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Noor
From Africanfuturist luminary Okorafor comes a new science fiction novel of intense action and thoughtful rumination on biotechnology, destiny, and humanity in a near-future Nigeria.
Anwuli Okwudili prefers to be called AO. To her, these initials have always stood for Artificial Organism. AO has never really felt...natural, and that's putting it lightly. Her parents spent most of the days before she was born praying for her peaceful passing because even in-utero she was wrong. But she lived. Then came the car accident years later that disabled her even further. Yet instead of viewing her strange body the way the world views it, as freakish, unnatural, even the work of the devil, AO embraces all that she is: A woman with a ton of major and necessary body augmentations. And then one day she goes to her local market and everything goes wrong.
Once on the run, she meets a Fulani herdsman named DNA and the race against time across the deserts of Northern Nigeria begins. In a world where all things are streamed, everyone is watching the reckoning of the murderess and the terrorist and the saga of the wicked woman and mad man unfold. This fast-paced, relentless journey of tribe, destiny, body, and the wonderland of technology revels in the fact that the future sometimes isn't so predictable. Expect the unaccepted.
Anwuli Okwudili prefers to be called AO. To her, these initials have always stood for Artificial Organism. AO has never really felt...natural, and that's putting it lightly. Her parents spent most of the days before she was born praying for her peaceful passing because even in-utero she was wrong. But she lived. Then came the car accident years later that disabled her even further. Yet instead of viewing her strange body the way the world views it, as freakish, unnatural, even the work of the devil, AO embraces all that she is: A woman with a ton of major and necessary body augmentations. And then one day she goes to her local market and everything goes wrong.
Once on the run, she meets a Fulani herdsman named DNA and the race against time across the deserts of Northern Nigeria begins. In a world where all things are streamed, everyone is watching the reckoning of the murderess and the terrorist and the saga of the wicked woman and mad man unfold. This fast-paced, relentless journey of tribe, destiny, body, and the wonderland of technology revels in the fact that the future sometimes isn't so predictable. Expect the unaccepted.
214 pages, Hardcover
First published November 16, 2021
About the author
Nnedi Okorafor
152 books16.4k followersNnedi Okorafor is a New York Times Bestselling writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults. The more specific terms for her works are africanfuturism and africanjujuism, both terms she coined and defined. Born in the United States to two Nigerian (Igbo) immigrant parents and visiting family in Nigeria since she was a child, the foundation and inspiration of Nnedi’s work is rooted in this part of Africa. Her many works include Who Fears Death (winner of the World Fantasy Award and in development at HBO as a TV series), the Nebula and Hugo award winning novella trilogy Binti (in development as a TV series), the Lodestar and Locus Award winning Nsibidi Scripts Series, LaGuardia (winner of a Hugo and Eisner awards for Best Graphic Novel) and her most recent novella Remote Control. Her debut novel Zahrah the Windseeker won the prestigious Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature. She lives with her daughter Anyaugo in Phoenix, AZ. Learn more about Nnedi at Nnedi.com and follow Nnedi on twitter (as @Nnedi), Facebook and Instagram.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,241 reviews
January 2, 2022
A novel that is once meditative and riveting. AO is a Nigerian woman with cybernetic body parts who is forced on the run after a violent incident. She heads into the desert running away from the life she knew and in that great unknown she meets DNA, a desert-dwelling herdsman who is also running from something. Together they must find a way to defend themselves against all kinds of threats and their journey is intriguing, perilous, emotional and powerful. AO and DNA are interesting characters and AO is well-developed. As she evolves over the course of the novel, I was increasingly invested in her fate. I would have loved DNA to be more fully developed and for more of the story to be fleshed out. The world building was wonderful. Lots of imaginative details that made me believe this is a possible Nigerian future. The January 2022 Audacious Book Club selection.
February 28, 2023
Well, this had potential. Unfortunately it failed to live up to it.
There are so many cool ideas and awesome tech but little of it was explained. Yes, it's fiction, but still. If the author doesn't even attempt to explain how new technologies work, then it loses plausibility.
For instance, we have a young woman who had her damaged organs and limbs replaced with mechanical, computerized parts. Ok, very cool. But,
Like so many books being published in the last couple years, the writing is surface level, dumbed down. Unfortunately, there must be a market for this type of writing or it wouldn't have become so prevalent. I wonder if it's because of the popularity of audiobooks -- are they publishing books that translate well into audio that's entertaining to listen to, but on the page lacks any sort of substance? (Not a knock on audio books, just wondering if it's not as noticeable when it's heard.... after all, we don't speak the way good writers write, so perhaps hearing the book read just makes it sound familiar instead of dumbed down?)
It's an okay enough story, maybe, but I could have done without the romance. It added little and seemed like filler. It would have been better if the author had instead explored the technology instead of relying on insta-love to move the story.
Though there is a not-very-detailed but exceedingly corny sex scene, it reads like a YA novel and the protagonist comes across as a teenager instead of a young woman. (Excerpt from sex scene: "I slightly lengthened my legs, so that he could meet me with perfect sweetness". Really? "With perfect sweetness"???? 🤦♀️)
This is the second book I've read by this author and I doubt I'll read any more. There's just no substance. At least there was cool tech in this one, but again, if it's not explained how such things might work, then it's not believable.
Another complaint is that there are a couple chapters written in italics. This is another thing I've come across in more than a couple newer books. Do authors or publishers or whoever makes this decision no longer read The Elements of Style? Italicized words are hard on the eyes and should be used sparingly and not for more than a couple words or a phrase at a time.
I have to skip lengthy sections of books written in italics and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Is it necessary to write that way?? To me, it says the author is not sure of their ability to convey what they intend and/or they think the reader is stupid.
We're not.
If you tell us something happened in the past, we get it. We don't have to have the chapter written in italics to suddenly understand this happened prior to the rest of the story. Please stop treating readers as though we can't get something that basic. And how does this translate to audio? Does the narrator suddenly start talking with her nose pinched shut? Just stop with the italics already.
OK, rant session over.
This could have been a five star book. But:
(RIP Betty White)
May 27, 2022
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2 ½ stars
Earlier this year I read and loved Nnedi Okorafor’s Remote Control, which is a truly wonderful novella. Because of this, I was looking forward to Noor as I’m a fan of Okorafor’s take on Africanfuturism and of the way she seamlessly fuses folkloresque fantasy elements with sci-fi ones. While Noor certainly delivers on the Africanfuturism front, pairing this with a commentary on biotechnology, on humanity, and on the realities of being ‘other’, its plot and characters, to my disappointment, struck me as extremely derivative. A bare-bones version of Noor would go like this: we have a dystopian setting where the evil capitalist government is after the heroine who is not like other people and has special powers & her man who is also persona non grata and they eventually join a group of rebels where she comes across ex-lover before final ‘battle’ with the baddies. Anwuli Okwudili, who goes by AO, initials that stand for Artificial Organism, lives in a dystopian Nigeria. She was born with various physical disabilities which were later aggravated by a car accident. To her parents and her society’s disapproval, she goes on to have many body augmentations which enable her to be mobile and pain-free for the first time in her life. The opening sequence is rather clumsily executed as we are given vague descriptions about AO’s world (just how far in the future is it?). After splitting up with her partner who is openly repulsed by her ‘machine’ parts (why were they even together in the first place? she already had augmentations by the time they met, and all of a sudden he’s disgusted by her?) she goes to her local market where she’s attacked. AO is forced to flee and comes across DNA, a Fulani herdsman who is at first quite hostile to her (i’m pretty sure he threatens her...how romantic). The two have to survive the desert together and come across very few other characters, and if they do, it just so happens that those characters are just there to play the role of plot devices to further their story. The narrative allegedly takes place over a week but to be entirely honest the passage of time is rather unclear. It seemed to me that the events that transpire within these pages could have all happened in 1 or 2 days. AO and DNA’s bond felt forced and eye-rolling. They just have to fall in love because she’s a woman and he’s a man and they are both on the run from the evil government. While the first half of the novel is rather vague in terms of worldbuilding we, later on, get a ton of exposition that leaves very little room for interpretation (this is something i would expect from a ya novel, not an adult one). Noor has the trappings of a generic dystopian novel. What ‘saves’ this from being an entirely forgettable and uninspired read are the setting and the overall aesthetic which blends together folklore and technology. Okorafor also adopts the story-within-a-story device which works in her novel’s favour. I just found AO to be hard-to-like and at one point there is a scene about choosing your name which just didn’t go down that well with me (that this novel lacks lgbtq+ characters made it even worse tbh). AO’s ideologies were kind of murky and incongruent so that I found it hard to relate to her. The final section introduces a few more characters who are given very little room to shine as they are sidelined in favour of AO and DNA.
