It's not every day you get to read female centric African American sci-fi or fantasy, and for that Who Fears Death should be lauded. The post-apocalyptic African setting is geographically unclear, but immersive and gripping. Okorafor walks a not so fine line between sci-fi and fantasy, with sorcery taking a gradually more important role as the story progresses. The characters are well defined and believable, telling the tragic and wonderful story of Onyesonwu, a girl born of rape between a Nuru warlord (the oppressors) and an Okeke woman. Somewhere in between as she is, Onye is shunned and rejected until she finds her path in sorcery and figures our her destiny. Who Fears Death is really interesting and touches on tough subjects (slavery, rape, ostracism, sexism and more), but it lacks in my opinion a central character with agency. As often with stories around fate and prophecies, Onyesonwu seems to follow her destiny rather than make choices. I was a little frustrated by this relative passivity as a reader. That aside though, it's a really good and unusual novel.
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