Binti: The Complete Trilogy

For such a short tale, this packs a lot of great content in! I love the use of the Himba people literally being connected to their land, and the tension between that and going out into space.

The brevity occasionally caused some drawbacks. For instance, I understood that the Khoush were a race/group who considered themselves superior, but I wasn't clear on where they came from or how that evolved (turns out Okorafor said on Twitter that they're “clearly” Arabic, but that wasn't clear for me!” All that world/culture building could have used a little more time and detail. However, Binti's own culture was totally clear, and I don't think just because I already knew a little about the Himba people.

The other “not quite five stars” thing for me was the astounding coincidence that Binti just happens to have a cure-all for Meduse wounds AND a device that lets her communicate with them. I guess it fits well with the theme, but plotwise it seems very contrived.

Still, interested to see where this goes, and heck, maybe my spoilered complaint there actually has a deep dark backstory that will be uncovered!