All in all, Noor was disappointing, especially considering how much I loved Remote Control. Ao is no Sankofa and in spite of the longer format, well, here the extra pages do more harm than good (they don’t expand the world or flesh out the characters but end up being about a weird romance and a final act that gave me major martyr vibes ).
2 ½ stars
Earlier this year I read and loved Nnedi Okorafor’s Remote Control, which is a truly wonderful novella. Because of this, I was looking forward to Noor as I’m a fan of Okorafor’s take on Africanfuturism and of the way she seamlessly fuses folkloresque fantasy elements with sci-fi ones. While Noor certainly delivers on the Africanfuturism front, pairing this with a commentary on biotechnology, on humanity, and on the realities of being ‘other’, its plot and characters, to my disappointment, struck me as extremely derivative. A bare-bones version of Noor would go like this: we have a dystopian setting where the evil capitalist government is after the heroine who is not like other people and has special powers & her man who is also persona non grata and they eventually join a group of rebels where she comes across ex-lover before final ‘battle’ with the baddies. Anwuli Okwudili, who goes by AO, initials that stand for Artificial Organism, lives in a dystopian Nigeria. She was born with various physical disabilities which were later aggravated by a car accident. To her parents and her society’s disapproval, she goes on to have many body augmentations which enable her to be mobile and pain-free for the first time in her life. The opening sequence is rather clumsily executed as we are given vague descriptions about AO’s world (just how far in the future is it?). After splitting up with her partner who is openly repulsed by her ‘machine’ parts (why were they even together in the first place? she already had augmentations by the time they met, and all of a sudden he’s disgusted by her?) she goes to her local market where she’s attacked. AO is forced to flee and comes across DNA, a Fulani herdsman who is at first quite hostile to her (i’m pretty sure he threatens her...how romantic). The two have to survive the desert together and come across very few other characters, and if they do, it just so happens that those characters are just there to play the role of plot devices to further their story. The narrative allegedly takes place over a week but to be entirely honest the passage of time is rather unclear. It seemed to me that the events that transpire within these pages could have all happened in 1 or 2 days. AO and DNA’s bond felt forced and eye-rolling. They just have to fall in love because she’s a woman and he’s a man and they are both on the run from the evil government. While the first half of the novel is rather vague in terms of worldbuilding we, later on, get a ton of exposition that leaves very little room for interpretation (this is something i would expect from a ya novel, not an adult one). Noor has the trappings of a generic dystopian novel. What ‘saves’ this from being an entirely forgettable and uninspired read are the setting and the overall aesthetic which blends together folklore and technology. Okorafor also adopts the story-within-a-story device which works in her novel’s favour. I just found AO to be hard-to-like and at one point there is a scene about choosing your name which just didn’t go down that well with me (that this novel lacks lgbtq+ characters made it even worse tbh). AO’s ideologies were kind of murky and incongruent so that I found it hard to relate to her. The final section introduces a few more characters who are given very little room to shine as they are sidelined in favour of AO and DNA.
All in all, Noor was disappointing, especially considering how much I loved Remote Control. Ao is no Sankofa and in spite of the longer format, well, here the extra pages do more harm than good (they don’t expand the world or flesh out the characters but end up being about a weird romance and a final act that gave me major martyr vibes ).
September 21, 2021
A small but interesting sci-fi novel set in future Nigeria. Deals with class, race, artificial intelligence, monopolies, government, colonialism...a ton of stuff in a slender sort of book but it really works.
December 8, 2023
I was never fully invested in the characters or the universe somehow, though I appreciate the reflections on identity and disability.
July 31, 2021
As a fan of Nnedi Okorafor, I was very excited to get a chance to read her latest work of science-fiction, Noor. We meet AO, who goes by the initials of her given name as well as the moniker she’s adopted for herself, Artifical Organism, as she’s shopping in a Nigerian market. After a bloody run-in turns her into a target then a fugitive, AO flees her home for the desert in hopes of avoiding capture. There she meets a lone herdsman and his two cows, before deciding to embark into the Red Eye together.
Though the first half didn’t have as clear of a direction as the second, I think I still liked it better. The abrupt violence of AO’s and DNA’s altercations with suspicious and aggressive people was such a stark introduction, especially considering they were supposedly in spaces they believed to be safe for themselves to exist. Somewhere in the middle of the book I wasn’t exactly sure where the story was going at all, but eventually I found my footing and overall enjoyed the journey.
As much as Noor is a criticism of overreaching government, it’s even more so a denunciation of corporate, capitalist interests. By far the most invasive and powerful forces in the world of Noor are the mega-corporations that seem to have control of every aspect of the lives of citizens around the world. They’re able to not just act with impunity, but write the narrative of their own actions, erasing any dissenting opinions from existence. And as our own society continues to celebrate the private accomplishments of the supremely wealthy, things like launching a rocket into ‘space’ which we have done as a country collectively decades ago, it’s hard not to see the parallels Okorafor outlines here.
There’s a portion of the book that is a kind of story-in-a-story, where the origin of a lot of the technological advancements in this society are explained. Not to give too much of that away, but it features a girl decades and decades before the events of the novel, and the lines between our world and theirs intersect at multiple points. I would have preferred this tangent story to tie in more to the events of the book, or at least to have gotten more time with its major players, though it might have distracted from the rest of the text. Still, it’s one of my favorite parts of the book so I’m a little greedy for more of it.
I think inside of the commentary on privacy, environmentalism and corporate power structures, there’s also a compelling story about two people trying to survive in a world that seeks to destroy them. I’m also interested to see how people with prosthetic limbs feel about AO’s body alterations and disabilities. The ending felt a little rushed and abrupt, but I’m assuming the author didn’t see a need to drag out the resolution for the sake of it. Noor is a short piece of speculative science-fiction that packs a punch and should not be missed.
**For more book talk & reviews, follow me on Instagram at @elle_mentbooks!
Though the first half didn’t have as clear of a direction as the second, I think I still liked it better. The abrupt violence of AO’s and DNA’s altercations with suspicious and aggressive people was such a stark introduction, especially considering they were supposedly in spaces they believed to be safe for themselves to exist. Somewhere in the middle of the book I wasn’t exactly sure where the story was going at all, but eventually I found my footing and overall enjoyed the journey.
As much as Noor is a criticism of overreaching government, it’s even more so a denunciation of corporate, capitalist interests. By far the most invasive and powerful forces in the world of Noor are the mega-corporations that seem to have control of every aspect of the lives of citizens around the world. They’re able to not just act with impunity, but write the narrative of their own actions, erasing any dissenting opinions from existence. And as our own society continues to celebrate the private accomplishments of the supremely wealthy, things like launching a rocket into ‘space’ which we have done as a country collectively decades ago, it’s hard not to see the parallels Okorafor outlines here.
There’s a portion of the book that is a kind of story-in-a-story, where the origin of a lot of the technological advancements in this society are explained. Not to give too much of that away, but it features a girl decades and decades before the events of the novel, and the lines between our world and theirs intersect at multiple points. I would have preferred this tangent story to tie in more to the events of the book, or at least to have gotten more time with its major players, though it might have distracted from the rest of the text. Still, it’s one of my favorite parts of the book so I’m a little greedy for more of it.
I think inside of the commentary on privacy, environmentalism and corporate power structures, there’s also a compelling story about two people trying to survive in a world that seeks to destroy them. I’m also interested to see how people with prosthetic limbs feel about AO’s body alterations and disabilities. The ending felt a little rushed and abrupt, but I’m assuming the author didn’t see a need to drag out the resolution for the sake of it. Noor is a short piece of speculative science-fiction that packs a punch and should not be missed.
