March 2024 GN's/Novellas/Manga/Poetry/Nonfiction BOTM - Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor

[Alaina]

For the first time in hardcover, the winner of the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award!

With a new foreword by N. K. Jemisin

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.

Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti's stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.

If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself -- but first she has to make it there, alive.

The Binti Series
Book 1: Binti
Book 2: Binti: Home
Book 3: Binti: The Night Masquerade

**This BOTM thread will be open until April 5th @ Midnight (in your time zone)**

[Haley]

ch 1 listened to the audiobook, but honesty wasn't the biggest fan.. (view spoiler)[ getting to know Binti's world and where she's from. Some people/cultures stopped learning at age 10?? wow... I can't imagine what my life would be like if I didn't continue school after that age (hide spoiler)]

[Haley]

ch 2-3 (view spoiler)[ not really liking the audiobook still, but hoping Binti's plan works... Tryign to imagine what these things look like with tentacles... what in the world (hide spoiler)]

[Haley]

ch 4 (view spoiler)[ so it was a trial of sorts?? I'm a bit lost in the world building, I feel like I'm missing something. also I wonder what the stinger did to her? (hide spoiler)]

[Haley]

finished (view spoiler)[ alright this was an odd one. I guess I got my answer about the stinger. Poor Binti, her family didn't show up but at least she's making the effort to see them again (from my understanding?) I didn't really like this book and will not be continuing the series. It was okay and I felt lost for a majority of it due to the lack of character development and the quick world building (hide spoiler)]

[Celia]

I'm not seeing chapters on my copy, so I'm just going by page numbers/percent.

Page 36 (39%)
(view spoiler)[I'm finally getting to this one after years of wanting to read it. It just throws the reader in. Not sure how I feel about that.

The Meduse thing comes on too suddenly. Usually I don't love when there's a super long beginning in books, but I'm not sure how much I like this lack of information either. (hide spoiler)]

[Celia]

Haley wrote: "ch 1 listened to the audiobook, but honesty wasn't the biggest fan.. [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Yeah, that's crazy. In what world are guards not needed to be educated? (hide spoiler)]

[Celia]

50%
(view spoiler)[I felt like there was so much I was missing here. (hide spoiler)]

75%
(view spoiler)[I switched to audio halfway through and was surprised to discover the audio reader was the same as the series I just finished, The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste. I guess it makes sense given the content of both stories. I still wasn't sure what was going on for most of the book. (hide spoiler)]

FINISHED
(view spoiler)[I didn't love this. There was so much I felt like I didn't know, and was expected to know about the terminology in this book. Not that I don't mind a bit of research, but the assumption of knowledge of the Himba culture threw me off. (hide spoiler)]

[Alaina]

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