Binti: The Complete Trilogy
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

Okorafor's sci-fi novella tackles sprawling ideas with little satisfactory resolution. Binti is a teenage girl from Earth, a member of the marginalized and disrespected Himba culture, and the first of her people to attend the prestigious Oomza University, located on a distant planet and home to the galaxy's finest academic minds. Midway through the voyage to the university, her ship is attacked without warning by Meduse warriors, and Binti must draw upon her unique strengths to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Okorafor draws from her rich knowledge of cultural warfare to craft nuanced commentary on how we mock "alien" peoples at our own peril; however, the plotting and characterization suffer from lack of authorial attention. Abstract concepts are introduced without warning and rarely defined to any satisfactory degree, while fascinating objects receive only the briefest descriptions, if any at all. For example, Binti's ship, a living being related to shrimp and the novella's primary setting, is never described from the outside and only vaguely on the inside. This overstuffed novella introduces too many concepts to process in a small space, muddying its otherwise laudable message. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Gr 9 Up-At 16, Binti embarks on an interplanetary voyage to Oomza Uni, the galaxy's supreme institution of higher learning. As the first of her people offered such an opportunity, she leaves home without even warning her family of her departure. When the vessel is attacked by the alien Meduse, Binti's only hope of survival is a pot of native clay-and her exceptional intelligence. Equal parts thriller, adventure, and quest, this work also serves as a timely parable about the power of educating girls. In spite of every possible obstacle, Binti is a girl determined to succeed, whose acute intellect will save her world. With her rich, lyrical voice, narrator Robin Miles effortlessly moves among such emotions as anticipation, fear, resignation, and fortitude with just the slightest adjustments in breath. Her prodigious range elevates this short novella into a resonating performance that will linger long beyond its mere two-plus hours. VERDICT For sci-fi groupies in need of a quick aural fix, Okorafor's latest educates, explicates, and, of course, entertains.-Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

On the heels of her Hugo and Nebula Awards for Binti (2015), Okorafor brings us back to Binti and her Meduse friend, Okwu. Both are now a year into their enrollment at Oomza University. Binti, after her heroic actions on board the Third Fish, is studying mathematical meditation with Professor Okpala, learning the ancient ways of her edan. Okwu is with Professor Dema, learning to uphold the peace treaty between the Meduse and the Khoush. During a break in studies, Binti is going to go home for her woman's pilgrimage. Along with Okwu, she journeys back to her home planet of earth for the first time since the attack on the Third Fish. Upon landing, they are greeted by a crowd happy to see Binti back but fearful of what Okwu is. Binti must reckon with these emotions and her family before she determines if she can come back home after she completes her education. And is that not the question all students have, after all? This sequel is a great continuation that will leave readers asking for more. Copyright 2017 Booklist Reviews.

*Starred Review* Okorafor picks up where Binti Home (2017) left off, with Binti returning from her women's pilgrimage to find her Himba village sacked and burned and her family missing, presumed dead. The devastation she sees hurts her to the very core and brings back the powerful Night Masquerade, a Himba omen that she has not seen since she left her village for Oozma University, the school that taught her how to control her Meduse self and introduced her to her Meduse mate, Okwu. Now Okwu is missing, and Binti and Mwinyi, an Enyi Zinariya harmonizer who speaks to his ancestors using his bare feet, must discover if anything remains of the Root Tree and if there can be peace between the Khosh and the Meduse. Though Okorafor uses dreams and memories to fill in gaps in time, it is best to start with the first book in the series, Binti (2015). Those who do will be rewarded with the painterly imagery that describes Binti's worlds and the satisfying ending she has been working toward for three books. Copyright 2017 Booklist Reviews.

In the conclusion to Okorafor's Hugo- and Nebula Award-winning trilogy (Binti; Binti: Home), her heroine has returned to her home planet from space and is trying to put the violence of the Meduse behind her. While her people are relatively peaceful, not everyone has forgotten what the Meduse have done. While Binti is away, the Khoush come to her village to find her Meduse comrade Okwu, leaving destruction in their wake. As Binti rushes back with her newest friend Mwinyi, death has already struck too close to home. Hoping to save her people, even though the elders don't trust her new affiliations, Binti tries once again to negotiate a truce between two warring groups. This time, however, it may be too late. Family and friendship remain at the heart of this remarkable trilogy as it comes to a fulfilling close. VERDICT The worldbuilding here continues to be unparalleled as Okorafor's deliberate yet delicate prose transports readers to a place in the stars once again.—KC

Okorafor picks up her interplanetary adventure story a year after the traumatic events of the Hugo-winning novella Binti. The titular heroine, Binti Ekeopara Zuzu Dambu Kaipka of Namib, is the lone human survivor of a massacre. The jellyfish-like Meduse attacked the living space vessel Third Fish while Binti and her fellow young adults were en route from Earth to the university on the planet Oomza. She now carries Meduse genetic material, which has changed her hair into tentacles, and her best friend at uni is the Meduse Okwu. When she feels a strong call to return to Earth, Okwu accompanies her as an ambassador of the Meduse. Binti hopes to engage in the traditional pilgrimage of the Himba, who live on the edge of the Namib Desert, to cleanse her outbreaks of anger. After traveling home in Third Fish, she finds the situation on Earth is complicated and her pilgrimage may not be possible. Strange happenings press her to choose her path into the future. Within a small space, Okorafor efficiently depicts several distinct cultures and portrays a strong and unusual heroine. A cliff-hanger ending promises more excitement to come. (Jan.) Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly.

Okorafor's lively, dramatic third and final Binti far-future science fantasy novella (after Binti: Home) finds Binti, the young protagonist, struggling to integrate new perceptions from the recently awakened alien technology in her body. This is an inheritance from her father's tribe, the Enyi Zinariya, that allows her to communicate across long distances, view historical events at the sites where they happened, and experience other similarly disorienting things. Binti has always identified with her mother's people, the Himba, who see her father's folk as uncultured barbarians. The Himba, however, are in danger of being caught up in an outbreak of war between the human Khoush tribe and the jellyfish-like alien Meduse. Only Binti, who happens to be bonded to a Meduse in a hive-mind symbiosis, can possibly blend the cultures, technologies, viewpoints, and interests of all these groups and attempt to bring about a lasting peace. Incident follows incident in a dizzying array, action is fraught with enough emotion for drama to become melodrama, and several key plot points are inadequately foreshadowed, but Binti's powerful feelings of displacement, loss, grief, and joy make this entertaining narrative vivid, funny, and memorable. (Jan.)