Binti

Okorafor’s Binti allows readers a chance to relax into scifi’s wonderful worlds of “What if?” without haviing to constantly translate and ignore hostile cross-cultural assumptions and metaphors. It feels wonderful, as a reader, to be able to trust an author, suspend disbelief and be able to say, “Yes! That is just what such an experience feels like! Now, where does it lead, and what does it mean?” without remaining braced for stereotyping, misrepresentation, and the culturally-ingrained literary gut-punches that ethnic minority bibliophiles have to learn to live with. Though Binti’s experiences are inspired by continental African and Arab peoples and places, they are strongly reminiscent of Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis (now Lilith’s Brood) series: breaking away from home and tradition because someone must venture out, to give everyone else a better chance to survive. And then facing the terror, the isolation, and the possibilities alone. A beautiful work that I cannot help but hope will open doors for more non-immigrant African American fantasy and SciFi authors, in time.

Nnedi Okorafors science fiction novella Binti is a suspenseful and exhilarating read that plunges you headlong into a future world where space ships are living creatures, and humanity is just one of many space-faring civilizations. It also plunges you into the mind and life of Binti, a Himba girl, raised in the African desert, who has a singular talent for advanced mathematics. Among her own people, Bintis talents make her a masterful harmonizer and maker of astrolabes (computer-like devices that are a specialty among the Himba). But her talents have also won her a place at the famous Oomza University, located somewhere far away from Earth.

Binti desperately wants to go to Oomza Uni. However, few Himba ever leave home, and when she steps on-board the spaceship that will take her to university (without telling anyone in her family what she is about to do) it is a momentous decision. Her trip takes a violent turn when the ship is attacked, and Binti’s struggle to survive and the transformation it eventually leads to makes for a thought-provoking and engrossing read. Okorafor skillfully immerses the reader in her future-verse, never explaining more than necessary, but giving you just enough to create a captivating and tantalizing world. She also expertly twists and skews the usual alien vs. human scenario, making for an unpredictable, complex and satisfying storyline.

Binti is a fantastic read, and while its the first book by Okorafor Ive ever read, it definitely wont be the last.

Published by: Tor.com
Genre: Sci-Fi, Afrofuturism
Pages: 96
Format: ebook
Purchased Copy: from Amazon
Awards: Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novella (2016)

Calvin Park spoke about this one over at one of the recent episodes of his Under a Pile of Books podcast; and since Ive been trying to finish the last few squares for r/fantasys yearly bingo challenge, a book on the topic of afrofuturism was most welcome.

Sometimes, everything about a story is excellent the voice, the worldbuilding, the protagonist with the exception of one huge, glaring error, a detail overlooked in such a low-key manner that you might not even notice it at first. Then, once youve put Binti away, you pause, take a breath and consider.

That is when the final third of this 90 or so pages long novella falls apart.

But before I touch on this spoiler-heavy section of the review, allow me to offer credit where credit is due. Nnedi Okorafors respect for the culture of Bintis people (which draws inspiration from the Himba people of Namibia) along with its infusion with mathematical knowledge make for a fascinating vision of a society both new and steeped in tradition. The way ideas such as mathematical harmony and ancestral magic as some call what Binti does, are presented, enrichens the world, and the internal conflict Binti goes through between following into the footsteps of her ancestors and going after her own desires plays out in an interesting way.

Its an engaging read, which I finished in a little over an hour, having enjoyed many of the ideas within some of them core tenets of science fiction.

Now, onto the SPOILER-filled part of my review, which illuminates the extent of the problem with Binti.

The Meduse, an alien species that counts itself as one of the enemies of the humans and has long warred with them, assaults a ship traveling towards Oomza University. On this ship is Binti, one of the dozens or even hundreds of students on their way to Oomza Uni. Out of all of them, only Binti and the ship pilot survive. Everyone else is slaughtered in seconds, all at once. Binti eventually manages to talk the Meduse out of their attack on Oomza Uni and comes to represent the aliens before the directorial council of the university. Together, they all come to an agreement that sees the stinger the Meduse came to Oomza Uni to reclaim returned to its rightful owner, and everything concludes with a peaceful resolution and the seeds of friendship planted between two old enemies.

So whats the problem? Lets look to the Meduse, and what they do here.

The following notion is a turning moment in Bintis personal perception of the aliens: Now I could never go back. The Meduse. The Meduse are not what we humans think. They are truth. They are clarity. They are decisive. There are sharp lines and edges. They understand honor and dishonor. I had to earn their honor and the only way to do that was by dying a second time. That said, to ignore the fact that the Meduse killed a ship full of prospective students is ludicrous and this is just what happens, when at the end of the novella, during negotiations, the professors of Oomza University agree to return the stinger of the Meduse leader on whose order the massacre is perpetrated; not only that, they demand one of the Meduse come study at the university. What of the slaughtered students? Its as if they are forgotten by everyone involved their deaths forgotten, too, by Okorafor, judging by the speedy resolution she offers.

