Zahrah the Windseeker; The Shadow Speaker

[rootedinsong.livejournal.com]

16. Zahrah the Windseeker, by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu

I was hoping to find a YA fantasy novel/series that I could turn into a squeeing fangirl about. Well, I got my wish. This is awesome. (The author has a blog, too.)

I loved the world-building. Ecological technology, an organic Internet, computers that you grow from seeds and that adapt to you raise them... *squeals with happiness* The world is based on Africa, and everyone in it (as far as we know) is black; almost all of humanity lives in one country and never leaves it, because the rest of the world is considered too dangerous, so humanity has not needed to adapt to different environments. So black is the default, and that assumption is just in the background... which is in such sharp contrast to your typical white-bread fantasy novel, and so right.

The plot is basically your standard fantasy quest plot, which is fine with me; I never get tired of that if it's done well. (And I read more for world-building than plot anyway.)

Go read it. All of you.

17. The Shadow Speaker, by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu

Older and more nuanced than Zahrah the Windseeker, and a bit harder/darker. It's set mostly in a future Earth which has started to intersect with the world of Zahrah and three other worlds. Current weaponry and some other technology has ceased working, and people are being born with magical powers; the protagonist is a teenage girl who has the ability to hear the "shadows," which are some sort of spirit that can give guidance and tell the future.

Again, the world-building in this was awesome. I especially liked the author's descriptions of how the protagonist's abilities work; they came across as so psychologically true (says the aspiring therapist who looks to fantasy novels for the best descriptions ever of how therapy, interpersonal influence, and other psychological phenomena work). (The scene with the sentient storm struck me as very Rogerian.) :)

Read this one too.