**For more book talk & reviews, follow me on Instagram at @elle_mentbooks!
November 6, 2021
I enjoy Afrofuturism novels mainly for the grand scope of differences it offers us readers, subverting expectations and combining very different idea-points. In other words, a lot of them give us some great worldbuilding.
Disability, redefining yourself, transhumanism, and becoming a cyborg in a culture, or at least surrounding culture, that goes all superstitious and crappy on you? Check. Being a victim of circumstance but not willing to bow down to your culture's expectations? Check.
Give us some wonderful energy-tech, an adventure, and a light-touch romance between a herder and a cyborg girl, and the novel ran pretty smoothly for me. The subtext is, of course, quite easy to follow. It's not just being wired differently from your people, but having to deal with a mash of conflicting worlds, too. Read into it whatever you like, but it's pretty universal.
I'm glad I got to read this.
Disability, redefining yourself, transhumanism, and becoming a cyborg in a culture, or at least surrounding culture, that goes all superstitious and crappy on you? Check. Being a victim of circumstance but not willing to bow down to your culture's expectations? Check.
Give us some wonderful energy-tech, an adventure, and a light-touch romance between a herder and a cyborg girl, and the novel ran pretty smoothly for me. The subtext is, of course, quite easy to follow. It's not just being wired differently from your people, but having to deal with a mash of conflicting worlds, too. Read into it whatever you like, but it's pretty universal.
I'm glad I got to read this.
July 19, 2022
The thing about Nnedi Okorafor's books is that even a short story is packed with as much imagination, worldbuilding, and character development than many books of greater length.
My first experience of Okorafor's writing was her Binti trilogy, in which a young African woman goes to university off-world, but manages to get into all sorts of spacefaring adventures, encountering various alien species and getting in the middle of matters of galactic intrigue. (Do yourself a favor and read that trilogy. The first book is Binti. You're welcome.) So it was with no hesitation that I jumped on a recent title of her's, called Noor.
"Noor" is an Arabic word roughly referring to light. For a tale that mostly took place in a setting where the sun doesn't shine, it almost came off as ironic, until I got much farther along in the story. Noor also happens to be the name of a fictional invention that revolutionized renewable energy in this future Nigeria.
This invention interweaves beautifully with the narrative in a way that closed the circle the Noor's inception started by the ending. (No spoilers!) Moreover, sunlight in general stands in for transparency and the exposure of immoral actions and dealings, but also, I think, spiritual wellbeing. As in seeing one's flaws and coming to accept and embrace them as part of the whole.
As usual, I am getting ahead of myself. Let's back up a bit.
The world our protagonist, AO, inhabits is heavily influenced by mega-corporations and is social-media addicted. (So I guess not too far off from today?) AO is a cyborg, having been born with numerous birth defects. Cybernetic limbs become even more necessary when the damage to her body is made much worse by a catastrophic car accident when she was 14.
She has managed to carve out a relatively quiet existence, learning to deal with the suspicion and hostility of the locals at her unnaturalness. Cybernetics are viewed with quite a lot of suspicion, leading some to call AO a demon or a freakish science experiment. AO deals with it until one day in the local market, when things go wrong.
AO is attacked by men in the market, and in the process of defending herself, she ends up killing a few of them before fleeing north towards the desert. She meets DNA, a nomadic herdsman, and the two bond over their commonalities.
The technology of the nomads, including sand repelling devices and masks, really gave me a Dune vibe, although minus the water-recycling protective suits.
AO and DNA form a strong bond that will be tested when their lives are threatened by the very corporation that granted AO her cybernetic enhancements. (Again, no spoilers!)
Yes, I left you all on a cliff-hanger. The only thing now is to go and read Noor. Trust me, it's well worth the time!
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
My first experience of Okorafor's writing was her Binti trilogy, in which a young African woman goes to university off-world, but manages to get into all sorts of spacefaring adventures, encountering various alien species and getting in the middle of matters of galactic intrigue. (Do yourself a favor and read that trilogy. The first book is Binti. You're welcome.) So it was with no hesitation that I jumped on a recent title of her's, called Noor.
"Noor" is an Arabic word roughly referring to light. For a tale that mostly took place in a setting where the sun doesn't shine, it almost came off as ironic, until I got much farther along in the story. Noor also happens to be the name of a fictional invention that revolutionized renewable energy in this future Nigeria.
This invention interweaves beautifully with the narrative in a way that closed the circle the Noor's inception started by the ending. (No spoilers!) Moreover, sunlight in general stands in for transparency and the exposure of immoral actions and dealings, but also, I think, spiritual wellbeing. As in seeing one's flaws and coming to accept and embrace them as part of the whole.
As usual, I am getting ahead of myself. Let's back up a bit.
The world our protagonist, AO, inhabits is heavily influenced by mega-corporations and is social-media addicted. (So I guess not too far off from today?) AO is a cyborg, having been born with numerous birth defects. Cybernetic limbs become even more necessary when the damage to her body is made much worse by a catastrophic car accident when she was 14.
She has managed to carve out a relatively quiet existence, learning to deal with the suspicion and hostility of the locals at her unnaturalness. Cybernetics are viewed with quite a lot of suspicion, leading some to call AO a demon or a freakish science experiment. AO deals with it until one day in the local market, when things go wrong.
AO is attacked by men in the market, and in the process of defending herself, she ends up killing a few of them before fleeing north towards the desert. She meets DNA, a nomadic herdsman, and the two bond over their commonalities.
The technology of the nomads, including sand repelling devices and masks, really gave me a Dune vibe, although minus the water-recycling protective suits.
AO and DNA form a strong bond that will be tested when their lives are threatened by the very corporation that granted AO her cybernetic enhancements. (Again, no spoilers!)
Yes, I left you all on a cliff-hanger. The only thing now is to go and read Noor. Trust me, it's well worth the time!
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
November 4, 2021
As a big fan of Nnedi Okorafor, I picked this one up immediately! We follow AO, who goes by the initials of her given name. While she is shopping in a near-future Nigerian market, a bloody run-in turns her into a target then a fugitive. So, AO flees her home for the desert in hopes of avoiding capture. While out there, she meets alone herdsman called DNA and his two cows. We follow the two as they decide to embark into the Red Eye together.
I enjoyed this novel! And even though the first half seemed to lack direction, I enjoyed the pacing and there is this abrupt violence to AO and DNA's meeting and alternations with suspicious and aggressive people that make for a bold introduction to the story and characters.
I loved the themes and conversation posed in this story. It's criticism on overreaching government and its conversation on taking down corporate, capitalist interests. As well as privacy, environmentalism, corporate power structures. But at the end of the day, this was a compelling story about two people just trying to survive in a world seeking to destroy them. As usual, Okorafor really knows how to pack a short piece of speculative science fiction full.
I'm interested to hear how folks with physical disabilities and prosthetic limbs feel about AO's body alterations and disabilities and that representation.
I enjoyed this novel! And even though the first half seemed to lack direction, I enjoyed the pacing and there is this abrupt violence to AO and DNA's meeting and alternations with suspicious and aggressive people that make for a bold introduction to the story and characters.
I loved the themes and conversation posed in this story. It's criticism on overreaching government and its conversation on taking down corporate, capitalist interests. As well as privacy, environmentalism, corporate power structures. But at the end of the day, this was a compelling story about two people just trying to survive in a world seeking to destroy them. As usual, Okorafor really knows how to pack a short piece of speculative science fiction full.
I'm interested to hear how folks with physical disabilities and prosthetic limbs feel about AO's body alterations and disabilities and that representation.
November 6, 2021
Noor is an African-futurism book with some really interesting ideas and very meandering storytelling.
I'll be honest that this isn't my favorite thing from Okorafor, but you should know that I listened to this as an audio review copy which may have impacted my experience. I found the story difficult to follow at times and maybe a physical copy would have been helpful. This is nothing against the narrator because she did a great job, I just felt like I missed key details along the way. (like what exactly is this Noor? Were we ever told? Did I somehow miss that?)
That said, there were definitely elements I liked! This is set in a futuristic Nigeria and follows a woman named AO who was born severely disabled and has a lot of biotech components, for which she faces discrimination. It's worth noting that Okorafor is herself disabled which lends added weight to the way that experience is described.
