$1.99 Kindle sale for the whole Binti trilogy! Aug. 12, 2021. 3.5 stars for this collection of the three Binti novellas, plus a new short story. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature (along with several other reviews from my co-reviewers there; we have a whole range of opinions on the BINTI stories):As Binti, a mathematically brilliant, 16 year old member of the African Himba tribe, sneaks away from her home in the dead of night, I felt almost as much anticipation as Binti herself. Binti has decided, against massive family pressure, to accept a full-ride scholarship to the renowned Oomza University on a planet named ― wait for it ― Oomza Uni. (Perhaps the university sprawls across the entire planet? Certainly it covers several cities many miles apart.) Himba tribe members are technically advanced but socially isolated from other people, and Binti’s breaking away from her tribe evidences her courage, but leaves her isolated, an outsider.On the spaceship, Binti has found several like-minded friends among the students traveling to Oomza Uni (and even a new crush) when disaster strikes in the form of a proud, militant alien race, the large jellyfish-shaped Meduse. The Meduse massacre all of the humans on the ship except the pilot, who is necessary to their plans, and Binti, who is not, but who is mysteriously protected against attack by her edan, an ancient metal artifact that she carries with her. Binti is forced to deal with the aftermath of this catastrophe and the constant threat of death from the Meduse who are lurking outside her room. As she searches for a way to not just survive but to resolve her deep anger and distress, Binti herself grows and changes as a result.This theme of personal growth and change continues through the second and third novellas in this collection, Home and The Night Masquerade, as well as the new short story, “Binti: Sacred Fire.” In “Sacred Fire,” Binti is dealing with the emotional aftermath of the massacre that she experienced first-hand on the spaceship, and is experiencing rage incidents and trouble developing relationships with others. She takes on an impromptu personal retreat to the desert, searching for inner peace and understanding, and finds new friendships in the process.Binti: Home follows Binti as she leaves the university for a period to return to her home on Earth, with her Meduse friend Okwu accompanying her. Trouble awaits them there, not just from Binti’s choice to attend Oomza University rather than accept the role her family intended for her, but from Okwu’s presence. The Meduse have a long history of war with the Khoush people, and though there is currently a tentative peace treaty, Okwu’s being in their territory has inflamed emotions. Meanwhile, Binti is also having issues with her ongoing PTSD and with new revelations about her life and ancestry.At the beginning of Binti: The Night Masquerade, Binti has just found out that her family and home are under attack and is rushing home to her family and tribe as fast as possible. The Night Masquerade deals with what she finds when she gets home, and the fall-out from all of the problems that have been building up. It’s up to Binti, with the help of her friends (including the obligatory new love interest), to try to prevent an all-out war between the Khoush and the Meduse.The first novella, Binti, won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards, I believe largely on the strength of its highly unusual minority main character (who, to be fair, is a great YA heroine) and its incorporation of current social issues. Binti is amazing and complex, with mixed motivations and emotions that she doesn’t always understand. She felt real to me, though her continual emotional outbursts and PTSD did get tiresome to read about after a while. But it was delightful learning more about her tribe’s culture, including the Himba women’s practice of covering their skin and hair with otjize, a red clay mixture ― a practice Binti follows with dedication, even when she is lightyears away from her home.At the same time, Okorafor takes on multiple social issues like cultural insensitivity, finding connections with those who are different, and standing up for yourself against social pressure. The Himba are looked down on by the Khoush, the Arab (per Okorafor) people who are the majority, and the Himba in turn look down on the Desert People, or Zinariya, who are actually far more advanced than anyone outside of their tribe realizes. Binti’s best human friend at Oomza Uni is Haifa, a Khoush girl who was born physically male and transitioned to female at age thirteen.Binti also contains some intriguing science fictional concepts and devices, like the astrolabe, a multi-functional mobile device, and the living spaceships, which are closely related to shrimp and can give birth to new spaceships. It’s also got a little of the “Africa power” vibe of Black Panther ― high technology hidden from the view of outsiders ― which I enjoyed. There are the bones of some good world-building here.But, other than the unusual minority heroine and the Africa setting, the BINTI trilogy struck me as a fairly standard YA fantasy/SF novel, with many of the typical tropes. There’s the special snowflake main character who saves a world (at least part of it) despite her youth, a love interest or two, the patriarchal establishment that the main character fights against, and more.The science fiction plot is serviceable but has several rather noticeable plot holes in it. Some examples (warning: spoilers for the first novella are in this paragraph): Binti’s edan device mysteriously poisons the Meduse, thus saving her life … and then Binti’s otjize, a mixture of clay and plant oils, just as magically heals the Meduse’s wounds and scars. No good reason is ever given for either of these key plot devices. The Meduse keep the spaceship pilot alive so that he can get them through security and land the ship on Oomza Uni, but any ship pilot worth his or her salt would refuse to cooperate, perhaps even suicide or crash the ship, to avoid a worse massacre on the planet. Forgiveness for the Meduse’s terrorist murders of hundreds of innocent people on the spaceship is quickly given, with no lasting repercussions, because … their rage was justified by a thoughtless insult given the Meduse chief, a failure to respect his culture. Really? And in The Night Masquerade, two separate, deeply emotional crises occur … and then the punches are pulled, in both cases in rather far-fetched ways. Some additional foundation-setting or foreshadowing might have helped with my ability to accept these events.Perhaps Okorafor’s focus on Binti’s internal growth and turmoil and on social issues led her to not think through the logic of the plot as carefully as she might have. Still, for me the delightfully unique heroine and her culture and story of personal growth more than make up for the plot’s weaknesses. Just don’t think about the plot too hard.I received a free copy from the publisher for review. Thank you so much!Initial post: The publishing gods love me!! I requested this on NetGalley and got a hardcover in the mail today!💕