The Book of Phoenix
Nnedi Okorafor
DAW, May 5 2015, $24.95
ISBN 9780756410193
Created in the top secret Tower 7 research
facility in midtown New York three years ago, Phoenix appears to look
like she is in her late thirties, early forties. Her behavior is also that of someone with
four decades of experience rather than that of a toddler.
Phoenix loves her life in the lab until something
horrific observed by her once happy best friend Saeed led to deep depression
and eventually suicide. No longer feeling
the only home she ever knew is heavenly, Phoenix tries to leave, but is not
allowed. Stunned by finally
understanding her captivity and beginning to comprehend much more, Phoenix
finally escapes after several failures.
However, her creators pursue her as a valuable biological weapon that
they own.
This interesting prequel to Who Fears
Death centers on the salad years of the angry heroine. Like its predecessor, the well-written The
Book of Phoenix blends together West African and Western mythologies to provide
the reader with a profound unique look at human rights. However, the climax makes this tale feel more
as if it is the first part of a much larger fantasy rather than a stand-alone
novel.
Harriet Klausner
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