The big bad is a global biotech company with fingers in many places. We follow AO on a journey of sorts after her engagement is broken off. A lot of seemingly random things occur, but a lot of it does come together at the end, even if it takes awhile to get there. One element I found entertaining is the subversion of the "magical negro" trope by instead having this mystical white man appear and offer the main characters wisdom on their journey. And also marijuana. Setting a white character as the exotic other in this way is an interesting choice.
Overall I had mixed feelings on this one. I had kind of a confusing reading experience, even with frequently going back to re-listen to sections that lost me, but I can't tell if that's because of the audiobook or the narrative itself. But I appreciated some of what the book was trying to do. I received an audio review copy of this book via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Content warnings include sexual assault, violence, death, ableism, mention of letting disabled children die, and more.
I'll be honest that this isn't my favorite thing from Okorafor, but you should know that I listened to this as an audio review copy which may have impacted my experience. I found the story difficult to follow at times and maybe a physical copy would have been helpful. This is nothing against the narrator because she did a great job, I just felt like I missed key details along the way. (like what exactly is this Noor? Were we ever told? Did I somehow miss that?)
That said, there were definitely elements I liked! This is set in a futuristic Nigeria and follows a woman named AO who was born severely disabled and has a lot of biotech components, for which she faces discrimination. It's worth noting that Okorafor is herself disabled which lends added weight to the way that experience is described.
The big bad is a global biotech company with fingers in many places. We follow AO on a journey of sorts after her engagement is broken off. A lot of seemingly random things occur, but a lot of it does come together at the end, even if it takes awhile to get there. One element I found entertaining is the subversion of the "magical negro" trope by instead having this mystical white man appear and offer the main characters wisdom on their journey. And also marijuana. Setting a white character as the exotic other in this way is an interesting choice.
Overall I had mixed feelings on this one. I had kind of a confusing reading experience, even with frequently going back to re-listen to sections that lost me, but I can't tell if that's because of the audiobook or the narrative itself. But I appreciated some of what the book was trying to do. I received an audio review copy of this book via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Content warnings include sexual assault, violence, death, ableism, mention of letting disabled children die, and more.
July 14, 2022
Noor is a magnificent sci-fi novel exploring the ways in which capitalism and corporate control can destroy the lives of the human beings they purport to serve. In the near future in Nigeria, AO has received so many cybernetic implants that she is no longer considered human by most. And it is this difference, this augmentation, that allows her to see what those around her cannot.
The pacing of this story was quite slow for the first half or so but picked up significantly as all of the threads began to come together just past the midpoint. I have become a huge fan of Okorafor's work and would highly recommend this short yet powerful story for sci-fi fans who are looking to explore the wonderful world of Afrofuturism!
Trigger/Content Warnings: Ableism, Violence, Blood, Animal death, Murder, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident
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The pacing of this story was quite slow for the first half or so but picked up significantly as all of the threads began to come together just past the midpoint. I have become a huge fan of Okorafor's work and would highly recommend this short yet powerful story for sci-fi fans who are looking to explore the wonderful world of Afrofuturism!
Trigger/Content Warnings: Ableism, Violence, Blood, Animal death, Murder, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident
You can find me on...
Youtube | Instagram | Twitter| TikTok
You can join our book club over on Patreon...
PBB Book Club
December 9, 2021
3.5 Stars
This was a very interesting science fiction novel with prominent elements of African Futurism. For me, the best part of this novel was easily the worldbuilding. Just like with the Binti novellas, this story weaves cultural traditions into a futuristic setting.
I also really appreciated how the story incorporated body augmentation as a way to address disability. As an ownvoices story, Noor explores the challenges and stigma surrounding those with disabilities living in an able bodied world.
Admittedly, I did not completely connect with the plot and characters which held me back from really loving this one. Yet, I still really appreciated what the story was doing and would certainly recommend it to anyone looking for a diverse, fresh science fiction story.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of the audiobook from LibroFM for review.
This was a very interesting science fiction novel with prominent elements of African Futurism. For me, the best part of this novel was easily the worldbuilding. Just like with the Binti novellas, this story weaves cultural traditions into a futuristic setting.
I also really appreciated how the story incorporated body augmentation as a way to address disability. As an ownvoices story, Noor explores the challenges and stigma surrounding those with disabilities living in an able bodied world.
Admittedly, I did not completely connect with the plot and characters which held me back from really loving this one. Yet, I still really appreciated what the story was doing and would certainly recommend it to anyone looking for a diverse, fresh science fiction story.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of the audiobook from LibroFM for review.
January 1, 2022
Sometimes I love Okorafor, and sometimes I find her books just OK. Regardless, I always love her Afrofuturist vision and the way she explores and reinvents different aspects of Nigerian culture, both of the past and of a visionary future.
So, not my favourite of hers, but as always, I'm glad I read it.
So, not my favourite of hers, but as always, I'm glad I read it.
March 17, 2022
I tried to love this way more than I did. I just felt a disconnect. I absolutely loved the Binti series so I decided to dive into this one. The whole world she built in the book emerged me but something about the characters didn't completely throttle me into this book like I was submerged into Binti. Still a decent read.
December 27, 2021
3.5/5
Anwuli Okwudili, more commonly known as AO, is no ordinary woman. After having to endure life with many physical defects, some she had to suffer since birth while others were inflicted on her through a tragic accident, AO, with the help of high-tech equipment supplied to her by a top-tier organization called Ultimate Corp, was able to "fix" her defects by getting new implants, and since her defects were so many, one would wonder if AO is more machine than human at this point. This obviously doesn't help with social integration, and AO is an outcast, looked down upon by most people. After an incident takes place where AO had to resort to fatal violence to defend herself from being brutally murdered, she was forced to escape the town she lives in and head to the ruthless desert to save her life, but nature there might even be as cruel, if not crueler, than her persecutors. In the depths of the desert, AO encounters another outcast, just like her, and the two of them must escape together, knowing very well that the path they are treading leads straight to a terrible desert sandstorm that has been raging on for years on end, slowly getting worse and spreading its reaches to the south.
This is the first work I read by Nnedi Okorafor. The story is set in a futuristic Nigeria, and the future envisioned by Okorafor is a realistic one I can see happening quite easily. The main themes covered in this work are how foreign powers encroach upon the local resources of less wealthy countries, desecrating the nation in the process while swelling their bank accounts. The organization that is the main power here, Ultimate Corp, sells its products for a price cheaper than the Nigerian market itself, and the citizens themselves feed into an organization that does harm to their country, because the momentary comforts their products give are effective tranquilizers. The theme explored here is a powerful one, and I enjoyed reading it.
The world building was really nice. I've been a fan of desert based stories lately, and this one scratches that itch quite well. The writing is immersive and takes the reader on a thrilling journey in the depths of the desert, just around the eye of a terrible sandstorm that has only gotten worse over the years. Reading SF through an African lens was very enjoyable, which is one of the reasons why I will continue reading more works by this author, since she does a great job in blending in local African culture in her prose in a way that is immersive and takes the reader on an exotic trip.
Where this book fell a bit short for me though, was the plot and characterization. It started off quite nicely, and I was quickly immersed, but around the halfway mark, it hit a slog that eventually made me lose that hyped up interest I had at the beginning. I found that the characterization, although good at the start, stagnated as well, and we were at a point where nothing much was going on and the plot was meandering, and we were just walking in circles, waiting for the story to become interesting again. By the end, when things do escalate, I was too bored with the plot to care that strongly, and the characters had gotten to a point where they felt bland to read about, which nullified any emotional impact I had when challenging things happened to them. It almost felt like I started the book off digging into the inner world's of the characters, expecting it to go deeper, being intrigued at first, only to get to a place where there's nothing left to dig for. There was also a fair share of plot conveniences in this book, so that is an aspect one must overlook to enjoy the work.
That being said, AO's plight is powerful. It shows just how ruthlessly judgmental and prejudiced people can be at any perceived extreme difference between themselves and others. AO is constantly berated for being mostly machine, and that most of her body doesn't even belong to her, while in truth, all of it is indeed a part of her now, and dehumanizing her because of her unique issues is in no way morally justified. This book sheds light on the outcasts of society, and how cruelly we humans have the potential to treat one another. The ever present reality of foreign enterprises taking advantage of African resources was also a strong point in this book, and something we must all be aware of.
