BOOKS/ MOVIES/GAMING REVIEWS
Books
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL 2016 This is the way the world ends...for the last time. A season of endings has begun. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world’s sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Winner of the Nebula and Hugo Award for Best Novella, this first story in the Binti series packs a lot into a relatively fast read. Binti is the first of the Himba people to gain acceptance to an intergalactic university, but her ship is attacked by the alien Meduse species, who kill all the other passengers. Binti manages to use an ancient technology she brought with her to establish communications with the Meduse, negotiating a truce that requires a startling transformation. It’s a thoughtful, hopeful story from a modern master, and further cements Nnedi Okorafor’s status as a must-read sci-fi writer.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
They took our magic. They tried to bury us. Now we rise. Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope. Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.