Fairly solid as far as an Okorafor book goes - it's the start of a new series set in a world I know from another book of hers, and I ended up going through it in about three nights. Definitely interested in more.

More please!

Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5⭐
Diversity: African

WHAT I LIKED & DISLIKED ABOUT IT:
I could not get enough. I'm sad it was a novella. I wanted more of Najeeba's story. The self-empowerment. The struggle of balancing identity, personal fulfillment, and familial obligations are all relatable themes. The loss of relationships when you step into your own worth and power. Najeeba is quiet but strong. Ooof, more please! I'm ready for the next one in this series and I will definitely be reading more from this author.

RECOMMENDATION:
I can't see any sci-fi/fantasy lover not enjoying this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Even without reading the first few books, this book has me HOOKED. It was my first time reading Nnedi Okarafor's work and it instantly made want to continue reading more works from her. This was a scifi book that takes both fantasy and scifi and blends it together Perfectly! Would highly recommend to readers who into the scifi genre and fantasy genre

Loved loved loved this book. Nnedi Okarafor does it again. At this point I watch for anything she puts out. I can hardly wait for the next two titles in this series . Absolutely impossible to put down - this Odyssey-esque tale focuses on a female, Najeeba - a highly faceted, nuanced, and utterly amazing character. Infused with Nigerian folklore, magical realism, fantasy, and travel - just a delight to read.

True to the authors style and very exciting to read. I love this! Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for a free e-arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love this authors books! She writes so well and I was glad to get the NetGalley advanced copy of this book!

I finished this book quickly which is no surprise since the author writes beautifully!

This is the book about a girl who gets the call to go with her brothers and father to the mines. This is a huge deal within this as there has never been a girl called to do this before! While on this mission you see her grown and the magical transformation is awesome. The character build is everything you can ask for in a book.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

🔥SHE WHO KNOWS: FIRESPITTER🔥 by @nnediokorafor is the first novella in a new series and in true Okorafor style, it is a genre-bending blend of fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, and more. Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher, @astrahousebooks for the e-ARC.

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Written like a fable or fairytale, this story centers on a girl named Najeeba living in the desert wasteland Jwahir where salt is revered, harvested and sold at the great salt market once a year. Najeeba feels the call to the salt roads, unusual for a girl, and joins her father and brothers at the young age of 13 for the first time. As Najeeba stares to understand her own power awakening in her, she must conceal her identity while helping her family to reap enough for the coming year. But not everyone is happy with her inclusion at the market...

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I am definitely looking forward to ONE WAY WITCH (second novella) coming out and finding out what Najeeba gets up to next. I loved the dry, arid atmosphere, the magic system Najeeba wields, the banter between Najeeba and her brothers, and the politics of the salt market.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Well I suppose this begins my accidental novella November, and I am glad I finally read this! I really love how this author can create such a rich world in so few pages. I was fully immersed in this desert world with Najeeba as she accompanies her father and brothers to the mysterious dried salt lake and inadvertently changes the norms of her society and discovers some sort of mind-teleportation ability within herself.

This is a prequel to another series by this author which I have not read and which involves Najeeba's future daughter, but I found this totally fine as a stand-alone and I am now more interested to read the other series!

I finished this story in just 2 days! This tells the story of a girl who gets the call to travel to the salt mines with her father and brothers. A girl has never been called before so this is a big deal. On her journey, she goes through a magical transformation and in the subsequent years, begins to evolve physically, mentally, and emotionally. What I loved most about this story was that it lacked a lot of fluff. There weren't paragraphs upon paragraphs of useless dialogue and wording. I would thoroughly enjoy this as a short movie or maybe as a part of an anthology series. I look forward to reading more from this author!

Unfortunately, I did not finish this book. I love alot of her books and was initially excited to read another book of hers. But this one was a swing and a miss for me. The setting was interesting and the world building was fantastic but the plot moved too slow for me and I didn’t connect with the characters.

This novella is part science fiction and part fantasy and is infused with West African culture and spirituality. This is a small look into the life of teenager Najeeba, whose coming of age will herald a new age for her world.
This is a typical storyline for this author, a young African woman on the cusp of change. In this story, we have Najeeba, who, at 13, goes on a journey with her father and brothers to the salt mines, searching for the best and purest, prettiest salt blocks to sell at the market. This time-honored journey is entirely for boys and men. Najeeba, being the first female who undercover, attempts this journey. The story is about her journey, relationship with her family, and role in changing the world.
I enjoyed this story and was glad it was short and to the point. I enjoy Nnedi Okorafor’s writing and her unique stories.

I’m starting to believe that I will never not love an Okorafor title. It’s amazing how much Okorafor manages to include in her novellas and my only gripe with this story is that it was too short. The world-building was incredible as always, and though I haven’t managed to read the original Who Fears Death that this novella is a prequel to, the place and characters stand well on their own without that added context (but Who Fears Death has definitely been bumped a few notches up by TBR).

Even though this novella is a masterclass example of creating a strong story in so few pages, the hungry never-satiated demon in me wishes this could have been another couple of hundred pages exploring the magic of the salt road.

This is post-nuclear dystopian future African science fiction with just the tiniest touch of ghostly magic. Loved!

I have been meaning to dive more into Nnedi Okorafor's work, and this was an excellent short read toward that goal. I think I need to read more to truly appreciate the writing style, but loved the story and world-building here.

she Who Knows was an excellent read. I loved the character study and the writing felt propulsive. I would read more from this author again.

This was my first time reading one of Nnedi Okorafor’s works, and while the writing style itself didn’t particularly stand out to me, the ease of reading and the vivid world-building held my attention throughout. Set in a post-apocalyptic, Afro-futuristic world, the novel paints a fascinating and original landscape, rich with cultural and societal nuances that feel both fresh and immersive.

