Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Who fears fantasy tropes?

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

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Take an ancient prophecy, a genocide-fueled war, a post-apocalyptic setting, a reluctant teacher, band of friends, and a powerful heroine with anger management issues and you have Who Fears Death. This was award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor’s first novel for adults after publishing a few YA novels. This novel feels more like a hybrid of the two formats. The romance and coming-of-age aspects of YA with the more mature themes of an adult novel. Okorafor threw every fantasy trope she could into this brutal novel to […]

I Believe in the Power of Creation (which is female)

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To be something abnormal meant you were to serve the normal. And if you refused, they hated you …and often the normal hated you even when you did serve them.  Who Fears Death is the story of a young woman who, in the face of formidable obstacles, must change the world. Onyesonwu, whose name means “who fears death,” possesses mystical powers. While this makes her unusual in her town, it is not what sets her apart from others, at least not at first. The novel […]

Enchanting/Frustrating African Fantasy

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I have a lot of thoughts about this book because I found it both enchanting and frustrating. Let’s start with the plot:  We’re somewhere in Africa.  The Nuru, a lighter skinned people, and the Okeke, a darker skinned people, are enemies.  The Nuru are on course to exterminate the Okeke, following (what they think is) the guidance written in The Great Book.  One Okeke woman is raped by a really terrible Nuru during a raping/pillaging raid.  She escapes, giving birth in the desert to a baby girl whom she […]



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