Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
★★★✰✰
“You think we are like you humans?” it asked, angrily. “We don’t kill for sport or even for gain. Only for purpose.”
An interesting novella that sets a promising start to the series. Okorafor plays around with sci-fi elements, giving us an intriguing take on overused tropes of the genre. Binti is a rather refreshing story, one that had to work against its ‘shortness’. Okorafor establishes the tone and themes of her story from the very beginning. Her style has a natural flow that makes the story easy to follow despite the unfamiliar world.
“The Meduse are not what we humans think. They are truth. They are clarity. They are decisive. There are sharp lines and edges. They understand honor and dishonor. ”
I would have liked to have more information, especially concerning Binti’s reality. Sometimes Okorafor addressed certain things and then doesn’t return to them, and this made the setting a rather precarious one. In certain scenes there is a focus on superficial particulars that don’t really add anything of value to the story, and usually I wouldn’t mind, but given that this is novella, and every word counts, I think it would have been better to then use more words to depict Binti’s world more clearly. Binti was a forgettable protagonist, her characterisation solely relies on the circumstances she finds herself in, rather than her already possessing certain distinguishable traits.
A quick read that proposes some compelling elements but ultimately fails to stand out.
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