This is the sequel to Binti, which i read long enough ago that I only remembered vaguely what it was about so I did a little research on the in-tar-webz to remind myself of that story. In this story, Binti has completed a year at the big galactic university, the first of her people to be admitted. She is making a journey home in order to do a pilgrimage in her ancestral lands, and travels with her companion Okwu, a member of a race of jellyfish like creatures who killed all of the humans aboard the starship that took her to the university the previous year.
The story goes on to describe her relationship with her family (she is an outcast) and then she has a vision and must go with a group of mysterious desert wanderers to learn more. The book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, perfectly setting up the third book in the trilogy.
I definitely got some Dune vibes from the second half of the story, but beyond that, this seems to be mostly space fantasy rather than hard SF. It is not my typical read, but I am trying to read out of my standard genre (hard SF and space opera) to broaden my perspectives. Unfortunately, this book was very difficult for me to understand. I wasn’t sure of a lot of the words were common Nigerian words, or made up for this world. I got very lost in the mystical elements of the story, though I was drawn in to the portrayal of Binti falling into a mathematical trance to calm herself, called “treeing” in the book. It reminds me of a character I am trying to write who has psychic abilities and trying to portray her mind and what she does and sees.
This book is not aimed at me. It is categorized as “Afrofuturism” which is well outside my knowledge base. I felt very lost, like I was reading a translation from a foreign language. In many ways, perhaps I was. This book comes out of Africa, not out of western traditions (at least to my understanding) and the world view, the world building, the characterization, the people, the setting, all of it is foreign. The book did cause me to stop and think, which is good. I am not rating it highly, but more because it isn’t my cup of tea rather than it isn’t an important book. I will read the next book, probably will start it tomorrow. I am glad I am doing my best to broaden my horizons.