The Book of Phoenix (editie 2016)

In the distant future Sunuteel comes across abandoned computers and finds an audio file telling the story of Phoenix, a human genetically engineered to be a radioactive weapon.

Some interesting ideas but ultimately although I found it enjoyable reading it, I didn't really feel like reading it for too long at a time and was easily distracted. ( )

A superhero story, inspired by the history of exploitation of the Blacks and others by the the white medical research community. This is extrapolated to a set of half a dozen Towers of laboratories around the world, run by Big Eye, sanctioned by but independent of governments, that use Blacks and others as guinea pigs and/or cattle for medical advancements. Phoenix is one of those experiments whose powers to burn and revive prove to be more than Big Eye can handle. it's a well-told story fueled by a justifiable rage, but more of a comic book than a novel.

Recommended for its perspective and voice. Just don't expect nuance. ( )

Read 2016. ( )

I kinda wish I had read this before Who fears Death because the world building was so fascinating and added a lot to that, but the book stands alone well too (after I read it I loaned it to some people who haven't read the first book and they love it)
Really cool combo of fantasy and sci fi, and good to hear decolonial stories told thru those genres. ( )

Ah, somewhat conflicted on this one. On the one hand, I was totally with this book for its being the prequel to Who Fears Death. I'm fascinated that Okorafor's worlds and, having read nearly all her work, have a feel for what to expect from her characters and plots. I wanted to find out just *how* this book connected to WFD and did get a thrill to see how she connects threads of her other novels as well. My biggest hurdle was the inconsistency...had I not been invested in the story as a whole, I may not have made it to the point of Phoenix's first initial escape from Tower 7. It picked up from there, at a clip that I've come to crave from Okorafor, and I loved meeting new characters, seeing new dynamics, and trying to guess at how it connects to the future world of Okeke and Nuru. There were several details, though, that I felt were over-explained, repeated too frequently, that really slowed the narrative in passages. And then I loved how complicated, violent, and ultimately destructive Phoenix was. But then I wanted more out of the Sunuteel ending, if only because I liked so much of its framework. Ah! This is something to think on some more.

Post script--Eric Battle's illustrations were totally rad in this book. I need to find out whether they're available to view in a larger scale. ( )