Based on this alone, Binti, much as I enjoyed most of it, shouldnt have won a Nebula award. This is a glaring mistake and though Im very interested in the works of Nnedi Okorafor, to praise her work for such naivete goes against the spirit of science fiction. Look at Le Guins The Word for World is Forest, a SF Masterpiece which treats ; look at the conflict between terrans and the people of the Forest, and how it ends. When one side slaughters dozens or hundreds, there can be peace…but the kind of harmony Okorafors characters find after the shortest negotiations is an impossibility, which overlooks so much of the nature of humanity. Not the better part, perhaps but a part of who we are, nonetheless. Voices should be crying out for justice and for vengeance; there should be words of righteous indignation spoken. But there are none instead, there is harmony.

It is not earned. Bintis growth and individual understanding of the Meduse doesnt wash away the weight of what they have done. The stolen stinger, as fine a reason as it is to the culture of the Meduse for the perpetration of slaughter and the planning of a yet more grand massacre, is no excuse most anyone would accept. And that…thats a serious overlook on the part of Okorafor, all the more shocking for the brilliant way in which she captures the culture of Bintis people, and the work she does on the Meduse.

My score for this one is, regretfully, a 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.

TL;DR -Octopus aliens take over a spacecraft and only Binti can prevent a massacre when the spacecraft lands at Oomza Uni.

RAGDOLL RATING: 4/5 BUTTONS

What I thought…

My TL;DR above does not adequately or even appropriately describe what this book is about – but frankly that’s why I’m not an award winning author. This bookisabout space octopuses murdering a ship full of people. But it is also (and more importantly) about a girl who leaves her people, breaks away from all her traditions to pursue an academic career. It is about family, and culture and all sorts of other important topics too.

It took me a little while to get into this book for one reason – Binti keeps talking about mathematical things, like fractals and equations and all sorts. I know nothing about maths, apart from the basics. I’ve heard of fractals, but the rest could be all made up or it could be real and I’m not sure which it is. However, once I decided that it probably didn’t matter what exactly those little bits meant (I mean I don’t know what ‘wingardium leviosa’ actually means, but it didn’t stop me enjoying Harry Potter) I found story really clever and interesting.

I’ll definitely be getting hold of the other two books when I get a chance.

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Please note: I am in no way affiliated with the author or publishers. I bought this book with my own money for my own reasons. The opinions contained within are my own and have not been influenced by any external entity!

I picked this up on a recommendation from BookBub that it was in their top 51 scifi novels, and I was keen to get into the new wave of scifi authors coming out of Africa.

There is no shortage of brilliance in this story. The principle character, Binti, is a lovely wise fool: a brilliant mathematician who is nevertheless adrift in a universe she doesn’t understand, because she has left her tribe – and had to overcome significant personal and social obstacles to do so.

The glimpses we are given on Binti’s nation, planet and wider galaxy are fascinating jewels, but the story as a whole is something of an unripe fruit.

For example, Okorafor gives us the wonderful living shrimp-ships but, once seen, they basically become a generic spaceship that might as well be Enterprise or Galactica. The astrolabe is frequently referenced but no explanation is given of what it is or what it is for or why Binti’s history as a designer of such things is important socially or technologically. And the whole story revolves upon a deus ex machina the author only barely remembers to tell us exists in time for it to become important, only to entirely remove its importance before the end of the story.

In terms of what I didn’t like, though, none of that is really important. What left me unhappy with this story was the speed with which the narrative jogged from “these monsters have slaughtered all of my friends” to “this monster is my only friend”. The logical conclusion of “I would have more friends if this one hadn’t killed all the others” is never even approached, let alone explored.

However… Despite sounding like a hated this story, I really didn’t. Binti herself is an utterly delightful character and the world she inhabits is equally beguiling. The problem, as I see it, is that Okorafor has packed a novel – and a good-sized novel, at that – into a novella, cutting away character development, deeper motivation and important chunks of what ought to be in the story in order to rush Binti to her destination.

I will still buy the next two – longer – sections of Binti’s journey and expect to enjoy them a good deal more as this author gets into her stride. Maybe, one day, she will expand this novella to the size and depth of narrative that the story arc really deserves. Until then, this is a worthwhile read, but – sorry BookBub – not one of the 51 top scifi stories every written.

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