Okorafor is a master of brevity who portrays rich, immersive worlds and characters with spare, head-spinning strokes. In a future Nigeria populated by tribes – many bearing animosities, suspicions, and resentments, as well as advanced technical and digital technologies – lives a woman named AO (for Artificial Organism) who is physically half cyborg. Forced to flee after an act of violent self-defense, she meets and teams up with a nomadic herdsman, also on the run. Together they race across the Nigerian desert with the hope to hide in the center of a massive permanent whirlwind of sand, an eco-disaster called the Red Eye, with a massive mega-corporation in pursuit – and in the process they disrupt the world. Breath-taking and rich in heart and insight, Okorafor’s novel also manages to be reflective and even meditative.
-~McNevin, Eagle Harbor Book Company, Bainbridge Island, WA
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