So overall, despite the flaws in plot pacing and characterization, the themes and world building helped this work stand on its feet. I also enjoyed the mix between futuristic SF elements and traditional local customs and beliefs that go centuries back. This was also represented through a vague presence of magic, which might be odd to read in such a SF book, but I enjoyed it because it helps bridge the gap between hard science, and the occult side of things we don't necessary have explanations for. I'm giving this a 3.5 and I do recommend reading it, but be warned that the pacing isn't really the best here and it might get boring at some point, but if you push through, the big picture of this work would probably make this a good read.
------------------------------------------------
“They hate what it does, yet Ultimate Corp continues doing it. It’s something more than human, by Allah. It’s the beast, a djinn. Fire and air, insubstantial, but very real. Human beings created it, but they will never control it.”
Anwuli Okwudili, more commonly known as AO, is no ordinary woman. After having to endure life with many physical defects, some she had to suffer since birth while others were inflicted on her through a tragic accident, AO, with the help of high-tech equipment supplied to her by a top-tier organization called Ultimate Corp, was able to "fix" her defects by getting new implants, and since her defects were so many, one would wonder if AO is more machine than human at this point. This obviously doesn't help with social integration, and AO is an outcast, looked down upon by most people. After an incident takes place where AO had to resort to fatal violence to defend herself from being brutally murdered, she was forced to escape the town she lives in and head to the ruthless desert to save her life, but nature there might even be as cruel, if not crueler, than her persecutors. In the depths of the desert, AO encounters another outcast, just like her, and the two of them must escape together, knowing very well that the path they are treading leads straight to a terrible desert sandstorm that has been raging on for years on end, slowly getting worse and spreading its reaches to the south.
This is the first work I read by Nnedi Okorafor. The story is set in a futuristic Nigeria, and the future envisioned by Okorafor is a realistic one I can see happening quite easily. The main themes covered in this work are how foreign powers encroach upon the local resources of less wealthy countries, desecrating the nation in the process while swelling their bank accounts. The organization that is the main power here, Ultimate Corp, sells its products for a price cheaper than the Nigerian market itself, and the citizens themselves feed into an organization that does harm to their country, because the momentary comforts their products give are effective tranquilizers. The theme explored here is a powerful one, and I enjoyed reading it.
The world building was really nice. I've been a fan of desert based stories lately, and this one scratches that itch quite well. The writing is immersive and takes the reader on a thrilling journey in the depths of the desert, just around the eye of a terrible sandstorm that has only gotten worse over the years. Reading SF through an African lens was very enjoyable, which is one of the reasons why I will continue reading more works by this author, since she does a great job in blending in local African culture in her prose in a way that is immersive and takes the reader on an exotic trip.
Where this book fell a bit short for me though, was the plot and characterization. It started off quite nicely, and I was quickly immersed, but around the halfway mark, it hit a slog that eventually made me lose that hyped up interest I had at the beginning. I found that the characterization, although good at the start, stagnated as well, and we were at a point where nothing much was going on and the plot was meandering, and we were just walking in circles, waiting for the story to become interesting again. By the end, when things do escalate, I was too bored with the plot to care that strongly, and the characters had gotten to a point where they felt bland to read about, which nullified any emotional impact I had when challenging things happened to them. It almost felt like I started the book off digging into the inner world's of the characters, expecting it to go deeper, being intrigued at first, only to get to a place where there's nothing left to dig for. There was also a fair share of plot conveniences in this book, so that is an aspect one must overlook to enjoy the work.
That being said, AO's plight is powerful. It shows just how ruthlessly judgmental and prejudiced people can be at any perceived extreme difference between themselves and others. AO is constantly berated for being mostly machine, and that most of her body doesn't even belong to her, while in truth, all of it is indeed a part of her now, and dehumanizing her because of her unique issues is in no way morally justified. This book sheds light on the outcasts of society, and how cruelly we humans have the potential to treat one another. The ever present reality of foreign enterprises taking advantage of African resources was also a strong point in this book, and something we must all be aware of.
So overall, despite the flaws in plot pacing and characterization, the themes and world building helped this work stand on its feet. I also enjoyed the mix between futuristic SF elements and traditional local customs and beliefs that go centuries back. This was also represented through a vague presence of magic, which might be odd to read in such a SF book, but I enjoyed it because it helps bridge the gap between hard science, and the occult side of things we don't necessary have explanations for. I'm giving this a 3.5 and I do recommend reading it, but be warned that the pacing isn't really the best here and it might get boring at some point, but if you push through, the big picture of this work would probably make this a good read.
------------------------------------------------
“They hate what it does, yet Ultimate Corp continues doing it. It’s something more than human, by Allah. It’s the beast, a djinn. Fire and air, insubstantial, but very real. Human beings created it, but they will never control it.”
November 16, 2021
Synopsis: This very short novel is set in a near-future Nigeria, governed by an overreaching government under the influence of a highly innovative mega-corporation “Ultima Corp” which clearly resembles Amazon, just shying away from naming it.
The narration follows main protagonist AO, short for Anwuli Okwudili or in her own words “Artificial Organism”. AO is a cyborg who was born disabled, later on injured in a car accident, and has now large parts of her body replaced by mechanical parts and enhanced with lots of AI augmentations. Others call her a freak, her own parents don’t like her transformation, but she embraces it all.
When she goes to a local market in Abuja, a couple of men attack her, demonizing her cybernetical implants. Defending herself, she kills them inadvertently and has been on the run since then. She goes completely offline and tries to escape across the deserts of Northern Nigeria.
She teams up with a Fulani herdsname calling himself “DNA” who is wrongfully accused of terrorism but only wants to protect his last two remaining cows. He knows a lot about the devastating huge cyclone called “Red Eye” in the desert where they hope to find a safe haven.
AO develops some superhero forces enabling her to control devices and AIs. Suddenly, her flight doesn’t seem as hopeless as before.
Review: Okorafor is a well-renowned author, always writing about the African continent, the people and the culture there. Africanfuturism is her topic, and I really liked her novella Binti (review) with a follow-up novelette Binti: Sacred Fire (review).
In Noor, she did it again, this time embracing the Cyberpunk subgenre to its fullest. It’s easy to see that mega-corporations like Amazon will go to subvert states by blackmailing them with huge amounts of money. I always thought about the dangers for countries like the U.S. or Western European states, but this novel focuses on Nigeria. Rich with natural resources and projected to become one of the most densely populated countries in the world, it is also bothered by one of the most corrupt governments in the world misusing power and most of the population lives below poverty level. Average life expectancy at just 53 years is one of the lowest in the world. Enough room to project a cyberpunkish near future.
The author ticks off all the Cypberpunk checkbox tropes. Most of them have been featured elsewhere, and maybe better. One is new, and that’s where the author shines and is absolutely worth reading: the combination with Africanfuturism.
The novel started slow with several interleaving stories-within-stories exposing the setting. I didn’t buy into the technological projections like wireless energy transfer over large distances or the superhuman interactions with those AIs. They gave the novel a touch of Fantasy, so don’t expect Hard SF here. Similarly, the Red Eye cyclone is more a fairy tale than dystopian CliFi. We have to give the author a lot of room to draw her setting.
Then, the action starts off and speeds up to a feverish pace.
I didn’t like the main protagonist much. Her tendency to suicide put me off, as did some other of her (non-) reactions. Add to that many wooden dialogs and sometimes confusing narrative structure.
In the end, it was a lukewarm reading experience. I liked parts of the setting a lot, but the author failed to reach me with a lot of unbelievable elements which felt too artificially constructed.
The narration follows main protagonist AO, short for Anwuli Okwudili or in her own words “Artificial Organism”. AO is a cyborg who was born disabled, later on injured in a car accident, and has now large parts of her body replaced by mechanical parts and enhanced with lots of AI augmentations. Others call her a freak, her own parents don’t like her transformation, but she embraces it all.
When she goes to a local market in Abuja, a couple of men attack her, demonizing her cybernetical implants. Defending herself, she kills them inadvertently and has been on the run since then. She goes completely offline and tries to escape across the deserts of Northern Nigeria.