This book serves as a prequel and an origin story for Najeeba, a character who also appears in Okorafor's Who Fears Death. The fact that this novel leads into her later journey in Who Fears Death piqued my curiosity, making me eager to continue with that story to see how her character evolves.

In this story, Najeeba belongs to the Osu-nu, a marginalized group within the Okeke people who are seen as "untouchables." Their livelihood revolves around harvesting salt and guiding salt caravans through dangerous, forbidden paths that are unsafe for others. Traditionally, only men are allowed to embark on these treacherous journeys, but Najeeba feels a deep call to break this gendered norm and take on the salt road herself.

What truly made this novel stand out to me was the character of Najeeba. Despite the book's brevity, Okorafor masterfully builds Najeeba’s persona with depth and nuance. She is a character you can immediately root for, her strength and determination breaking through societal boundaries. Watching her push against entrenched traditions, especially in a world so carefully crafted, made the novel not just an exploration of an imaginative universe, but also a narrative of personal empowerment.

While the prose might not have been what initially drew me in, the unique setting, the intricate cultural dynamics, and the powerful character of Najeeba made it a rewarding read. Fans of Afro-futurism or those who enjoy rich, character-driven stories will likely find this novel captivating, especially as a precursor to the larger world explored in Who Fears Death.

Salt, dust, wind and a powerful will — this is Najeeba's tale.


Part science fiction, part fantasy, and entirely infused with West African culture and spirituality, this novella offers an intimate glimpse into the life of a teenager whose coming of age will herald a new age for her world. Set in the universe Africanfuturist luminary Nnedi Okorafor first introduced in the World Fantasy Award-winning Who Fears Death, this is the first in the She Who Knows trilogy.

She who knows by Nnedi Okorafor is set in a world which is half futuristic and half dystopian/ utopian is the better word to describe. The one thing that seems to stand with the same fervour is patriarchy that tries to stomp on women at every step.
Nnedi's works are africanfuturism and africanjujuism, both terms she coined and defined and she who knows is not the exception.

Set in some years after in the futuristic utopic Africa, story starts with Najeeba's calling to visit the salt lakes. Why does it make any difference is because no woman has ever set a foot on the journey yet even when it was two women witches who had discovered the salt lakes. Throughout the book everyone is praying to female Gods and yet women have no rights in this world. Oh the irony!!!

"Since what I had done could get me killed. Better to be invisible.... Yet being invisible is just unpleasant. No one wants to be invisible."

Najeeba is 11 years old, living with her father and mother. Her two older brothers are married and stay with their spouses. She is spontaneous, she doesn't think before acting and the consequences that will follow as a result and that's what end up in getting her into trouble and it does. Only some people are allowed to take the salt from the dead lakes.
"You cannot survive these lands, these times, without salt. Water is life, but salt is to live."

It is gripping, a captivating story which revolves around gender roles, with a pinch of fantasy and reality combined. There are parts which kept me on edge. Even with a bit of misogynist tones to the male characters, I liked Najeeba's father.

There are many elements in this short story which makes it a great story but the writing kept me pushing off the track. At points at did not understand what author wanted to convey.

Thank you DAW and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Star rating : 3.5 stars

Nnedi Okorafor returns to the world of Onye from Who Fears Death(hard) with a tale of her mother growing up and learning sorcery. She who Knows(hard from DAW) is how Najeeba joined the men collecting salt and selling it as a preteen when women were not allowed on those expeditions. It is a nice side story for people who loved the World Fantasy Award winning first tale

An excellent prequel novella that left me wanting so much more and anxious for the next book in this amazing series [that I have unexpectedly loved]. Absolutely fantastic. I highly recommend both this series and Nnedi Okorafor as an author; her books are just filled with so much feeling and love and strife and real life [even whilst being very much fantasy/science fiction] and anyone can relate to what is being written in one way or another. I think I would read anything she writes.

Thank you to NetGalley, Nnedi Okorafor, and DAW for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ahoy there me mateys! The first in a planned trilogy, this novella is a prequel to the book Who Fears Death.  It can be read without any knowledge of that novel.  One of the elements I love best about the author is her ability to make her world building feel so real and solid.  Another talent is in how alive her characters feel.  This Afrofuturist novella is no different.  I find the blend of sci-fi and fantasy to work extremely well. 

Salt is life.  Najeeba is a 13 year old girl whose village expects her to get married and raise a family.  But then she gets the Call.  The men take a yearly trip on the Salt Road to gather salt and sell it at the market.  Though women originally found the Dead Lake of salt, they don't go.  Najeeba's trip changes her and has unexpected consequences for the entire village.

I really loved Najeeba and her rather practical approach to life.  She is very resourceful.  How the Salt Road's magic affects her and her family's future was both fascinating and heart breaking.  It is always hard to read about violent tribal politics and about societal roles based on gender.  But there are lighter-hearted moments too.  For example, the camels.  

I was fiercely charmed by Najeeba.  Just be aware that this novella ends on an abrupt cliffhanger, if even if it makes sense for how the story is told.  I cannot wait until the next comes out in 2025.  Arrr!

4.5 rounded up

My rating: 5 of 5 stars--

Nnedi Okorafor will always be one of my favorite storytellers and writers. I loved Who Fears Death, though it has been years since I read it so the details are fuzzy. I was worried about this when I started reading She Who Knows, but it worked great as a standalone novella. I loved Najeeba's backstory. Okorafor weaves such a cool mythology of how a people are chosen to have access to a special natural wonder. I loved how this story explored how gender dynamics play into cultural tradition and heritage. A great addition to the Africanfuturist Who Fears Death world. I can't wait for the next.

Many thanks to DAW and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.