Binti is gifted with an incredible aptitude for math and for "harmonizing", or negotiating peace. When she's selected to attend an elite university on a different planet, her family and community are skeptical. But before she even arrives at the university, her ship is invaded by an alien species that kills everyone on board - except her. Can she use her harmonizing skills to survive and offer the invaders a chance to get what they came for?

I've wanted to read the Binti novellas for a while now, and this omnibus edition was exactly what I needed to help me do it! I love the story of Binti and the complex world that she inhabits. Okorafor is so good at writing about power dynamics and discrimination in SFF, and that's especially clear in the Binti trilogy. I wish that this edition (which comes with a great new short story!) included more of a foreword or preface with background information or explaining what it seeks to do. It was a little jarring going between the novellas, as they're all structured a little differently and have some big tone changes. But overall, a great series with a lot to explore.

Binti: The Complete Trilogy is a beautifully written story of a girl from Africa who gets top scores to get into the most prestigious university in the universe. This school is on another planet and she has never even been very far from her own village where she creates astrolabs with her father. Her family is very opposed to her going so she leaves early one morning without telling anyone she has left. From there her life becomes quite an adventure taking her in directions that I'm sure she never imagined.
The story was amazing, I didn't pick up the books when there were there individual novellas because I'm not a fan of short stories but I figure with them all together I would enjoy them more. I really did, though they did leave me wanting so much more. The characters are complex and original but you're left wanting to know more about everyone in the story. You also really want to find out what happens to Binti next. The story didn't leave on any cliffhangers but it definitely left some questions unanswered. If this had been one complete book to start multi book series I would give it a 5 but since there appears to be no more to the story I'll have to go with a 4. Definitely worth the read though. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me the chance to read this wonderful book.

This was fine. I wanted to like it more than I did. The world building was thorough and Binti is believable and likable. But it was putdownable. I read it on my lunch break over a week and didn't care about the story or the characters enough to read it more quickly.

I think I might have liked it better had I read it as separate books rather than an omnibus? There was just so MUCH world - so many species - and it was hard to keep the scale of time clear in my head. Sometimes I wasn't sure if the attack in the first book had just happened or if it had been so long ago that Binti was more over it (in so far as you can get over something like that). On the other hand, had I read them separately I don't know if I would've read more than the first one, and there was some cool stuff in the later books.

I think this book would be perfect for fans of television shows like Farscape! There are several different lifeforms all defending their own in this space-drama that hints at the struggles of diverse populations relating to each other. I loved the concept of Binti earning a scholarship to study on a University on another planet -- such an interesting reason for her to run away from her homeland that she loves so much. I liked the otjize and it's role in Binit's life and the Meduse. And though not for me, I think my students who enjoy science fiction will enjoy Binti's story!

I've read the Binti novellas separately but I jumped at the chance to read them again as a single story, with an additional short story added in. Nnedi Okorafor's protagonist is a wonderful YA hero and the worldbuilding draws you in.

I'm an old science fiction reader. For a very long time there was little to no religion mentioned in science fiction unless it was being mocked, disproven, used as an easy shorthand character description or shown to have scientific backing all along, with very few exceptions. I am not religious, but so many people are shaped by their faiths and traditions that suddenly ignoring them seems like an odd thing for a writer to do and there's little reason to think that humanity as a whole will abruptly stop being religious at some point.

Binit is steeped in the traditions of her people, as she would be, and those traditions comfort and inform her. That makes it doubly impressive that she defies her parents and leaves her planet to take advantage of an offer to attend a prestigious university where she can hone her mathematical and harmonizing skills. But after an encounter with an aggressive alien race that kills everyone on her ship but the pilot and herself, her life's trajectory is changed forever.

Each novella moves the story, and her story arc along, and the new short story is a wonderful little slice of life between books 1 and 2 that shows her coming to grips with bullying, homesickness, and not feeling like she belonged.

I greatly enjoyed these stories, even reading them a second time. I think the second two aren't quite as good as the first, possibly because they're expanding on the world rather than introducing it and that's never quite as interesting. And they do suffer slightly from their format; novellas don't leave as much room for development. Rather than a three-book trilogy, the three of them together make a good-sized novel that rushes along to tell its story and necessarily glosses over a few things to get there.