She teams up with a Fulani herdsname calling himself “DNA” who is wrongfully accused of terrorism but only wants to protect his last two remaining cows. He knows a lot about the devastating huge cyclone called “Red Eye” in the desert where they hope to find a safe haven.
AO develops some superhero forces enabling her to control devices and AIs. Suddenly, her flight doesn’t seem as hopeless as before.
Review: Okorafor is a well-renowned author, always writing about the African continent, the people and the culture there. Africanfuturism is her topic, and I really liked her novella Binti (review) with a follow-up novelette Binti: Sacred Fire (review).
In Noor, she did it again, this time embracing the Cyberpunk subgenre to its fullest. It’s easy to see that mega-corporations like Amazon will go to subvert states by blackmailing them with huge amounts of money. I always thought about the dangers for countries like the U.S. or Western European states, but this novel focuses on Nigeria. Rich with natural resources and projected to become one of the most densely populated countries in the world, it is also bothered by one of the most corrupt governments in the world misusing power and most of the population lives below poverty level. Average life expectancy at just 53 years is one of the lowest in the world. Enough room to project a cyberpunkish near future.
The author ticks off all the Cypberpunk checkbox tropes. Most of them have been featured elsewhere, and maybe better. One is new, and that’s where the author shines and is absolutely worth reading: the combination with Africanfuturism.
The novel started slow with several interleaving stories-within-stories exposing the setting. I didn’t buy into the technological projections like wireless energy transfer over large distances or the superhuman interactions with those AIs. They gave the novel a touch of Fantasy, so don’t expect Hard SF here. Similarly, the Red Eye cyclone is more a fairy tale than dystopian CliFi. We have to give the author a lot of room to draw her setting.
Then, the action starts off and speeds up to a feverish pace.
I didn’t like the main protagonist much. Her tendency to suicide put me off, as did some other of her (non-) reactions. Add to that many wooden dialogs and sometimes confusing narrative structure.
In the end, it was a lukewarm reading experience. I liked parts of the setting a lot, but the author failed to reach me with a lot of unbelievable elements which felt too artificially constructed.
June 11, 2022
Very interesting, somewhat dystopian novel set in a futuristic Nigeria dominated by a giant corporation. Even though it's clearly set in the future and some technology is explained, the science fiction aspect is not the main focus of the author. Instead, the spotlight is on the main character and how her personal journey changes not only her own life, but northern Africa in general, possibly the whole world.
I enjoyed most aspects of the book and think that some of the author's ideas are pretty genius. However, the last chapters of the book felt a bit chased to me, the character development was hectic and some of the events felt forced. The ascent towards the climax was a bit drastic and I actually would've enjoyed the book even better, if it had been a little longer.
Still, Okorafor is an author I will come back to in the future.
I enjoyed most aspects of the book and think that some of the author's ideas are pretty genius. However, the last chapters of the book felt a bit chased to me, the character development was hectic and some of the events felt forced. The ascent towards the climax was a bit drastic and I actually would've enjoyed the book even better, if it had been a little longer.
Still, Okorafor is an author I will come back to in the future.
January 18, 2022
Anwuli Okwudili has always been made to feel like she doesn’t belong. In the eyes of society, there’s too much about her that’s machine-powered, and consequently, not organic. So when she retaliates against a group of men who assaulted her, she accidentally ends up killing them, giving the government the perfect reason to hunt her down.
Nnedi Okorafor’s imagination knows no limit. Her worldbuilding possesses an intricacy that becomes apparent from the first chapter. From perennial storms, increased civilian monitoring to cybernetics, you’ll find a range of interesting ideas that breathe life into the plot.
A significant portion of the story is set against the backdrop of the vast deserts of Nigeria. I was really intrigued by how the author combined the visuals and the state of the environment in the narrative.
This sci-fi novel marks my foray into Afrofuturism, and I’m glad it is helmed by a character as adamant and outspoken as AO. One of the main reasons I was engrossed right from the get-go is how straightforward AO’s demeanour (and subsequently, her voice) is.
Regardless of the simplicity with which she... Read the rest of the review on my blog
Nnedi Okorafor’s imagination knows no limit. Her worldbuilding possesses an intricacy that becomes apparent from the first chapter. From perennial storms, increased civilian monitoring to cybernetics, you’ll find a range of interesting ideas that breathe life into the plot.
A significant portion of the story is set against the backdrop of the vast deserts of Nigeria. I was really intrigued by how the author combined the visuals and the state of the environment in the narrative.
This sci-fi novel marks my foray into Afrofuturism, and I’m glad it is helmed by a character as adamant and outspoken as AO. One of the main reasons I was engrossed right from the get-go is how straightforward AO’s demeanour (and subsequently, her voice) is.
Regardless of the simplicity with which she... Read the rest of the review on my blog
December 24, 2021
Okorafor is a hit-or-miss writer for me. I loved Remote Control but this book was disappointment. I always love her vision of a future Africa that perfectly blends technology with traditional culture - and in this book it was especially interesting applied to Fulani herding life. But the book felt more like an action adventure screenplay than deeply realized fiction. I wouldn't want it to be longer, but I wish it went deeper, maybe by focusing on fewer themes and especially not turning the protagonists into international criminals. That cheapened the whole story for me - it turned the protagonists into caricatures and made much of the plot look like a series of dystopian cliches - the exceptions being But.... if this book was made into a movie, I'd be first in line to see it - it might not be great, but it would be fun - especially if it spent a lot of time in The Hour Glass.
March 31, 2022
Actual Rating: 4.5/5
This might be a controversial opinion, but this is my favorite work but Nnedi Okorafor. I think the reason for that is I got to see her form a relationship between two characters on page for the first time. In Lagoon, the Binti Trilogy, and Remote Control I was generally following characters in isolation. Here I have two isolated individuals meeting each other, telling their stories and figuring out what to do next as they form a bond. I eat that stuff up. Also there is the standard amazing imagination of Nnedi Okorafor on full display. I really liked what it had to say about capitalism and disabilities and communities adapting over the years. Its still a very fast paced book, that is her style but I think because it had this relationship it did not bother me as much as I have been in the past with some of her other works. Also I really enjoyed the audio book but I did immersion read it. There is a lot of nested narrative framework going on (another one of my buzz words) but if you just had the audio I could see that being confusing so proceed at your own risk!
This might be a controversial opinion, but this is my favorite work but Nnedi Okorafor. I think the reason for that is I got to see her form a relationship between two characters on page for the first time. In Lagoon, the Binti Trilogy, and Remote Control I was generally following characters in isolation. Here I have two isolated individuals meeting each other, telling their stories and figuring out what to do next as they form a bond. I eat that stuff up. Also there is the standard amazing imagination of Nnedi Okorafor on full display. I really liked what it had to say about capitalism and disabilities and communities adapting over the years. Its still a very fast paced book, that is her style but I think because it had this relationship it did not bother me as much as I have been in the past with some of her other works. Also I really enjoyed the audio book but I did immersion read it. There is a lot of nested narrative framework going on (another one of my buzz words) but if you just had the audio I could see that being confusing so proceed at your own risk!
January 14, 2022
Noor was atmospheric from the very first pages. It's a scifi set in a future Nigeria. A vicious and bloody encounter leads her on a fugitives path. The pacing was good during the first half. I did feel that the ending was a bit rushed, and was not a fan of the direction it took. There is a lot of cool technology in this story but not a lot of it was explained and it became confusing when the characters began having abilities that had no explanation. A solid 3; will check out Okorafor's other titles.
November 8, 2021
Another brilliant novel by Okorafor. This is one I'll reread a lot!
January 18, 2023
I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator Délé Ogundiran was excellent. The ending seemed a little abrupt, but I really enjoyed this.
November 22, 2022
This was… fine. I listened on audio and the narrator was a little dramatic for my tastes- sometimes it’s okay just to read the story as well.
There were a lot of cool concepts and tech, hidden cities in vast stories, but the plot felt like a vehicle to showcase the world building, and on the list of boxes for me to check off in my stories, world building is somewhere at the bottom.
It’s a cautionary tale about consumerism, capitalism, and monopolies I think. I felt like it could have used a little more time develop, is all.
I don’t regret reading it and will surely continue to read more of Okorafor’s work.
