Binti is more of a novella than a novel. The story was over as soon as I felt comfortable in the world. It is an amazing world based on African culture in relation to human culture in relation to alien culture. The interplay between cultures is worthy of a thesis.

What really gripped me is how Okorafor was able to draw the reader in, even a reader with no familiarity with African culture, to the heritage of Binti. It started with the very first line of the story. Then through simple narration the reader learned of an important culture and a futuristic Earth without once having to actually be told about it. The storytelling is genius.

My one critique is that I wish the Meduse were described in more depth, especially given their importance. The story focuses on Binti so much that the Meduse are more of an abstract entity that by the time I realize their importance I have either lost all appropriate descriptions or they were never there.

I will, without a doubt, be finishing this series.

Earlier in the year I picked up a book because there was a character who seemed to be so much like me. I was dispirited because she was nothing like me, and because the book turned out to not have much depth.

When I started reading Educated I found a character who had a childhood that was more similar to mine than anyone I had ever met. Reading about her family struggles, and her choices, was less triggering and more liberating. It takes courage to be able to speak about the unspeakable. It takes talent to be able to transcribe the emotions and experiences in a way that would engage her readers rather than alienate them.

I do not think the writing was technically perfect at all times. I think there was some choices in using time that was not the most effective, and there was some times that I wished the writing was a little more polished. Yet, these instances were small and were pale compared to the actual overall work.

I would be interested in a follow up memoir, one less focused on her childhood and more focused on her adulthood. I feel like Westover has a lot more left to say, and I would first in line to read it.

Received for free from Netgalley. The opinions are my own.

I had no idea what this book was about before I started reading it. All I knew is that it has been much liked around the book community and that it fit perfectly into a category for a reading challenge.

The book is about two communities that are pretty Viking like in nature. The start of the book talks a lot about war and fighting. At first I thought that their enemy was supernatural and they were fighting for their lives. Except they are not, they are fighting because that is what they have always done.

I enjoyed the part of the story in-between fighting. Although, it is such a small part of the book.

This is one of those books where you could completely understand why someone else could fall in love with it. I could even understand it being someone else's favorite book. It just wasn't for me.

I read this book as it was recommended on some list somewhere. That and I really liked the cover. I am not much for fairy tale books. Yet, the book read more like a contemporary novel. For a good portion of the book the only fairy tale reference was a book that was written by Alice's grandmother.

The story took a bit to get to the point, but I enjoyed the journey there. I may have enjoyed more then the fairy tale aspect. That part was a bit of a letdown. The book was Gothic, but nothing too dark - I am a wuss so this worked in the books favor for me.

I did enjoy the more character driven aspect of the story, again it was more contemporary than fairy tale. Overall, I found this book enjoyable but not a masterpiece.