- Publisher: PENGUIN PUTNAM
- Publication date: 08/20/2024
- Pages: 176
- ISBN: 978-0-7564-1895-3
- Author: Nnedi Okorafor
She Who Knows by Nnedi Okorafor is set in an indeterminate future in village in the deserts of Northern Africa, probably somewhere around here. This is the first in her latest series, presumably all focused on Najeeba, a young girl/woman from the village who bucks traditions of her people. She insists on going on the ‘Salt Road’ with her father and brothers. Never before has a woman, let alone a teenage girl, gone on this trek, but she has heard the call and she goes.
Okorafor has become one of my favorite current authors. Her africanfuturism writings are a combination of science fiction, fantasy, folklore, spiritualism and just damn good story telling. She creates universes that are near enough to feel familiar, and yet strange and remote from my experience, and probably from most readers. The novella, She Who Knows, continues this experience. A future world that combines technology and spiritualism, witchcraft and feminism, nature and the supernatural.
The author jams a lot into the quick reading 176 pages. This is the first in a series so there are questions left unanswered and some foreshadowing of possible events in later books, but it did not feel like a partial story. It was another satisfying and enjoyable journey to a fascinating world. I will come here again for the next installment(s) in the She Who Knows series.
Other reviews of Nnedi Okorafor books on Amazing Stories:
- Noor
- Remote Control (this one is amazing)
- Binti: The Complete Trilogy
