Review: She Who Knows by Nnedi Okorafor
Blurb:
Part science fiction, part fantasy, and entirely infused with West African culture and spirituality, this novella offers an intimate glimpse into the life of a teenager whose coming of age will herald a new age for her world. Set in the universe Africanfuturist luminary Nnedi Okorafor first introduced in the World Fantasy Award-winning Who Fears Death, this is the first in the She Who Knows trilogy
When there is a call, there is often a response.
Najeeba knows.
She has had The Call. But how can a 13-year-old girl have the Call? Only men and boys experience the annual call to the Salt Roads. What’s just happened to Najeeba has never happened in the history of her village. But it’s not a terrible thing, just strange. So when she leaves with her father and brothers to mine salt at the Dead Lake, there’s neither fanfare nor protest. For Najeeba, it’s a dream come true: travel by camel, open skies, and a chance to see a spectacular place she’s only heard about. However, there must have been something to the rule, because Najeeba’s presence on the road changes everything and her family will never be the same.
Small, intimate, up close, and deceptively quiet, this is the beginning of the Kponyungo Sorceress.
Review:
This was a very unique story, one that was short but not overly sweet. Mainly because the book revolves largely around salt. See what I did there? No? Yeah, I figured, wasn’t very good.
ANYWAYS, this was my introduction to Nnedi Okorafor’s stories, but I think I need to preface what is to come in the review. I received an ARC for the book FOLLOWING She Who Knows, i.e. the second in the series. I, upon the time of receiving the ARC, didn’t realize it was the second in the series. Thus I rushed into reading this, and haste might have impacted my interpretation and review of this story. Moreover, I didn’t realize that this series (She Who Knows) is mainly a companion series/complementary to one of Okorafor’s other series, which I have not read. All that to say, I ran into this headfirst, like an idiot (as I am often wont to do) and came out the better for it.
This was a great book, not too long, with fantastic pacing. There were no sections I found that dragged, rushed, or stagnated in any way. A real page turner, from cover to cover. So much so that I finished this book in a single day. I can’t say that often, except for stories that are 80 pages or less. This wasn’t, and I read it just as quickly. If that isn’t a testament to the pacing, I’m not sure what is.
We follow Najeeba, a young girl in a village secluded from much of society for the role in the salt trade. Those of their tribe go to the salt flats many days away to retrieve cubes of the precious substance and sell it at the market to those beyond the village. The money goes to their families, and the families around them, and it is, above all things, an honorable and good thing to do.
But only men go on those journeys, until now. Najeeba has gotten “the calling” to go to the salt flats with her father and brothers, embarking on a journey that will change her in great ways. She leaves a young girl with close friends and a young love, and she comes back greatly different. Her relationships are no longer what they used to be because she did something primarily reserved for men, something she wasn’t meant to do. Moreover, she sold the salt at the market, something EXPRESSLY forbidden in this world, much to the chagrin of her elder brother. If the rest of her family found out, they’d be furious and put in a tremendous amount of danger.
Thats not all, Najeeba learns she’s a witch on the way, capable of fleeing her own body and projecting across the lands. But then something strange happens, and a unique salt cube graces the flats on one of their journeys, and when they sell it, Najeeba’s life changes even more, if you’d believe it.
This story has a lot of build up for the second book and (I assume) provides substance for the mains series. Because of that, I often thought I was missing something, some specific context I ought to have. Some backstory I should know that would make a bunch of things a lot clearer. As a result of this, I was left wanting with the ending, in that I needed more of a resolution. I needed to know what happened next. What all this was about. What any of it was talking about. Was this because I am an idiot that went into this not realizing all of those things I pointed out at the beginning of the review? Undoubtedly, and for that reason, my gripes should largely be ignored.
The growth of Najeeba was fun to watch, even in so short a time. Especially in a story so unique, taking place in a setting that sucked you right in. The critiques here on class, gender, and many other things I leave for the reader to interpret, were well placed, woven, and discussed, in my opinion. Maybe I’m imagining those things, but they did really make you think about every like that, about how much work needs to be done to overcome generations of tradition, even if it is, at the end of the day, harmful above all else.
I’m not sure what to compare this book to, what sort of comps I can make. It sits in that inbetween of fantasy and sci-fi, blending elements from both seamlessly, with a real-world setting. It's futuristic and yet ancient, and the juxtaposition of all these elements was one of my favorite parts. I’ll be looking for stories like this, and, perhaps most importantly, I’m looking forward to reading how the story continues in book 2, and in the main series (yes, I should have read that to begin with, I’m getting there).
