Who Fears Death

Who Fears Death  by Nnedi Okorafor   419 pages

I would never have read this book were it not a book club choice as I am not drawn to science fiction or magical bildungsroman tales. It is clear that Okorafor is transitioning from YA to adult; her protagonists are young but the themes and events of the story are undeniably, brutally adult, and Okorafor certainly deserves a great deal of respect for her willingness to unflinchingly examine rape, genocide, and female genital mutilation. The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic Africa, where two clearly distinguishable ethnic groups are in conflict. At its heart, this is a standard coming-of-age story: a young person gaining a teacher, learning they are the subject of a prophecy, and going to defeat an evil lord. There was a lot more to the conclusion than the heroine realizing that she needed to upend the systemic problems that created her opponent, rather than just defeat him; the ending felt hurried and odd, like I overlooked or misinterpreted details through the story. To fully appreciate the story, I should probably go through it again, but I didn’t enjoy it enough to invest any more time doing so.

Posted by:   Regina C.