Who Fears Death
Summary:
In a far future, post-nuclear-holocaust Africa, genocide plagues one region. The aggressors, the Nuru, have decided to follow the Great Book and exterminate the Okeke. But when the only surviving member of a slain Okeke village is brutally raped, she manages to escape, wandering farther into the desert. She gives birth to a baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand and instinctively knows that her daughter is different. She names her daughter Onyesonwu, which means "Who Fears Death?" in an ancient African tongue.
Reared under the tutelage of a mysterious and traditional shaman, Onyesonwu discovers her magical destiny – to end the genocide of her people. The journey to fulfill her destiny will force her to grapple with nature, tradition, history, true love, the spiritual mysteries of her culture – and eventually death itself. (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)
Review:
This book is one that I am very polarized on. There are some extremely violent and explicit moments that drive many aspects of the plot and it was a struggle to continue reading when you know it’s only the beginning of those events being explored and continued. On the other hand, the book is unlike any other that I’ve read and it kept me wanting to find out how things were going to end. I think what really got to me is that you have to infer many aspects of the world-building as a reader and at times I sat just trying to process what something meant or how that would actually look. I would have liked to have a slightly more illustrative writing and less being told the characters are mad or in love etc.
The main character’s relationship is mysogenistic in many ways, which is odd considering she is trying to change the systemic patriarchal society. The system of magic, however, captured my imagination and I really liked many aspects of development in that area. I would also love to see a spin-off about the Red People. All in all, the book made me think and that is always worth sharing.
Warning: Contains repeated sexual and explicit violence.
Rating: 4 stars!
Who should read it? Folks who are looking for a different kind of fiction from a diverse author and POV.