But Binti's coming-of-age story is a great one. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

You know what? I love this trilogy and you should to.

The growth of Binti along with the rest of the cast of characters is nothing short of amazing. Binti's strength throughout these three books is a testament of a black woman's perseverance even through the worst of situations in life.

Ms. Okarafor's mind is wild...in a good way. This world building is nothing short of amazing. From the planets to the constant diversity of the many species of aliens and humans in Binti. I was completely blown away by it all.

Nigh Masquerade did fall a bit short for me but at the end of it all, it's a good completion to Binit's story.

I enjoyed this series of novellas immensely. I've had Binti on my TBR since 2016 and in a way, I'm glad I waited until now - even though this is my first read, they work far, far better as one book.

Binti, a mathemagical genius and a master harmonizer, is the first of the Himba people to be invited to attend the prestigious Oomza Uni. Her family disapproves - her skills are valuable and her people do not leave their land but focus on developing technology where they are - so she leaves in secret. But on the ship, a tragedy strikes, and she is forced into the role of a diplomat, both to save herself and prevent an interspecies war. The next two books are focused on the consequences of her decisions and her eventual return home, and the extra short story in this edition, focused on her daily life at the Oomza Uni and making friends bridges the gap between books #1 and #2 wonderfully.

What I liked the best are the setting and the themes. It deals quite heavily with identity and culture - they provide a major source of conflict. Binti might go against her society's norms quite often, but she is still proudly Himba, never without otjize, the scented clay the women use. She has to deal with other people's prejudices towards her and confront her own. The worldbuilding approach is deep instead of wide, a consequence of the original novella length, so while the world does seem small in places (there are only about 3-4 Earth cultures mentioned), what's there seems fairly well thought out. After the events of the first story, Binti also ends up with a case of PTSD, with which she struggles throughout the whole series - and again, I appreciate writers who don't make the characters shrug off trauma after maybe one scene of them dealing with it because it's inconvenient.

If there is a thing that might annoy some people, it's that the protagonist starts off as fairly special and gets more so as the story goes on - additional powers, hidden lineage, the works. It didn't bother me much, but it's a dealbreaker I see mentioned quite often.

3.5 stars for this collection of the three Binti novellas, plus a short story! Review first posted on Fantasy Literature (along with several other reviews from my co-reviewers there; we have a whole range of opinions on the BINTI stories):

As Binti, a mathematically brilliant, 16 year old member of the African Himba tribe, sneaks away from her home in the dead of night, I felt almost as much anticipation as Binti herself. Binti has decided, against massive family pressure, to accept a full-ride scholarship to the renowned Oomza University on a planet named ― wait for it ― Oomza Uni. (Perhaps the university sprawls across the entire planet? Certainly it covers several cities many miles apart.) Himba tribe members are technically advanced but socially isolated from other people, and Binti’s breaking away from her tribe evidences her courage, but leaves her isolated, an outsider.

On the spaceship, Binti has found several like-minded friends among the students traveling to Oomza Uni (and even a new crush) when disaster strikes in the form of a proud, militant alien race, the large jellyfish-shaped Meduse. The Meduse massacre all of the humans on the ship except the pilot, who is necessary to their plans, and Binti, who is not, but who is mysteriously protected against attack by her edan, an ancient metal artifact that she carries with her. Binti is forced to deal with the aftermath of this catastrophe and the constant threat of death from the Meduse who are lurking outside her room. As she searches for a way to not just survive but to resolve her deep anger and distress, Binti herself grows and changes as a result.

This theme of personal growth and change continues through the second and third novellas in this collection, Home and The Night Masquerade, as well as the new short story, “Binti: Sacred Fire.” In “Sacred Fire,” Binti is dealing with the emotional aftermath of the massacre that she experienced first-hand on the spaceship, and is experiencing rage incidents and trouble developing relationships with others. She takes on an impromptu personal retreat to the desert, searching for inner peace and understanding, and finds new friendships in the process.

