Binti By Nnedi Okorafor 7/10

     I wasn't expecting that much from this. It may have contributed to how much I liked this. There's this trend that's something I've started to notice when I watched the Pixar movie COCO. In that movie, the main character is the stereotypical rebel; where he wants to play the guitar and his parents aren't that into it. They don't like it because they worship their ancestors who have forsaken music. They've built this elaborate shrine to the rest of their family. The rebel character also worships someone, but instead of his family, it's this guitar idol. This makes sense the main character is working within the general framework that's been given to him by his surrounding culture. He just puts his values into the existing framework. The same is true here. The main character even though she's the rebel character she's constantly thinking about her place in her family, and now her place and relation to the rest of the world. It really worked.
     One trend that seems to be popping up in Fantasy/Sci-fi that I hope continues is the use of the genre to explore other cultures. Ken Lui's Dandelion Dynasty books are a really good example and exploration of Chinese storytelling in a fantasy setting. This explores African culture using some really good Science Fiction world. It's short, sweet, and I really loved it.