I'm not really a Sci-Fi kind of girl, but while reading about the 2015 Nebula awards which were recently handed out, I came across this title, Binti by Nnedi Okorafor, and it struck me as interesting. It is a novella and the kindle price practically gave it away, so why not? What I found was truly a gift! A space adventure, lead by a great female character named Binti, with fantastic "alien" cultures, with writing that made me feel I was right there in the thick of things.Binti is about a young girl who risks everything, including her relationship with her family, to attend the most prestigious university in the galaxy, Oomza University. Binti will be the first of her people to be accepted at the University... if she survives getting threre. You see, the part of the galaxy she'll be traveling to is at war, and no one is safe. On top of that, Binti has never been outside her home and at home her people, although highly intelligent, have been looked down on by other cultures, so she braces herself for rejection. What Binti finds though, are easy friendships, interesting food and... terrifying danger.
The world Nnedi Okorafor has created is fantastic, mesmerizing, interesting. The characters are wonderful, beautifully different. The subplot of alien cultures needing to find common ground in order to survive is typical, but the way the author attains that is so interesting! The writing is soothing with each line seeming to be perfectly painted on the page. And the storyline is both terrifying and exhilerating at the same time. No wonder this won a Nebula!
Great characters, wonderfully imaginitive world and cultures, with a beautifully written story all bundled in about 100 pages, makes this a MUST read in my book. Like Science Fiction? Read this. Not so sure about science fiction, but like the idea of young girl adventurer? Give this a try! Five stars from this non-scifi girl. And I can't wait to read more about Binti as Nnedi Okorafor decided that Binti's story wasn't done!
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