Binti: Home follows Binti as she leaves the university for a period to return to her home on Earth, with her Meduse friend Okwu accompanying her. Trouble awaits them there, not just from Binti’s choice to attend Oomza University rather than accept the role her family intended for her, but from Okwu’s presence. The Meduse have a long history of war with the Khoush people, and though there is currently a tentative peace treaty, Okwu’s being in their territory has inflamed emotions. Meanwhile, Binti is also having issues with her ongoing PTSD and with new revelations about her life and ancestry.

At the beginning of Binti: The Night Masquerade, Binti has just found out that her family and home are under attack and is rushing home to her family and tribe as fast as possible. The Night Masquerade deals with what she finds when she gets home, and the fall-out from all of the problems that have been building up. It’s up to Binti, with the help of her friends (including the obligatory new love interest), to try to prevent an all-out war between the Khoush and the Meduse.

The first novella, Binti, won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards, I believe largely on the strength of its highly unusual minority main character (who, to be fair, is a great YA heroine) and its incorporation of current social issues. Binti is amazing and complex, with mixed motivations and emotions that she doesn’t always understand. She felt real to me, though her continual emotional outbursts and PTSD did get tiresome to read about after a while. But it was delightful learning more about her tribe’s culture, including the Himba women’s practice of covering their skin and hair with otjize, a red clay mixture ― a practice Binti follows with dedication, even when she is lightyears away from her home.

At the same time, Okorafor takes on multiple social issues like cultural insensitivity, finding connections with those who are different, and standing up for yourself against social pressure. The Himba are looked down on by the Khoush, the Arab (per Okorafor) people who are the majority, and the Himba in turn look down on the Desert People, or Zinariya, who are actually far more advanced than anyone outside of their tribe realizes. Binti’s best human friend at Oomza Uni is Haifa, a Khoush girl who was born physically male and transitioned to female at age thirteen.

Binti also contains some intriguing science fictional concepts and devices, like the astrolabe, a multi-functional mobile device, and the living spaceships, which are closely related to shrimp and can give birth to new spaceships. It’s also got a little of the “Africa power” vibe of Black Panther ― high technology hidden from the view of outsiders ― which I enjoyed. There are the bones of some good world-building here.

But, other than the unusual minority heroine and the Africa setting, the BINTI trilogy struck me as a fairly standard YA fantasy/SF novel, with many of the typical tropes. There’s the special snowflake main character who saves a world (at least part of it) despite her youth, a love interest or two, the patriarchal establishment that the main character fights against, and more.

The science fiction plot is serviceable but has several rather noticeable plot holes in it. Some examples (warning: spoilers for the first novella are in this paragraph): Binti’s edan device mysteriously poisons the Meduse, thus saving her life … and then Binti’s otjize, a mixture of clay and plant oils, just as magically heals the Meduse’s wounds and scars. No good reason is ever given for either of these key plot devices. The Meduse keep the spaceship pilot alive so that he can get them through security and land the ship on Oomza Uni, but any ship pilot worth his or her salt would refuse to cooperate, perhaps even suicide or crash the ship, to avoid a worse massacre on the planet. Forgiveness for the Meduse’s terrorist murders of hundreds of innocent people on the spaceship is quickly given, with no lasting repercussions, because … their rage was justified by a thoughtless insult given the Meduse chief, a failure to respect his culture. Really? And in The Night Masquerade, two separate, deeply emotional crises occur … and then the punches are pulled, in both cases in rather far-fetched ways. Some additional foundation-setting or foreshadowing might have helped with my ability to accept these events.

Perhaps Okorafor’s focus on Binti’s internal growth and turmoil and on social issues led her to not think through the logic of the plot as carefully as she might have. Still, for me the delightfully unique heroine and her culture and story of personal growth more than make up for the plot’s weaknesses. Just don’t think about the plot too hard.

