Winner of the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novella! Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs. Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti's stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach. If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself but first she has to make it there, alive. PRAISE FOR BINTI "Binti is a supreme read about a sexy, edgy Afropolitan in space! It's a wondrous combination of extra-terrestrial adventure and age-old African diplomacy. Unforgettable!" Wanuri Kahiu, award-winning Kenyan film director of Punzi and From a Whisper "
There is a lot I like about Binti. The titular main character is the first of her people to go to a prestigious intergalactic university, knowing that she might never be able to return. Her space journey takes a twist when the murderous Meduse board the ship.
Binti is imaginative, and I thought the main character and her backstory were interesting. My only issue with Binti is sadly such a major one, that it impeded my enjoyment on of the story as a whole. The writing is curt, to the point that I felt it almost impossible to imagine any of the scenes described in the novella. With science-fiction, I need more than the occasional pointer. I can't fathom all sorts of devices - which are crucial to the plot - when the descriptions are so sparse. Comparatively, there is no emotional impact when bad things happen, because there has been too little precedence. We are told that Binti cares about a character, but they are never shown to have an actual interaction.
I'm sad that the other Binti stories are novellas as well. For me the story would have worked better if it had been fleshed out more.