There were a lot of cool concepts and tech, hidden cities in vast stories, but the plot felt like a vehicle to showcase the world building, and on the list of boxes for me to check off in my stories, world building is somewhere at the bottom.
It’s a cautionary tale about consumerism, capitalism, and monopolies I think. I felt like it could have used a little more time develop, is all.
I don’t regret reading it and will surely continue to read more of Okorafor’s work.
April 3, 2022
An excellent book. At times I was a little lost in the descriptions, but AO is a woman with robotic parts integrated into her body. After a brutal event, she is on the run and meets DNA, a herdsman. Okorafor combines a quest in a futuristic world while at the same time bringing in elements from our present day world.
This book deals with identity, social media, unlikely friendship and the overreach of a corporation (reminded me of Amazon).
This book deals with identity, social media, unlikely friendship and the overreach of a corporation (reminded me of Amazon).
November 15, 2021
Ahoy there me mateys! I received this sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So here be me honest musings . . .
I am a fan of the author's writing having read six of her previous works and I will continue to read new releases and catch up on old ones.
Noor follows the life of Anwuli Okwudili who changed her name to AO - short for Artificial Organism. She was born with birth defects and made the choice to get augmentations to her body. She embraces the pain and her choices and is determined to live life on her own terms. Others call her freak, devil, and worse and see her mechanical legs and arm as abomination. The day comes where AO protects herself in self-defense and her life is destroyed.
The novel follows her journey on the run and the truths she discovers. I really loved AO as a character. The pain she suffered, her self-will, and her ability not to see the world through the lens of hatred were admirable. I love both her body positivity and her realistic viewpoints on human behavior and prejudice. Not that I wish people weren't so horrible of course. This novel doesn't shy from the selfish things folks do out of ignorance or selfishness or fear. But there is good in humanity as well. I also loved the herdsman DNA and his two awesome cows.
The world building is as wonderful as usual. This book was inspired by the author's visiting an African solar plant. I loved the solar and wind powered tech. I loved the desert life and the tech for survival.. I loved how the big bad corporation controlled the world and how there is a small amount of justice in the end. This comeuppance may not last long but it is nice to see the maligned and outcast part of society win. There is always satisfaction in that. If ye haven't read this author's afrofuturism style before, this is a good place to start.
So lastly . . .
Thank ye DAW!
Side Note: There is going to be a third book in the Akata Witch series out in January 2022. Cool!!
I am a fan of the author's writing having read six of her previous works and I will continue to read new releases and catch up on old ones.
Noor follows the life of Anwuli Okwudili who changed her name to AO - short for Artificial Organism. She was born with birth defects and made the choice to get augmentations to her body. She embraces the pain and her choices and is determined to live life on her own terms. Others call her freak, devil, and worse and see her mechanical legs and arm as abomination. The day comes where AO protects herself in self-defense and her life is destroyed.
The novel follows her journey on the run and the truths she discovers. I really loved AO as a character. The pain she suffered, her self-will, and her ability not to see the world through the lens of hatred were admirable. I love both her body positivity and her realistic viewpoints on human behavior and prejudice. Not that I wish people weren't so horrible of course. This novel doesn't shy from the selfish things folks do out of ignorance or selfishness or fear. But there is good in humanity as well. I also loved the herdsman DNA and his two awesome cows.
The world building is as wonderful as usual. This book was inspired by the author's visiting an African solar plant. I loved the solar and wind powered tech. I loved the desert life and the tech for survival.. I loved how the big bad corporation controlled the world and how there is a small amount of justice in the end. This comeuppance may not last long but it is nice to see the maligned and outcast part of society win. There is always satisfaction in that. If ye haven't read this author's afrofuturism style before, this is a good place to start.
So lastly . . .
Thank ye DAW!
Side Note: There is going to be a third book in the Akata Witch series out in January 2022. Cool!!
![Profile Image for julia ☆ [owls reads].](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1636739475i/5520447._UX200_CR0,0,200,200_.jpg)
October 31, 2021
I have mixed feelings about Noor. I loved the world-building to bits! Okorafor did such a fantastic job developing everything about AO's augmentations and how they worked as well as the presence Ultimate Corp throughout and their influence over everything and everyone. The social commentary regarding that was excellent and I loved how it was done and all of the twists exposing who they really were and what they were capable of.
The rest of it, though? I had a few issues with how stiff the dialogues felt at times and how underdeveloped the characters were in terms of personality--backstories they all had and they were pretty complex and intriguing.
I also wasn't a fan of how the plot abruptly jumped around a bit when it came to action or big reveals. It felt like we were going somewhere and then everything took a very sharp turn to some other place within a few lines. It was very jarring during some chapters and it took me out of the story.
Regarding AO's character, I was at times uncomfortable with the way disability was addressed? I understood that the basic premise was AO having a bunch of necessary body augmentations, but I didn't think it was necessary for her character to refer to and frame her own disabilities as if she were a monster and/or less and inferior because of them. The word "crippled" was also thrown around. It just rubbed me the wrong way.
*
ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The rest of it, though? I had a few issues with how stiff the dialogues felt at times and how underdeveloped the characters were in terms of personality--backstories they all had and they were pretty complex and intriguing.
I also wasn't a fan of how the plot abruptly jumped around a bit when it came to action or big reveals. It felt like we were going somewhere and then everything took a very sharp turn to some other place within a few lines. It was very jarring during some chapters and it took me out of the story.
Regarding AO's character, I was at times uncomfortable with the way disability was addressed? I understood that the basic premise was AO having a bunch of necessary body augmentations, but I didn't think it was necessary for her character to refer to and frame her own disabilities as if she were a monster and/or less and inferior because of them. The word "crippled" was also thrown around. It just rubbed me the wrong way.
*
ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 16, 2022
3 stars. Besides the Binti trilogy, nothing else I’ve read by this author has hit the same for me unfortunately. This wasn’t bad in the slightest. The writing was great, it’s paced well, and I did like the main character, AO. The plot was cool and everything but it just wasn’t more than a three star read for me. Something was missing and I don’t know what. I thought the ending was great in how everything wrapped up but I just wanted more overall.
November 11, 2021
The nitty-gritty: Another fantastic entry into the Africanfuturism subgenre, Noor blends sci-fi tech with interesting characters and an intriguing African desert setting.
I’ve read enough Nnedi Okorafor books now to recognize her particular writing style, and Noor not only embraces that style, but it’s full of the author’s brilliant, futuristic ideas and social commentary. If you’ve never read Okorafor’s books before, Noor would be a great place to start. As with most of her books, this one is set near Lagos, Nigeria, and the main character is a young, misunderstood African girl with enough grit and determination to survive in a world that doesn’t want anything to do with her.
Anwuli Okwundili, or AO as she prefers to be called, is more machine than human. AO was born with severe birth defects—a shriveled arm and two stumps for legs—but when she turned fourteen, Ultimate Corp offered her cybernetic upgrades to repair her body. Now AO lives a fragile existence: people fear and hate her because of her appearance, and so she’s careful to stick to familiar places where people know her.
But one day in her favorite market, a group of men attack her, and AO fights back, killing all five men before she’s realized what she’s done. AO takes off into the desert, hoping to escape the authorities, but the desert has its own challenges. A perpetual dust storm called the Red Eye threatens anyone who goes near it, but AO is desperate. When she runs into a Fulani herdsman named DNA and finds out that he’s also running away from a terrible event, they team up to keep each other safe. Their journey takes them into the heart of the Red Eye itself, where AO will discover her true nature.
Okorafor’s visions of futuristic Africa are always so interesting, and this time she sets her story on the vast, dusty plains of Northern Nigeria. The world-building in Noor is fantastic. The Red Eye is a constant threat to those who live nearby, and I don’t want to spoil the story by revealing certain things about it, but trust me, it's pretty cool. The government has developed a machine called an anti-aejej that can protect users from the sand, and people often carry personal anti-aejejs with them when they go outside. Huge Noors—which relate to the book’s title—act as wind turbines to create electrical energy for distant cities. I loved the idea of “wireless energy transfer,” invented by a woman named Zagora, who AO idolizes. Her idea allows all the energy gathered from solar farms to be wirelessly transferred to cities. Okorafor explains that she got many of her ideas for the story from visiting a solar plant in Africa called the Noor Solar Complex. Finally, AO and DNA discover a large anti-aejej deep in the desert called the Hour Glass, a hidden structure that moves every hour and is a sanctuary for people like AO and DNA who are on the run.
