105. (November 2021) Binti novella trilogy, by Nnedi Okorafor — The Tabletop Roleplayers' Book Club

Binti - pacing

RichardAbbott — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 11:12:20 +0000

Hi all, I thought I'd see what other people thought about the pacing of the Binti trilogy. For me, this was another signal of YA intentions (despite the author's protestations ) - the pace seems kind of breakneck all the way through with little time to pause and enjoy the world. We seemed to whistle from crisis to crisis without pause. I think I'd have enjoyed times when we could kind of explore the world and its many cultures without feeling we were dodging bullets all the time. Any other reactions?

Binti Question 9 - Play

clash_bowley — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 15:29:38 +0000

Do you think setting a game in the Binti setting would be interesting? Fun? Are there things you could take from the Binti setting for your own game? Did Binti inspire you to explore something special? Was reading Binti a net gain or loss as far as gaming went?

Binti Question 8 - Characters

clash_bowley — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 15:26:33 +0000

Aside from Binti herself, there were several major characters in the book. Binti's grandmother, father and mother. Okwu, Mwinyi. Haifa. New Fish. The Bear. Did you feel they were well drawn? Individuals? Interesting in their own right? Did you have any favorites? Who would you have liked to know better?

Binti Question 7 - Life and Death

clash_bowley — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 15:20:56 +0000

The scene where all of Binti's friends are killed on the ship going to Oozma Uni was shocking to me. I think it set a tone for the rest of the stories. Did you feel that too? Did you feel relieved that Binti survives death? Or did you feel disappointed? Why? What of her family in the Root?

Binti Question I - Binti's Peoples

clash_bowley — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 14:47:53 +0000

The Khoush seem to be any human who is not Himba in the first Novella, though Okorafor says they are not white. The Himba are a people based on the real Himba people of Namibia, and in the second Novella we find there are a third human people, the Enyi Zinariya, Binti's father's people, who live further in the desert. There seem to be no other groups. This is a different way to group cultures. Though the Himba are treated as primitive by the Khoush, they are technologically advanced, and are the only source of astrolabes, the computer/communicator of this world. Though the Enyi Zinariya are treated as primitives by the Himba, they are technologically further advanced than the Himba in at least some ways, having their astrolabes internalized in a sense through nanotech. Did you find this interesting? Why do you think she set it up this way?

Binti Question 10 - the Edan

clash_bowley — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 15:36:04 +0000

Binti has a strange device that works in various ways throughout the series. At one point it comes apart, and in the end reassembles itself into a new shape. It also had some sapience - at least to the level of the One Ring. Binti was fascinated by it yet never understood it. What do you think the Edan was? What was it trying to do? Did it symbolize something? What was your understanding of the Edan?

Binti Question 2 - Technology and/or Magic

clash_bowley — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 14:52:25 +0000

Much of the technology of Binti's earth is biological - such as their sapient crustacean starships. Plants are engineered to exude oil that smells like blood, to grease the rails on Oomza Uni, where Binti goes to school. How things actually work is never explained, though it seems to be fairly consistent. How does this work for you as worldbuilding? Is it just handwavy fantasy? Or Clarke-ian magical science?

Binti Question 6 - Aliens

clash_bowley — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 15:15:38 +0000

There are a lot of aliens throughout the Binti series, many taking strange shapes. The Meduse are the only ones developed to any degree, and there are several species who are Meduse-like physically and/or speak a Meduse-like language. They seem to get along well at Oozma Uni, though the war between the Meduse and the Khoush seems particularly bitter elsewhere. Did you enjoy this aspect of the stories? Were there aliens which you thought interesting and needing a fuller description? How did you feel about the Meduse? Did you find them as fascinating as Okorafor evidently did?

Binti Question 4 - Transformations

clash_bowley — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 15:05:56 +0000

Binti herself starts out as human - half Himba and half Enyi Zinariya, though she does not know this at the time. She later becomes part Meduse and then part starship. One of these transformations is central to each novella. Each time, Binti grows in understanding, and consequently, in power. Interesting? Or Mary Sue-ish? Why do you think Okorafor has focused on this method of growth for Binri?

Binti Question 3 - Math

clash_bowley — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 15:01:28 +0000

Binti is, like her mother and father, a mathematical genius, and 'trees' mathematically, using math to induce a zen-like meditative state. This doesn't sound too off for me - I have a close friend who dreams entirely in numbers - but what did you think encountering it? Binti is a 'Master Harmonizer' like her father, with an ability to bring two disparate things into harmony, which she does through numbers. This is the key to creating astrolabes, which Binti's father sells to the Khoush. Is understanding numerical relations being the key to everything an interesting choice? Mwinyi is also a Master Harmonizer, but does not use mathematics - and instead communicates to people. Is this an intersting variation? Does it make sense within the book?

Here's the Amazon blurb for the Binti trilogy...

RichardAbbott — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 18:07:23 +0000

Binti
Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.

Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti's stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.

If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself — but first she has to make it there, alive.

Binti: Home
It’s been a year since Binti and Okwu enrolled at Oomza University. A year since Binti was declared a hero for uniting two warring planets. A year since she found friendship in the unlikeliest of places.

And now she must return home to her people, with her friend Okwu by her side, to face her family and face her elders.

But Okwu will be the first of his race to set foot on Earth in over a hundred years, and the first ever to come in peace.

After generations of conflict can human and Meduse ever learn to truly live in harmony?

Binti: The Night Masquerade
Binti has returned to her home planet, believing that the violence of the Meduse has been left behind. Unfortunately, although her people are peaceful on the whole, the same cannot be said for the Khoush, who fan the flames of their ancient rivalry with the Meduse.

Far from her village when the conflicts start, Binti hurries home, but anger and resentment has already claimed the lives of many close to her.

Once again it is up to Binti, and her intriguing new friend Mwinyi, to intervene--though the elders of her people do not entirely trust her motives--and try to prevent a war that could wipe out her people, once and for all.

Don't miss this essential concluding volume in the Binti trilogy