As a big fan of Nnedi Okorafor, I picked this one up immediately! We follow AO, who goes by the initials of her given name. While she is shopping in aAs a big fan of Nnedi Okorafor, I picked this one up immediately! We follow AO, who goes by the initials of her given name. While she is shopping in a near-future Nigerian market, a bloody run-in turns her into a target then a fugitive. So, AO flees her home for the desert in hopes of avoiding capture. While out there, she meets alone herdsman called DNA and his two cows. We follow the two as they decide to embark into the Red Eye together.
I enjoyed this novel! And even though the first half seemed to lack direction, I enjoyed the pacing and there is this abrupt violence to AO and DNA's meeting and alternations with suspicious and aggressive people that make for a bold introduction to the story and characters.
I loved the themes and conversation posed in this story. It's criticism on overreaching government and its conversation on taking down corporate, capitalist interests. As well as privacy, environmentalism, corporate power structures. But at the end of the day, this was a compelling story about two people just trying to survive in a world seeking to destroy them. As usual, Okorafor really knows how to pack a short piece of speculative science fiction full.
I'm interested to hear how folks with physical disabilities and prosthetic limbs feel about AO's body alterations and disabilities and that representation....more
damn im so sad about this one because i was really looking forward to it and really felt it had the potential to be something id really love
CW: termindamn im so sad about this one because i was really looking forward to it and really felt it had the potential to be something id really love
CW: terminal illness, suicide ideation and attempts, violence (including choking), death, death of a parent (off-page), vomiting, large scale natural disasters and mass casualties, some descriptions of graphic injury, self-harm
Things I Liked: - the dual perspectives, especially Cee's - the commentary on climate change, environmentalism, privilege, power, control of the population - short chapters
Things I Didn't Like: - not enough character development (I wish we got more of the parents and the girls as kids to better understand the characters and the world they're in) - because of lack of character development too, things that felt like were supposed to be more impactful fell short - the book really needed to elaborate on certain stuff, very confusing - the timeline was very confusing and therefore not enjoyable - the writing style just left me feeling lost - the romance! seriously i nearly dnf-ed this book because of Cee and Hero. it was off-putting and wholy unnecessary - Actinium's connection with Kasey was weird and not well explained...more
PROs: - friendships/found family was literally the bTW: anxiety, depression, racism, self-harm, existential crisis, strained relationships with parents
PROs: - friendships/found family was literally the best thing ever in this - side characters = best characters - banter between various characters was funny and very millennial (lol) - representation of mental health, privilege, higher education, rigid expectations, complex familial relationships, and still discovering yourself at an older age (29 y/o) was amazing - i would totally listen to Yuki's podcast irl
CONs: - how many times is this book going to tell me Grace Porter has golden hair and brown skin - repetitiveness in writing - corny and cringey OFTEN - everything was a metaphor - some dialogue did not feel natural but like a corny sitcom - Yuki was VERY manic pixie dreamgirl - i didn't really feel like Grace's self-harm was properly addressed - relationship between Grave and Yuki was forced and VERY unbelievable. I felt like Yuki was fetishizing Grace and Grace was using Yuki's company as a way to escape her life. very toxic on both parts - i felt like NO ONE in this book really took the fact that Grace got drunkenly married to a stranger seriously - which would not have been as much a big deal if the book as a whole didn't take itself seriously, but it did ... except for the part of being legally bonded to a stranger - Grace was honestly, lowkey annoying. just annoying.
The first half was better than the second half. I really wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. Overall, it was okay. It depicted some things really, really well, but overall as a story, I'm not a big fan unfortunately....more
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