Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Narrated by Robin Miles

You know that old saw, you can never go home again? That’s definitely going to be true for our protagonist, Binti, when or if she ever does go back to Earth. She’s the first member of her community to go to university, and it’s going to change her in ways that even other folks who have also traveled off-planet for school couldn’t have predicted. Her trip to Oomza University is also going have a bigger effect on interspecies relations than anybody could have imagined.

This compact little Hugo- and Nebula-winning novella—an easy one-afternoon read—packs a lot into not very many pages. The central idea is that diverse peoples and individuals all have their own unique gifts to bring to the world (or worlds!), and that there can be terrible danger in ignoring that, and in behaving in a colonialist fashion. Binti is super smart and brave, going out to study at university in spite of her family’s (and her technologically savvy but highly insular community’s) displeasure at her departure and perceived disloyalty.

Binti is nothing if not loyal, though--to her father and the skills he taught her, to her community’s traditions, to the new friends she makes, to the university that has accepted her, and even to the agreement she makes with the warlike aliens that attack her transport. And being Binti, a highly skilled harmonizer, she finds a way to make potentially divided loyalties not divide her at all, but instead… well, I’ll stop right there or I might give away too much.

This is a good read. If you’re not used to novellas, the pacing is a little odd--far too much backstory and setup for a short story, but the resolution is much too fast for a novel. It reminded me of the pacing of a children’s book, though the content is definitely not for children. Then again, if you’re not used to novellas, maybe it’s time you tried one! This would be a fine place to start. Also a fine place to start with afrofuturism, if you’re not familiar with it.

(What? You haven’t seen Black Panther? Go out and watch that, too!  Speaking of which, if you liked Black Panther and you like this book, you’ll be pleased to know that Ms. Okorafor co-wrote a recent installment of the Black Panther comic series with Ta-Nehisi Coates. Which makes a lot of sense: Binti reminds me of a younger, less-self-assured Shuri.)

And speaking of trying things, do listen to the audiobook version if possible; Robin Miles does an incredible job narrating.