalactic university Oomza Uni, and is the first person of Himba descent to ever be admitted let alone attend the prestigious school. Right away, we as a reader know that Binti is stepping way out of her comfort zone. Both culturally, physically and emotionally. Her people are very traditional and are not one to reach out to change. This in itself is a huge internal conflict for Binti that is artfully addressed throughout the story. While in transit, Binti's ship is attacked and hijacked by the warlike Medusae people. A jellyfish-like species that has been at war with the Khoush aka other earthlings. The entirety of the ship's inhabitants save for Binti, and the pilot is murdered with little regard. To escape Binti retreats to her personal living quarters after which she attempts to wait out the trip to make it to Oomza Uni alive.

In the process of trying to survive, Binti makes some startingly discoveries. First, the piece of technology that she brought from earth, called an edan, enables Binti to communicate with the Medusae. Something that had previously not been accomplished. Secondly, the red clay like substance that Binti uses from her homeland called otijza has healing properties to the Medusae. Binti tentatively coordinates a truce between the occupants of Oomza Uni and the Medusae averting a war and subsequently, makes Binti loved by the Medusae tribe and both esteemed and feared by other Oomsa Uni students. She then begins her mathematical studies at the university. That is the end of this particular novella, but not the story. Okarafor has gone on to write two additional novellas that flesh out Binti's character even further.

First, let's address some of the high points of the story and writing style. Nnedi Okorafor is an authentic writer. In that, I mean she feels entirely at home within the prose of her words, and it reads comfortably. There are no forced situations or scenarios, every scene flows smoothly and transitions from one scene to the next. This is a rare trait in a writer, especially at a short story or novella length when much has to happen in a short period. Okorafor is an author that shows instead of tells. The technology that she has created naturally doesn't exist, and its use in the story is a huge and essential plot point. Instead of just saying that the edan that she brought from her does this and that, Okanfur shows us. She shows us the machine, to the point in which we as readers can almost feel it in our hand. Lastly, I feel like I know Binti. Okorafor has described Binti so vibrantly that I feel like I could hold her braids in my hand, smell the red clay she coats her body with, and the electrical currents she can harmonize. Oddly enough, it has little to do with how tall Binti is or other physical features and entirely on the content of Binti's character, quality of writing, and a feel for her as a person.

At the end of this novella, we learn that knowledge comes with a significant cost, a cost that Binti has to pay. The ending is both bittersweet, a punch in the proverbial gut, and an opportunity for her to become more. Well worth the read. Not only is this a feather in the cap of Afro-futurism, but of science fiction at large. This is a damn good story.

For such a short tale, this packs a lot of great content in! I love the use of the Himba people literally being connected to their land, and the tension between that and going out into space.

The brevity occasionally caused some drawbacks. For instance, I understood that the Khoush were a race/group who considered themselves superior, but I wasn't clear on where they came from or how that evolved (turns out Okorafor said on Twitter that they're “clearly” Arabic, but that wasn't clear for me!” All that world/culture building could have used a little more time and detail. However, Binti's own culture was totally clear, and I don't think just because I already knew a little about the Himba people.

The other “not quite five stars” thing for me was the astounding coincidence that Binti just happens to have a cure-all for Meduse wounds AND a device that lets her communicate with them. I guess it fits well with the theme, but plotwise it seems very contrived.

Still, interested to see where this goes, and heck, maybe my spoilered complaint there actually has a deep dark backstory that will be uncovered!

4.5. Such rich character and world building in such a short novella, truly impressive and created an immersive reading experience! I've been meaning to read her YA Akata series but got here first, and I'm so happy I did. Look forward to book talking this, and the gorgeous and content-matching cover will help to sell. The only slightly off detail was pronoun switching with Okwu, sometimes he and sometimes it. She fixes this in Home.

It's probably more of a 3.5.

I've obviously known about this novella for a long time because it's won so many awards and accolades. But it's also set in space and sci-fi isn't my thing, so I never planned on reading it. But our Stars and Sorcery book club decided to pick it up as our last BOTM of the year and I was finally intrigued enough to give it a try. And I'm glad I did.

