#NovNov22 Binti
Finish date: November 2022
Genre: novella (96 pg)
Rating: D
Review: Binti (ISBN: 9780765385253)
Good news: Important to understand …..what these things are when reading the book:
Otjize: the sacred (healing) clay ….The Himba in the novel cover their skin and hair in otjize (see book cover)
Edan: an electronic device that suddenly allows Binti to communicate with the Meduse (strange outer space folk). Once I had found this info…pieces of the story fell into place.
Good news: This is a highly-acclaimed novella winner of the Best Novella 2016 Hugo Award and Nebula Award 2015. That was the only reason I attempted this book.
Bad news: It is a quick read (2 hrs)…and unfortunately not “my cup of tea.” Too many jelly fish like Meduse with slimy tentacles. 95% of the book was the spaceship journey the university. No explanation of speed, gravity, layout…anything that would make you feel you were there! I’ll not be reading the following 2 books about Binti.
Personal: Not really a SF/fantasy fan but I really tried to stay open to this genre and read the novella. It is about Binti, member of Himba tribe on Earth who is accepted into a prestigious intergalactic university. In the end she succeeds in to stopping an interstellar war. No matter how I tried…this novella did nothing for me. Yes, there were themes of identity…the feeling of being an outsider which speak to many young readers…but that was not enough to impress me. Do not recommend for quality of writing or character depth…non-existant!
NancyElin.blog 
I’m in the same boat with you on this one, Nancy! SF is not my cup of tea but I really wanted to like this book. I keep trying and trying and trying with SF but it just doesn’t work for me and I don’t understand why.
I won’t be reading the other books in the series, either.
I think what made me want to read it was the idea of a girl leaving her family behind to go to school on another planet. It wasn’t anything like what I imagined. LOL
This book was a huge disappointment…