This is tree previously published novellas plus a new short story. Binti is a mathematician and has received a scholarship to study off planet at the best school around. The ship she is traveling on is attacked and only the pilot and her survive. The pilot because he is needed to get the ship through for a sneak attack and Binti because she has a very old piece of tech with her that protects her from the Meduse. In negotiating with them she has her DNA changed and this sets her further apart from her family than merely leaving home to pursue her studies. What I liked about the stories is Binti is struggling with the choices she makes and the results of her actions throughout the books. Even with the setting having aliens and threats of war it is a great story about someone growing up and learning about themselves.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

I can understand why the Binti Trilogy is so highly regarded. These novellas are thoughtful, powerful, and potentially heartbreaking.

There are so many themes to pick apart, but I think that at the core of the story is about migration. In this case, Binti is from a tribe in Africa that is very firmly rooted to the Earth. But Binti has a bit of wanderlust, and leaves against the wishes of her family. Once she's in space, Binti encounters and survives an attack by the Meduse, an alien race that is at war with another group of humans on Earth. Throughout her journey, Binti literally changes from many of her encounters, and her physical appearance often reflects how Binti's attitude begins to shift from her traditional upbringing. It also brings about a huge amount of conflict with Binti herself, and eventually her family and community.

I enjoyed a lot of the aspects of these novels and Okorafor is an excellent writer. Science Fiction tropes are used with great efficiency, and the world building is top notch. I particularly enjoyed the usage of some ancient alien theories when Okorafor was detailing some of the mythologies of Binti's tribe and their neighbors in Africa. If I had any real complaints, its that the pacing was a little irregular. There were spots that dragged - surprising for novellas- and then there were story beats that just were way too fast. But these are minor, and if you're looking for a deep science fiction story, this is for you.

This week, I wanted to introduce you to an amazing collection of stories about a young Himba woman named Binti. Binti is a brilliant mathematician who leaves her village to attend a prestigious university on a different planet. This wonderful story is written by Nnedi Okorafar. She is a woman you should keep an eye on. In fact, her novel, Who Fears Death, has been optioned by HBO and is now in early development as a TV series with George RR Martin as executive producer. Clearly, she knows the art of storytelling.

About Binti
I first met Binti via The Sword and Laser, a science fiction and fantasy-themed book club. I read the first story, titled “Binti,” just over a year ago. I posted this review immediately after:

Binti is a refreshing novella about a woman who decides to leave everything she knows to pursue her own dreams. I loved that Binti is a math prodigy – the first from her village to be invited to attended a university on another planet. She has such an amazing strength and perseverance, even when faced with truly horrible situations. And she endures so much – violence, bullying, stigmatization – but she continues to pursue her path, her dream. She finds common connections with those that are different.

It’s a story of acceptance and finding peace and friendship among those we might otherwise ostracize. While its a story set throughout the stars with alien cultures, it messages apply to all of us.

And it also has a message about artifacts and the means of collecting said artifacts for display or study. Given the large number of museum collections that were obtained by inauspicious means, that too is a relevant point to consider.

I still feel the same about “Binti” after rereading it within the new complete trilogy. Plus, reading the collection together at one time helps provide even more context and connection to the stories. The power of Binti’s journey becomes that much more apparent.

The new trilogy adds a new story, “Binti: Sacred”, set between “Binti” and “Home”. This new story helps to address the criticisms I and others voiced about Home when it was released – namely the trauma that Binti suffered seemingly diminished and brushed aside. “Sacred” allows us to see Binti as she struggles with the events during her journey to Oomza University.

I've been meaning to pick up these novellas for ages, so I was really excited to get the opportunity to review the entire trilogy now that it's been released in a bind-up. This is a series that starts off really strong—enough so that I'd say the first book, Binti, is one of the most enjoyable novellas I've ever read, as well as one of my favorite adult sci-fi reads ever.

While the first novella lacks a bit in world-building, it more than makes up for that absence with character development. I loved Binti as a character and really treasured her thirst for knowledge and her bravery despite all of the immense obstacles trying to hold her back from her future. Okwu, on the other hand, I had mixed feelings about at first, but quickly came to treasure as a character despite the rocky nature of their meeting.

