Nnedi Okorafor: The Book of Phoenix

[bibliogramma]

Several years ago I read a novella by Nnedi Okorafor called African Sunrise. It blew me away. Now Okorafor has developed that novella into a novel, The Book of Phoenix, intended as a prequel to her most amazing Who Fears Death.

The Book of Phoenix opens "two hundred years after it all went wrong," with the story of desert nomads Sunuteel and his wife Hussaina. Sunuteel enjoys spending time exploring the desert on his own, and it is fairly clear that his wife enjoys the occasional stretch of alone time too. On one of these excursions, Sunuteel discovers a cave full of ancient computers, one of which awakens and transmits a file to his "portable." The contents of this file - selectively edited and altered - will become the source for The Great Book (which plays a role in Who Fears Death), and the part that Sunuteel first listens to is a personal narrative from just before the apocalypse, The Book of Phoenix.

Phoenix is one of many experimental beings created or genetically and otherwise modified by LivGen, an organisation known to its creations/subjects/victims as Big Eyes. She's been alive for two years, but appears to be 40, and has spent all her life in Tower 7, one of seven facilities operated by LivGen, surrounded by scientists and other altered humans, most of whom are/were originally people of colour, primarily from Africa.

Phoenix's story moves forward on two levels. One level is of personal discovery, as she learns who she is, where she came from, what she is capable of, and how to live and love freely both as a human and as a being of immense power and potential. The other level is a bitter journey through the wrongs of humanity - from colonialism, slavery and genocide to technological arrogance, exploitation and greed and the destruction of the environment. As the two converge, Phoenix will make choices that utterly change the world.

Okorafor's work is brilliant both technically and artistically. As I said above, the novella blew me away. The novel it has become is even stronger, more powerful, more intense.