book reviews: binti and patternmaster

binti

this is the first time i have deeply agreed with a quoted accolade on a book in a long time. “nnedi okorafor has more imagination on a single page than some other sci fi has in volumes.” this is a beautiful, quick read about a young woman who runs away from home to go to school because she is brilliant. in the process, which is complicated and fucked, she unknowingly (literally) becomes other in order to save/live her life. in the end, her ability to do that saves the lives of many others and opens up new possibilities for … the universe (i think), but she’s not totally clear (at least not by the end of the book) if its a price she was willing to pay. the book is beautifully written and so imaginative that sometimes i had to reread entire pages to make sure i was following all the revelations properly.

i’m super excited to read the next two books in the series.

patternmaster

the final book in the patternist series, it (mostly) did not disappoint. i’m so glad i read the books in chronological order (as opposed to the order in which they were written). thanks, alex kats-rubin, for that pro-tip.

everything in this universe now fully makes sense because i see how the details in mind of my mind and clay’s ark all cohere. this book, which is about conflict on earth between essentially alien-infected-super-human-animals and humans who have intense telepathic power, brings up all of butler’s favorite subjects. slavery, empathy, the power of the individual and the collective to shape destiny, relationship to planet, and more. this is the only butler book i’ve read so far where the protagonist is a male… must have been early in her writing career. anyway, as always, there were several moments in the reading of this book where i audibly yelped or was trembling because she writes scenes so powerfully. i am beginning to pick up on the gentle ways she slows down the action of a section, usually with description, right before some crazy shit happens.

love it. love it all. can’t wait to real all her stuff.

words / writing / post-processing
325w / 11min / 6min