First thing I have to mention is that I didn't understand most of the scientific terminology used in the book, but that's ofcourse my shortcoming and should be easier to comprehend for seasoned sci-fi readers. But the overall writing and the themes were easier to grasp. It packs a lot of feeling in less than 100 pages and I could feel all of it. It's also understandably very fast paced and kept me on my toes, especially the middle portion of the story. We only get to know Binti and a couple of other characters but what I saw of them, they were fascinating and complicated. I love the found family aspect of it and hope it gets more fleshed out in the later novellas.

It's evident from the beginning itself that the underlying theme is about prejudice - how we “other” people just because we don't understand them or they look different from us. Binti understands this well and even in an environment where she is gawked at or called out, she holds her head high. She is intelligent and ambitious and wants more for herself than what her traditions allow, allowing her to change parts of herself, but she never lets go of her traditions. This story also dips a little into commentary about colonial exploitation but never goes deep into it.

Overall, this is an interesting story featuring a fierce and smart young Black woman and I loved getting to know her. While the world building isn't too extensive, it's written just well enough for us to truly feel it's message of empathy and acceptance.

This short story packs a bunch of original ideas into a familiar narrative - girl going off to school. The school, however, is on another planet and consists of diverse beings, and the route there is interrupted in ways I didn't see coming. I love the idea that this short story sets up a longer series - one I plan to check out.

Wow! This novella really took me by surprise with how much I adored it. Easy enough to listen to or read in one day but so engaging that I didn't want to stop! I won't be giving out details because I don't want to give anything away. If you want to venture into sci-fi this would be a great place to start because you still get lots of world building but really not that many locations introduced. Can't wait to read the next one!!

A lovely novella story of youthful discovery. Young Binti, a mathematical genius and master harmoniser, leaves her tribal home and family, without their permission, to journey across the universe to a University planet. Along the way she encounters new friends who are destroyed by bloody violence at the hands of an alien species. She survives but must use her growing confidence and abilities to prevent a possible interspecies war.

Interesting and nice, but not terribly complicated. I think I'd have enjoyed this a lot more if it were longer; this is a very short book.

I don't have any complaints about this book aside from the length. And there isn't a lot about it that made me think, “Wow.” So, this book is just fine. Not bad. Not great. It's fine.

This was a beautiful little read about a young African woman who travels the stars to visit university, and some of the dangers she faces along the way. It set a lot of interesting groundwork for a larger story; Binti's a fascinating character, and the aliens she meets on her journey occupy a lot of familiar trope space but still have a unique spin on them. The only downside to this novella is it's far too short - this seems more like a prologue than an actual full story. Thankfully it's part of a series, so we'll get to see more of Binti's journeys later on.

Binti is very creative and thoughtful, but it also annoyed me and I wish I only ready the first novella instead of the full trilogy.

Pros:

I really like Nnedi Okorafor as a person. I first heard her talking about sci-fi and imagination with Br. Guy Consolmagno (the Vatican's top astronomer), and her vision and creativity struck me. Those attributes show in Binti abundantly: the wildly different alien species, the technology and travel, it's all a brilliant kaleidoscope of ideas. It's very easy to cheer for the protagonist. The Binti trilogy is also very thoughtful about the complexities of interactions between different species and human prejudice. I read these novellas because I'm trying to stretch myself a bit, and these definitely fit the bill.


Cons:

As is perhaps inevitable with trying to stretch myself with new material (my cultural background is wildly different from the Nigerian-American Ms. Okorafor), I found Binti to be SUPER weird. A character genetically fuses with other species/races not once, not twice, but three times during the plot. There are a LOT of features about this future world that are not explained at all and are just accepted in passing; some of these are fine and comprehensible, like a type of meditation they call “treeing.” But characters can apparently summon electric currents by thinking really hard about math equations, talk to animals, and all sorts of other oddities. Ideally, a reader would be so enchanted by the story that these would be trivial details that you accept in stride, but I was never quite “into” the story enough to avoid being irked every time one of them popped up.

The author also had a habit of writing oddly clipped sentences sometimes that drove me nuts.

This short story packs a bunch of original ideas into a familiar narrative - girl going off to school. The school, however, is on another planet and consists of diverse beings, and the route there is interrupted in ways I didn't see coming. I love the idea that this short story sets up a longer series - one I plan to check out.

This book was really too short for the subject matter. I wish there was more time and space to really go deep into all the new, fascinating things the reader is introduced to. I'll pick up the next one as I'm sure it will expand the universe, but I feel this little story really could have been more. It felt like base ideas that weren't fully explored or fleshed out yet.