Sci-Fi around the world.: Africa

Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts

Algeria - 2084 - Boualem Sansal

Ghana - Orphan Planet - Rex Burke

Sunday 21st May 2023.

Found this author on twitter and followed him, the book sounded cool, but then one of his tweets mentioned his country of birth was Ghana! After a few messages with Rex, he let me know he isn't Ghanaian, but was born there, and that the book doesn't draw on Ghanaian culture or history. It's always nice to get that cultural exposure from a book, but it doesn't look i'll get it. But the project is also about finding new and interesting books and this one definitely ticks that box! So I've ordered a book direct from Rex, which is super cool, and he even agreed to sign a copy for me. This is why i'm loving this project, getting to chat with authors, and discover books I may never of come across!

30th August 2023

Finally finished this book, after a great start managing to read almost a third of the book in under a week, but then life and holidays and work got in the way and I ended up only managing to read little snippets here and there.

But I've finished it, and what a great book! A story about 6 accidental pregnancy's on a colony spaceship, and we join their adventure when they are teenagers. And what a great adventure they go. This book almost had me in tears at one point also. There are 2 more book in the series which I am definitely going to get copies of.

South Africa - Moxyland - Lauren Beukes

This book was a Christmas gift from my son, so I didn't have to put any effort into finding a book from South Africa! Always nice to have collaborators on this project who help source and buy books for the project.

The book its self was pretty cool, a futuristic tale of 4 young people rebelling against the state and trying to find their own path through a very complex and pressure filled future. The story moves along quickly, but there isn't much of a story, more just a snapshot of four young lives in a pretty grim, neon lit future.

One of the most interesting aspects of the story is when one of the four main characters gets injected with nanobots, by a soft drinks company. These nanobots keep her body healthy and fight off infections, and also help her recover from injury at a remarkable rate. The nanobots are also bio-luminescent so that they can display advertising logos of the soft drink. It's these little gems of ideas that are sprinkled through the book that add some real depth and richness to the book.

Namibia - Binti: The Night Maskerade - Nnedi Okorafor

The Final book in the Binti series gets the story lines nicely wrapped up. It picks up straight from the second book (Binti Home) and can't be seen really as a stand alone book. I kind of liked the book, but it just seemed a little lacking in new ideas, it seemed to repeat the trials and tribulations of the first book, and even the solution was pretty much the same as the first book. So it just felt a little lazy.

I still really enjoyed the book, and the series in total, and loved the Namibian influence and cultural references in the book.

Nigeria - Cybernetics Within Us - Nmesoma Okechukwu

I just gave up on this book after maybe 20 pages. I didn't like the layout of the pages, this may seem weird but there was no white space, the whole page was filled with words from top to bottom and no space at the edges or close to the spine.

It just made it uncomfortable to look at. This put me on the back foot straight away. The content of the book wasn't that appealing either. I just couldn't be bothered. I may come back to this book one day, or just look for something else from Nigeria.

Namibia - Binti: Home - Nnedi Okorafor

The second book picks off straight after where the first book finished and is a continuation of the story. Binti returns to her home village back on earth, and more details of her history come out, with some unusual and interesting developments. This book introduces new political and strategical developments which added more twists and deeper plot lines.

The biggest disappointment was that this book just ended abruptly. It is almost impossible to view this as a book in it's own right, feels more like a chapter in a bigger book. It does draw you in, to pick up and read the final book in the trilogy.

Namibia - Binti: Sacred Fire - Nnedi Okorafor

This book appears second in the Binti trilogy (of four books) published by daw books. From the blurb in the book this book was written after the final book in the trilogy and slotted in the chronology between books one and two.

It was a nice piece of character development and a nice story. Again was a little light on sci fi but I really enjoyed the story. And great to have a bit more about the character called Bear. She's very cool.

Namibia - Binti - Nnedi Okorafor

Technically Nnedi is American, but her heritage is Namibian, and the book is hugely based on African culture and geography, so I'm putting this, and other books by Nnedi, under Namibia.

This is the first sci fi book I've read which is based on African culture and characters and it just great to read something new and different. I really enjoyed the references to certain cultures and rituals even though it's set in a very futuristic earth.

The book had some great ideas and concepts, but, for me, the book was a little light on 'sci fi' and more of a coming of age book. However, Binti, the main character was very likeable and had great depth. I really enjoyed the book and are going to move straight on the next books in the trilogy (and the bonus book too).