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Noor

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
From Africanfuturist luminary Okorafor comes a new science fiction novel of intense action and thoughtful rumination on biotechnology, destiny, and humanity in a near-future Nigeria.
Anwuli Okwudili prefers to be called AO. To her, these initials have always stood for Artificial Organism. AO has never really felt...natural, and that's putting it lightly. Her parents spent most of the days before she was born praying for her peaceful passing because even in-utero she was "wrong". But she lived. Then came the car accident years later that disabled her even further. Yet instead of viewing her strange body the way the world views it, as freakish, unnatural, even the work of the devil, AO embraces all that she is: A woman with a ton of major and necessary body augmentations. And then one day she goes to her local market and everything goes wrong.
Once on the run, she meets a Fulani herdsman named DNA and the race against time across the deserts of Northern Nigeria begins. In a world where all things are streamed, everyone is watching the "reckoning of the murderess and the terrorist" and the "saga of the wicked woman and mad man" unfold. This fast-paced, relentless journey of tribe, destiny, body, and the wonderland of technology revels in the fact that the future sometimes isn't so predictable. Expect the unaccepted.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from September 13, 2021
      Convenience and comfort come at a cost in this probing, brilliant near-future odyssey from Okorafor (Remote Control). Anwuli Okwudili changed her name to Augmented Organism, or AO, as a nod to the body augmentations she’s used to compensate for her physical and mental disabilities over the years. Now she’s partially robotic, with various cybernetic limbs, organs, and implants produced by the mega company Ultimate Corp—and at times she feels more connected to Ultimate Corp’s machines than to her own people in Abuja, Nigeria. When AO is attacked while at the market, she inadvertently kills her assailants in self-defense, displaying the deadly range of her cybernetically enhanced capabilities. Branded a murderess, she goes on the run with Dangote Nuhu Adamu, or “DNA,” a Fulani herdsman wrongfully accused of terrorism. Together, the fugitives battle never-ending sandstorms and evade both Ultimate Corp’s watchful eye and the Nigerian government’s retribution as they make their way across the desert. Okorafor exposes the cracks in this technology-driven, highly surveilled society as each detour in AO and DNA’s route adds layers of intrigue on the way to a jaw-dropping finale. Frequent instances of suicidal ideation may be triggering to some readers, but Okorafor handles heavy subjects well. This is a must-read. Agent: Donald Maass, Donald Maass Literary.

    • Library Journal

      October 1, 2021

      Okorafor's (Remote Control) latest is an Africanfuturist novel (a mode she describes as "specifically...rooted in African culture, history, mythology and point-of-view" that doesn't center the West), set in a near-future Nigeria. Protagonist AO knows that she is only partially human in society's view: she was born disabled, then was injured a car accident, after which she augmented her body with biotech modifications that enhance her existence. When a shopping trip in a Nigerian market leads to her near death--then the deaths of others at her hands--AO flees to the desert, where she meets a lone Fulani herdsman with his own survival story. The two are forced to go on the run, seen as murderers by strangers and friends alike. Their survival depends on reaching the Red Eye, a place that few try to enter, with good reason. Okorafor's novel takes on technology, streaming media manipulation, and the reach of governments and corporations. The timely themes will inspire readers to ask the same hard questions of themselves that the main characters do: who has ultimate control over individuals if we rely so much on what others create and provide for us? VERDICT Okorafor packs swift action and harsh emotions into this slim novella, showing her strengths once again as a speculative fiction writer.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

      Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      Starred review from September 15, 2021
      The newest novel from acclaimed Africanfuturist Okorafor, is a rich story of climate, capitalism, and biotech. AO, a confident disabled woman with biotech body augmentations that draw the ire of people around her, is left fleeing her city after an incident in the market. She runs into Fulani herdsman DNA, who is also being pursued for a crime he committed in self-defense. The two become caught up in a story of exploitation and imperialism as the power-hungry and manipulative Ultimate Corp follows them into the never-ending sandstorm, the Red-Eye, determined to see them fall. As always, Okorafor's world building is intricate, vivid, and fascinating, and Noor's scathing critique of imperialism and capitalism's ties to climate disaster is a powerful and welcome call-to-action. Some of the revelations of the novel come about in overly coincidental or convenient ways. That said, the novel's true magic lies in AO's stubborn, fierce will; in DNA's earthy compassion; and in their self-discovery and refusal to give into a power system determined to dehumanize and defeat them. Readers will be rooting for AO and her battle against the brutal, insatiable greed of the megacorporations and governments in charge of this near-future world.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Kirkus

      Starred review from October 15, 2021
      Okorafor has defined Africanfuturism, once and for all, in this tale of scapegoats and revolutionaries. All Nigeria has seen the videos--the Igbo cyborg killing five men in the market, the Fulani terrorist shooting a villager in cold blood--but few know what happened to drive the two killers into the Sahel Desert. AO and DNA killed in self-defense: She to protect herself from a lynch mob that demonized her technologically advanced prosthetics, he to save his cattle from villagers who mistook him for a terrorist. Thrust together when their paths cross while on the lam, AO and DNA set their sights on the one place they hope no one will look: a secret community of outcasts living in seclusion at the heart of the giant Red Eye storm. Okorafor grounds AO and DNA's world as an extension of our own, a world in which William Kamkwamba, Greta Thunberg, and O.J. Simpson remain household names and in which the personal is still very much political. Thanks, in part, to that grounding, it's nigh impossible to read about Ultimate Corp--the massive company that has monopolized Nigeria's agriculture and technology--without thinking of the real-life corporations that control similar spheres in our own time. AO's and DNA's experiences in their Ultimate Corp-saturated home settlements stand in stark contrast to life inside the stormy Hour Glass, where "non-Issues"--that is, non-Nigerians--live together in borderless harmony. That Ultimate Corp manufactured the means of its own demise brings a hopeful note to what could have been a depressing and agitating story. A searing techno-magical indictment of capitalism from one of the strongest voices in fiction.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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