Binti; Home; The Night Masquerade

But sometimes luck is simply on your side, such as my recent stumble upon a copy of Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor, 2015) in a box of odds & ends just after making a mental note to make a trip to the local library branch or bookshop for that very title. 

The age-old story of a girl leaving home for the first time receives a futurist bend here as the main character, Binti, leaves behind not only the comforts of the familiar but breaks with traditions entirely to pursue something grander in the stars. Naturally, this earnest desire proves treacherous. 

But rather than Okorafor going the route of space opera hijinks, she folds the reader further & further into the internal battle of her titular character. In a matter of some 90 pages stakes are raised to intense heights, whole cultures are rendered clear, & it all comes to an end just when you don't want it to: a story which stands complete on its own yet leaves you longing to stay in this world. 

Luckily two more installments complete the cycle, & while they’ve yet to materialize on a stoop near me, they’re on shelves wherever books are sold. — Arimeta Diop, Vanity Fair editorial assistant