AO is such a great character. She’s always felt like an outsider because of her body modifications, but she loves the way she looks and feels, so she tries to ignore the stares and taunts. I love this exploration of body positivity with a science fiction spin, it was so well done. The only thing that seems to set her off is when people say things like “What kind of woman are you?” They see her as more robot than human, and she hates that because she’s still human in the ways that count. AO has also suffered years of living with intense pain while her body adjusted to her cybernetic limbs, and she’s become stronger because of it.
I liked DNA as well. He has a steer and a cow that follow him everywhere, the two remaining members of his herd. I’m a sucker for animals in stories, especially when they are loved by their owners, and you can tell DNA loves his cattle. He and AO made a great team. They are both in desperate straits, driven to survive, and despite their differences, they worked well together.
Okorafor imagines Ultimate Corp—a huge company that can supply you with everything you need and then some—as a stand in for Amazon. I always get a kick out of stories that skewer Amazon, and I especially loved that AO finds a way to get back at Ultimate Corp in the end.
My only hesitation in rating this higher is that the plot meanders quite a bit. This is more or less a “quest” plot, as AO and DNA journey into the desert to avoid the authorities, and there was even one part that reminded me of the Wizard of Oz, when they are sent to meet a “wizard” named Baba Sola who dispenses wise advise while smoking pot with AO. (lol) I’d be hard pressed to tell you exactly what AO and DNA are trying to accomplish, other than to keep one step ahead of the authorities they are convinced are coming after them. The two go from place to place without a clear plan, although at the end they do accomplish something pretty big, but it sort of comes out of nowhere. I really liked the way the author had AO go through some trials (she starts having extremely painful headaches and visions) so that she could emerge on the other side stronger than she was in the beginning of the story. The two also uncover a big secret that Ultimate Corp is hiding, and that realization plays a big part in how the story ends.
The ending is rather dramatic, and I loved the way things came together. And I have to say, best last line in a book I’ve read in quite some time! Nnedi Okorafor leads the pack when it comes to Africanfuturism, and this is a great example of the subgenre.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
I’ve read enough Nnedi Okorafor books now to recognize her particular writing style, and Noor not only embraces that style, but it’s full of the author’s brilliant, futuristic ideas and social commentary. If you’ve never read Okorafor’s books before, Noor would be a great place to start. As with most of her books, this one is set near Lagos, Nigeria, and the main character is a young, misunderstood African girl with enough grit and determination to survive in a world that doesn’t want anything to do with her.
Anwuli Okwundili, or AO as she prefers to be called, is more machine than human. AO was born with severe birth defects—a shriveled arm and two stumps for legs—but when she turned fourteen, Ultimate Corp offered her cybernetic upgrades to repair her body. Now AO lives a fragile existence: people fear and hate her because of her appearance, and so she’s careful to stick to familiar places where people know her.
But one day in her favorite market, a group of men attack her, and AO fights back, killing all five men before she’s realized what she’s done. AO takes off into the desert, hoping to escape the authorities, but the desert has its own challenges. A perpetual dust storm called the Red Eye threatens anyone who goes near it, but AO is desperate. When she runs into a Fulani herdsman named DNA and finds out that he’s also running away from a terrible event, they team up to keep each other safe. Their journey takes them into the heart of the Red Eye itself, where AO will discover her true nature.
Okorafor’s visions of futuristic Africa are always so interesting, and this time she sets her story on the vast, dusty plains of Northern Nigeria. The world-building in Noor is fantastic. The Red Eye is a constant threat to those who live nearby, and I don’t want to spoil the story by revealing certain things about it, but trust me, it's pretty cool. The government has developed a machine called an anti-aejej that can protect users from the sand, and people often carry personal anti-aejejs with them when they go outside. Huge Noors—which relate to the book’s title—act as wind turbines to create electrical energy for distant cities. I loved the idea of “wireless energy transfer,” invented by a woman named Zagora, who AO idolizes. Her idea allows all the energy gathered from solar farms to be wirelessly transferred to cities. Okorafor explains that she got many of her ideas for the story from visiting a solar plant in Africa called the Noor Solar Complex. Finally, AO and DNA discover a large anti-aejej deep in the desert called the Hour Glass, a hidden structure that moves every hour and is a sanctuary for people like AO and DNA who are on the run.
AO is such a great character. She’s always felt like an outsider because of her body modifications, but she loves the way she looks and feels, so she tries to ignore the stares and taunts. I love this exploration of body positivity with a science fiction spin, it was so well done. The only thing that seems to set her off is when people say things like “What kind of woman are you?” They see her as more robot than human, and she hates that because she’s still human in the ways that count. AO has also suffered years of living with intense pain while her body adjusted to her cybernetic limbs, and she’s become stronger because of it.
I liked DNA as well. He has a steer and a cow that follow him everywhere, the two remaining members of his herd. I’m a sucker for animals in stories, especially when they are loved by their owners, and you can tell DNA loves his cattle. He and AO made a great team. They are both in desperate straits, driven to survive, and despite their differences, they worked well together.
Okorafor imagines Ultimate Corp—a huge company that can supply you with everything you need and then some—as a stand in for Amazon. I always get a kick out of stories that skewer Amazon, and I especially loved that AO finds a way to get back at Ultimate Corp in the end.
My only hesitation in rating this higher is that the plot meanders quite a bit. This is more or less a “quest” plot, as AO and DNA journey into the desert to avoid the authorities, and there was even one part that reminded me of the Wizard of Oz, when they are sent to meet a “wizard” named Baba Sola who dispenses wise advise while smoking pot with AO. (lol) I’d be hard pressed to tell you exactly what AO and DNA are trying to accomplish, other than to keep one step ahead of the authorities they are convinced are coming after them. The two go from place to place without a clear plan, although at the end they do accomplish something pretty big, but it sort of comes out of nowhere. I really liked the way the author had AO go through some trials (she starts having extremely painful headaches and visions) so that she could emerge on the other side stronger than she was in the beginning of the story. The two also uncover a big secret that Ultimate Corp is hiding, and that realization plays a big part in how the story ends.
The ending is rather dramatic, and I loved the way things came together. And I have to say, best last line in a book I’ve read in quite some time! Nnedi Okorafor leads the pack when it comes to Africanfuturism, and this is a great example of the subgenre.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
May 23, 2022
I may have been fifty percent machine, but I had the emotional range of a healthy empathetic human being. And so recounting all that led me to that moment in the desert crushed me again.
Great storytelling; great science fiction; great interpersonal relationships. The reader’s story starts when it does for AO. The development is well foreshadowed without being too obvious. The climax is simultaneously a surprise and inevitable. Good job.
“If none of you ever hear from me again, know that it is because you’ve sent me and this woman to a mad man.” “Sometimes madness is the best path!”
Okorafor has a gift for inner dialogue; her protagonist’s reaction to herself and her environment inspires the reader’s sense of being there.
Nigeria has its problems, but it is a wealthy country and so much of its people’s truest wealth remains untapped because the rest of the world sees the entire continent as “war-torn,” “diseased,” and “poor.”
Just enough humor to leaven the bitterness. The usual markdown for gratuitous profanity.
“The problem with you is that you’re so used to pain and discomfort that your definition of feeling okay is not the greatest indicator of being okay.”
Great storytelling; great science fiction; great interpersonal relationships. The reader’s story starts when it does for AO. The development is well foreshadowed without being too obvious. The climax is simultaneously a surprise and inevitable. Good job.
“If none of you ever hear from me again, know that it is because you’ve sent me and this woman to a mad man.” “Sometimes madness is the best path!”
Okorafor has a gift for inner dialogue; her protagonist’s reaction to herself and her environment inspires the reader’s sense of being there.
Nigeria has its problems, but it is a wealthy country and so much of its people’s truest wealth remains untapped because the rest of the world sees the entire continent as “war-torn,” “diseased,” and “poor.”
Just enough humor to leaven the bitterness. The usual markdown for gratuitous profanity.
“The problem with you is that you’re so used to pain and discomfort that your definition of feeling okay is not the greatest indicator of being okay.”
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