Who Fears Death in Our Shared Shelf

Feb 15, 2019 Margaret Pinard rated it liked it

Shelves: existential-thinking, on-travel, scifi-fantasy, just-a-bit-odd, another-read-through, war, womens-lives

I was perhaps too excited for this book. Interesting setting, great detail of atrocity and culture and mythology, but I found the action wasn't sustained tightly enough and my heart wandered off the page by the second half. I was also perhaps reading too fast for book club deadline.

-120 why is being cut by cactus or other a bad thing for initiation? not explained.
+/- 155 says rather than tells in Aro's voice, when it is Onye who 'realizes' what her vision was. Liked Mwita rxn.
-159 'took us all t ...more

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Jun 27, 2015 Adriel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sf

This was one of the most stunning books I have read in a long time. The characters were rich and flawed, yet in a constant process of growth and change. The background was mysterious and magical and sparse in a post-apocalyptic way. While this book is certainly not for everyone, since the themes of genocide and FGM and rape were very hard to read, it still is able to look at these real life issues with some kind of hope and change through the Hero's struggle. The writing was very good, i would c ...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Cindywho rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy-sf

The story is more dark fantasy than Post-apocalyptic. There is no reference to the outside world beyond the existence of computers and the author's reference to Sudan as a country. A sorceress of prophecy has a difficult life as the child of rape and mixed race, and she becomes as violent as her world in order to change it. ...more

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Apr 25, 2014 Anie rated it really liked it

Shelves: own, 2015, fiction, sff, female-author, female-protagonist

Okorafor is a great writer, and it's not surprising that this book won a WFA. her style is distinctive - honest, and plain, but at the same time deeply descriptive; this is a thoughtful book, but it's also a physical book, full of sense description that at times makes your spine shiver.

This is not an easy book. The subject matter is brutal; genocide and weaponized rape are central to the plot. I don't normally pick up books with these themes, because they are so frequently badly done. Who Fears ...more

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