The thing about this series is that it can almost be hard to know who you want to root for, because everyone is flawed and history is muddled—which I found incredibly true-to-life for many circumstances, especially considering histories of wars and feds, so I appreciated that there were no "perfect" groups or characters in the equation.

Unfortunately, I'll admit that the series did become less enjoyable for me as time went on. The second novella, Home, was still a very fun read, but it became tougher for me to reason with the lack of world-building and the random info dumps; on the other hand, though, The Night Masquerade went too far in the opposite direction and gave me too much information and history with too little action and character development.

Minor complaints aside, I wholeheartedly recommend this series. It's an incredibly quick trilogy to get through, there's a gorgeous portrayal of culture and how significant cultural history and rituals can be to people—especially to individuals who have a history of being oppressed, like Binti's people, the Himba—and, if you're a fan of audiobooks, I strongly recommend Robin Miles' delivery of these stories.

Every once in a while you hear about a story that is so unique and so captivating that it is suggested that everyone should read it regardless if it’s not from their preferred genre of literature. "Binti" is a story about a young woman who leaves her home—without her family’s blessing—so that she can take advantage of an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend the most prestigious university in the galaxy, Oomza Uni. She boards a spacecraft and it is traveling to a distant planet, and Binti has never been away from her home before. It seems like the story will pick up pace once the spacecraft arrives; only it is attacked by a “hostile” alien species. This is the first part of the first novella in the series by Nnedi Okorafor—which, won both the Nebula and the Hugo awards for “Best Novella”—and, neither the action, nor the story ends with the first novella! "Binti: The Complete Trilogy" contains all of the author's stories in one volume!

"Binti" starts off with a simple plot: a gifted young woman goes against her family’s expectations in order to attend an esteemed university. Readers are introduced to Binti’s intelligence for mathematics, abilities as a harmonizer, and Himba culture. At the same time, readers are reminded that human differences and alien versus human culture clashes exist in the future as well. One particular rivalry between the species quickly becomes the center of the story, quickly. Binti has to find a way to survive her new—and unexpected—predicament, which will be hard because the Meduse, the hostile alien species want her dead.

"Binti: Sacred Fire" is the latest story written by the author in this series, but it serves as an interlude between the first and the second books in the series. "Binti: Home" is about what is in the title. Binti completes her first semester or year at Oomza Uni and decides to return home to visit her family and to participate in her tribe’s pilgrimage. "Binti: The Night Masquerade" starts where "Binti: Home" left off, with Binti rushing back to her family home after her pilgrimage in order to stop a war before it starts. Within the conclusion to this series, readers realize that not everyone is willing to accept change, not everyone wants to interact with someone who is “different” from themselves, and not everyone is willing to admit he/she/it/they have flaws.

It was thrilling to read "Binti" again. And, "Binti: The Complete Trilogy" allows readers to enjoy all of the Binti stories in tandem. Fans of Nnedi Okorafor and readers of speculative fiction will appreciate this series compilation as much as I did. Reading through Binti’s life as a university freshman reminded me of some of my experiences during my first year of college as well, including the changes in myself and the stagnancy of everything else. "Binti" is a story about personal growth through experience and change, and how expectations depend on individual actions, not those of others. This coming-of-age story is pleasing to all readers and it should not be overlooked.

3.5 Stars - I have heard an immense amount of hype about BINTI and the subsequent novellas from Nnedi Okorafor, so I was excited to be able to give this bindup of the stories a try. These get full marks from me on investment in characters, world building, and set up/premise. Alas, I do feel that there's something lacking in the execution of the vision here. The first of the novellas is definitely the strongest, but even it has some pacing issues & deus ex machina elements. That being said, I just LIKED being in this world enough that it made up for some of the sins. All in all, not as amazing as I had been sold on, but I'm still glad to have read the series, and let's be real... after AKATA WITCH, I'm sold on Okorafor as a great storyteller who I want to spend a lot more time with.

