Book Review: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Binti is a 16 year-old girl who has been accepted to Ommza Uni, a prestigious university off-world. Binti is also a member of the Himba, a people from Africa who live in a desert by a lake. Locally, they are a minority and looked down upon by the Khoush. Binti runs away from home because she thinks her family will not let her leave. The Himba don't interact with the outside world on Earth, much less the rest of the universe. Binti's interplanetary flight is hijacked by the Meduse, an alien species once at war with Khoush. They kill everyone on the ship except the pilot and Binti. She has to figure out how to survive.

I found the story interesting if a little slow at the beginning and too quick at the end. The themes of cultures clashing and people adapting to new situations are classic science fiction fodder. A new person is often introduced so that other characters can explain the context and what's going on. Binti has to find out on her own since she has no other humans to help her (she doesn't get help from anyone else on earth and on the ship the pilot is unreachable). The Khoush, the Himba, the Meduse, and Binti herself all have some tribal/ethnic/racial/planetary assumptions which are the rough edges that need to be smoothed so that all these people can get along with each other. Taking off those edges is hard, risky work, but necessary work. The resolution of these problems happens too quickly and not quite convincingly.

Slightly recommended--the writing is imaginative but the ending uses too many cliche shortcuts to get to its resolution.