The Night Masquerade

Beautiful. Inspiring. Amazing. I loved this third installment of Binti's adventure. What an amazing world and collection of characters Nnedi Okorafor has made.

Throughout reading this book, I'd often forget I was reading a sci-fi novel as I was so utterly consumed by Binti's story, travels, adventure and emotional journey.

This entire series is so fresh and so original it's moved my expectations for all other stories.

Loved it.

Another solid 3.5.

There have been so many mysteries and questions since the beginning of this trilogy and we finally get some answers here.. but mind you, only some. I can understand why the author may have chosen to leave some of them unanswered and it actually goes well with the theme of illogical unending wars between two peoples, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. However, whatever clarity we got was great.

I have definitely fallen in love with Okwu more as the series has gone by. It has grown to be such a loyal and faithful partner to Binti and I wasn't expecting that. Binti has some amazing character development and shows great bravery and commitment to peace which I admired, but she is still fragile and the author leaves the ending on a hopeful note. Mwinyi is a new addition and while the romance came about suddenly, I thought he was a delightful character and just wished we had been able to see more of him.

As with the theme of the previous books, I'm not sure I completely understand what the author was trying to convey here. Maybe it's about self acceptance - Binti accepting all parts of herself to live a happier life. There's also commentary about the futility of endless wars, and that sometimes we don't even know why we are fighting them. And even if the majority want peace, it may not always be possible. I thought this came across as cynical but I guess it's not too far away from reality.

Overall, I thought this was a fascinating trilogy. As someone who doesn't know much of sci-fi, I can't really judge it based on quality but I liked the author's ideas and characterizations. I just think it would have been better in a longer format because so much of it feels too open for interpretation. But I did have fun and that's all that matters.