Review: Noor by Nnedi Okorafor
Noor
by Nnedi Okorafor
narrated by Dele Ogundiran
Thanks to Daw Books and Libro.fm for this gifted audiobook.
Publisher: Daw Books, Tantor Media, Inc.
Publish Date: November 9, 2021
Audiobook
7hrs 10 min
Standalone
Genre: Science Fiction
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.
My Review:
My second books by Okorafor. The first being REMOTE CONTROL, which I absolutely loved. NOOR is a fantastic story of AO who is basically part machine. She has to leave home and in her journey, meets DNA, and the story then takes off with their adventures as they get to know each other and she starts to find her way.
There's absolutely something about Okorafor's writing that is just gorgeous. This story delves into what we still see today with consumerism, classism, racism, artificial intelligence, going to space... while also delving into the human side of relationships and learning that there are shades of grey to any and all things.
The narrator is fantastic and I would absolutely recommend listening to this story. While this is science fiction, I do wonder about own voices readers and their thoughts on the prosthetics and disabilities of AO. AO's character herself is fascinating and multilayered and I enjoyed her relationship with DNA. I think they learned a lot from each other and allowed readers to learn of the culture within.
While I may not have loved this as much as Remote Control, I certainly would recommend this and I most definitely will be picking up more from this author.
★★★☆
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