Binti:

Binti is the first novella in the Binti series (makes sense) and I’ve heard nothing but praise about the series for about a year now. So naturally I had to make some time and read these ones. It’s not every day you see the people of Twitter agreeing on something.
If you take a moment to look up Nnedi Okorafor’s Goodreads page, you’ll see that she’s an incredibly prolific writer. It actually has one hundred and two books listed, which is crazy impressive. Some of them are novellas for the Binti series, others are standalones. All are going to get added to my TBR list, if this one novella is any indication of her writing.
Also noteworthy for the novella, it won the 2015 Nebula for best novella, as well as a Hugo award. So if the praise found online hadn’t been enough to convince me that would have been.
Binti is a warm and uplifting tale about space exploration, humanity as a whole, and the alien races we come across (and most importantly, how their lack of being human doesn’t mean they’re not sentient or worthy of respect). It explores the concept of home, otherness, and what it means to be part of something bigger.
Binti has to be one of the more enchanting stories I’ve read this year. Her character is so full of life and passion, it’s impossible not to love her right from the start. Especially as she steps out into the unknown, completely alone and unsupported by her people.
You see, Binti is the first of the Himba people to leave their desert. She’s certainly the first to leave her world. Her people don’t believe in traveling, or in trusting outsides. But she has done both of those things, and she can never take that back.
She has no choice but to move forward, and move forward she does. Watching her adapt to the situations she’s in, dealing with the unexpected trials and tribulations, and most of all, find a way to keep her culture in the midst of all of it…it was breathtaking.
I believe Binti is the perspective I’ve been longing to see in space exploration all this time. She’s compassionate, stubborn, driven, and grounded. She doesn’t have to be an action hero to save lives, nor does she need to be of a person’s race or species to empathize with them. In short, she’s what we should all aspire to be like.
I loved Binti, and I personally can’t wait to start reading the next one. There are two more novellas, to my knowledge; Home and The Night Masquerade (that one is the cover that originally brought my attention to the series, actually). There’s also a completed collection of the three, unsurprisingly title Binti: The Complete Trilogy. So it’s your call in how you want to read the three of them.


Binti: The Sacred Fire

Binti: The Sacred Fire was an unexpected short story I came across while reading Binti: The Complete Trilogy. It’s a true short story, instead of a novella. But honestly, it felt so much more in depth than one would expect in such a short time frame.
This short follows Binti as she adapts to her new life and in many ways, her new body. It was really wonderful to get inside her head a bit more here. To really see the clashing cultures of Binti’s life. The old versus the new. The traditional versus the modern.
Binti has come up against so much, and so much has changed. It’s no wonder she needs some time to process everything. Luckily for Binti, there are some understanding people in her school. The few supportive people she finds should be an important support structure for her. At least, I hope we’ll see them in the following two novellas. I’ve come to like them in this very short time.


Binti: Home

Home is the second novella in the Binti trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor. It takes place about a year after the events in Binti. That means it’s been a year since Binti resolved the war between two races. A year since she arrived on another planet. A year since she started class at Oozma University. A year since she’s been home.
There’s a short story in between the first novella and the second, called The Sacred Fire that I would absolutely look into.
This was a beautifully written novella. Binti was so lost and confused – as many in her position would be. She’s had to learn to be herself thousands of miles from home, having lost the support structure she grew up with. She knows she turned against her culture in some ways, while desperately clinging to what she has left.
If that wasn’t enough, she also has the trauma of what she went through to get here, and the physical changes brought onto her because of her proximity to it all. So, of course, Binti is lost and confused. It makes perfect sense.
Binti’s search for finding peace within and for herself was beautifully written. She has so much to balance in her life, and while some of it may seem to surreal to put ourselves in her shoes, many other elements feel so familiar that it aches.
The revelations about Binti’s culture and her family was fascinating. It explains so much about her character; who she is and why she has made some of the choices in her past. It put an interesting light on the whole situation.
I’m very much looking forward to reading the third novella in the series, The Night Masquerade. I have a lot of questions that still need answers, and I’m counting on the final novella for all of that.


