Who Fears Death in Multiculturalism in YA,Fantasy, Sci FI,Paranormal and fun books ;p

Jul 05, 2010 Craig Laurance rated it really liked it

I really wanted to enjoy this book--but I couldn't. And perhaps that was the point. Okorafor uses the trappings of fantasy--a young sorceress, her training, a prophetic quest--to discuss dark subject matters, particularly, the matter of sub-Saharan Africa. So it's an oddly compelling mash-up of Chinua Achebe and a J.K. Rowling coming of age novel. Issues, like weaponized rape, genocide, slavery, color-caste racism, genital mutilation, and sexism exist along side casual magic (shape-shifting, tel ...more

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Jan 10, 2020 Benjamin Fasching-Gray rated it it was amazing

Shelves: f-sf, africa

Intergenerational trauma is the worst kind of juju. This book won the Tiptree Award, and like Tiptree's stories, it left me wondering if there is any hope for humanity. Okorafor ends on a much more pleasant note than your typical Tiptree story but that's a low bar for pleasant notes. The main character has some real anger issues and swears she will never regret doling out collective punishments on future generations... refreshing after all the paladins in fantasy and in our heads.

Maybe the only ...more

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Sep 24, 2014 Catherine rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopia, sci-fi, magical-realism, non-white-non-anglo-authors, magic, africa-in-fiction

This is part fantasy, part science-fiction, set in a post-apocalyptic central Africa peopled by genocidal Nurus and the people they seek to dominate, the Okekes. Onyesonwu -- whose name means "who fears death?" -- is an Ewu (half Nuru, half Okeke) sorceress destined to bring an end to the conflict between these two groups of people.

This book left me gasping for more information: who are the Nuru? The Great Book mentions that they came from the stars -- are these indigenous humans, aliens, or hum ...more

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