Binti: The Night Masquerade

The Night Masquerade is the third and I believe final novella in the Binti trilogy. Part of me hopes that the series will continue, but I also have to acknowledge that it had the perfect ending here, so it is what it is I suppose.
Binti: The Night Masquerade was actually the first novella I spotted about Binti, and is in truth the reason I searched for the beginning and wanted to read everything. I feel in love with the cover, the title, and the description.
I’m going to be up front and honest with you here; this novella made me cry. A lot. It was exquisitely written and managed to perfectly tug at my heartstrings. I felt so much for Binti and everything she believed in and worked for. It was impossible not to be emotionally moved by some of the events that occurred in The Night Masquerade.
This novella was everything I could have hoped for when it comes to a conclusion for Binti’s story. It was beautiful, it was compelling, and it had so much going on within it. It also gave a strong sense of closure – though I wouldn’t say that the door is shut either. There’s room to continue if Nnedi Okorafor chose to do so.
I haven’t compared the page count between the three novellas, but I feel like this one was the longest of the three. It certainly felt like more happened during the course of it, at least. So perhaps my perception is skewed because of that.
I’ll admit that there were parts of this series that reminded me a lot of other series. Like Three Fish – she absolutely reminded me of Farscape. But other parts of the series felt whole unique – a set of circumstances blended together into something truly different.
I loved Binti’s journey; her determination and drive as well as her devotion to her history and familial beliefs. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to try and balance so many different and sometimes even opposing hopes and beliefs.
While I’m sad that the series appears to be over, I’m looking forward to seeing what Nnedi Okorafor will come up with next.

Binti is a fantastic character in this set of novellas by Nnedi Okorafor. Sometimes the rather blunt writing style of these novels takes a bit to get used to, but as you keep reading it becomes more natural. Great representation, a world we've never seen before, and a compelling story.

"Includes a brand-new Binti story!

Collected for the first time in an omnibus edition, the Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning Binti trilogy, the story of one extraordinary girl's journey from her home to distant Oomza University.

In her Hugo- and Nebula-winning novella, Nnedi Okorafor introduced us to Binti, a young Himba girl with the chance of a lifetime: to attend the prestigious Oomza University. Despite her family's concerns, Binti's talent for mathematics and her aptitude with astrolabes make her a prime candidate to undertake this interstellar journey.

But everything changes when the jellyfish-like Medusae attack Binti's spaceship, leaving her the only survivor. Now, Binti must fend for herself, alone on a ship full of the beings who murdered her crew, with five days until she reaches her destination.

There is more to the history of the Medusae - and their war with the Khoush - than first meets the eye. If Binti is to survive this voyage and save the inhabitants of the unsuspecting planet that houses Oomza Uni, it will take all of her knowledge and talents to broker the peace.

Collected now for the first time in omnibus form, follow Binti's story in this groundbreaking sci-fi trilogy."

All your Binti needs now under one cover!

This was a fantastic series with so many amazing features, including a female, person of color, who is the HERO; she loves math and technology and is excellent at them both; she is from an African tribal community who are mistreated by the lighter skinned Khoush people and thought of as primitive (though they rely on them - the Himba - to produce essential communications technology), though this culture also treats it's women as lesser-than, AND looks down on another outsider culture who lives deep in the desert (though they are actually extremely advanced) ... So many relatable, applicable, complex issues brought to the fore through this epic tale about a girl, Binti, who just wants to see and experience more beyond her isolated culture. She travels off world to Oozma University, which is something of a Hogwarts for smart, curious students from across the galaxy. Students sneer at Binti, first Himba to attend, who looks to them to be primitive and Other. She only feels fully dressed and connected to her home culture when wearing a clay-and-oil-like substance smeared all over her body, which many, though tentacled, fur covered, gigantically tall, and flying, cannot somehow accept. Binti speaks across all organic forms of life, and attempts to bring peace to a long war between Khoush and Meduse.

This book was so masterful in its world-building and character creations that as soon as you begin reading you are immediately enveloped and shown a vivid picture of all that is going on. I feel as much connection to this series as I did to Madeline L'Engle's "Wrinkle in Time" series, and Rowling's "Harry Potter" series. Looking forward to other books by the author, and immediately buying her other book, "Who Fears Death." Love love love.

I love the world building done in these short stories! The combination of science and magic of sorts is really magnificently done here. The main thing that bugged me was the inconsistency between the first two stories and the third. It was such a big difference that it completely turned me on the story line which is why I'm not recommending it. I think if those kinks were worked out it would otherwise be perfect.

Every now and then I simply have to accept that my response to a book is just an outlier. For whatever reason, I’ll read a book that has met pretty much universal acclaim, finish it, and think to myself, “Huh. Really?” Which was my recent experience with Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okafor, whose stories have been praised all over the place and taken home multiple awards, which is probably, based on the clear consensus, what you should probably pay more attention to. For me though, it was another case of, “really?”

The omnibus includes the novellas Binti, Binti: Home, and Binti_ The Night Masquerade, as well as the short story “Binti: Sacred Fire.” (between Binti and Binti: Home). In the first story, Binti, a young Himba girl leaves Earth against the will of her family and African village, to attend Oomza University. But her journey off-planet becomes a nightmare when her ship is attacked by the jelly-fish like Meduse as part of their war with the Khoush (a human people who look down upon the Himba). The Meduse kill everyone on board save Binti, thanks in large part to a mysterious artifact of ancient technology she’d found some years ago. Given the next few novellas, it’s not spoiler to say Binti not only survives to make her way to Oomza but also helps broker a truce between the Khoush and Meduse. Binti: Home shows us Binti trying to find her way at Oomza even as she deals with the trauma of her journey there. Eventually, her needs drive her back home, a journey she undertakes with the Meduse Okwu, who has become her friend and is the first Meduse on Earth. But home is never home once you leave, as Binti finds out. Even more complicating, she learns her family and her people’s history isn’t exactly what she thought. She’s also forced to face her own biases as well. Meanwhile, bringing Okwu with her turns out to be less an act of diplomacy and more the spark that lights the fire. Finally, the Night Masquerade closes out the series by both resolving some issues and opening up others.

To start with the positive, and there are a good number of those, the focus on conflicts of culture — both external and internal, the sense of outsider-ship minorities feel, power relationships between oppressed and oppressor, the sense of colonial entitlement are strong themes throughout. Okorafor shows some wonderful moments, such as when a Khoush touches Binti’s hair without permission to “see what it was like,” or when Binti notes she’s the only Himba on the transport shuttle or the first of her people to be accepted at Oomza, clear analogues to real life situations. Even better, Okorafor always eschews the easy path of making her main character wholly free of bias herself. Instead Binti must come face to face with her own insidious prejudice against the desert people, while her denigrated-by-the-Khoush people do their own fair share of denigrating others.

I also was taken by Okorafor’s bio-technology. She far from the first to pepper a science fiction tale with biologically based spaceships and other technology (Scott Westerfeld also does an excellent job with the trope in his LEVIATHAN TRILOGY), but her level of detail and originality stands out, as does the humane warmth she ascribes to some of her creations.

Finally, on a sentence level, there are some wonderfully crafted lines throughout and Okorafor’s stylistic gifts are often at the forefront.

All that said, I found the series as a whole, and each individual story (though to varying degrees) disappointing. As a general matter, they felt far more YA than I had expected in terms of ease of events, “magical” technology that is all too convenient, direct narration that tells me more than shows me, a character that is a little too brilliantly and easily effective. The narrative often felt choppy and abrupt, “twists” were all too predictable, some actions (or lack of actions) were too implausible (including ones that were labeled as such), and some of the drama felt artificial due to the preceding contrivances. I didn’t feel particularly engaged with characters (even Binti) or plot. Were it not for the aforementioned acclaim, I’m sure I wouldn’t have read past the first one, and it was really only out of a sense of both obligation (I received the book to review) and a grim curiosity (“there must be something stunning coming, right? Just around the corner?”) that I kept going.

As I said at the outset, I’m obviously way, way out of the general consensus on these books, so one should take my reaction in that context. But for me, while there was certainly evidence of originality, depth, and stylistic panache here, these stories just didn’t hold up for me.