The Book of Phoenix (Who Fears Death, #0)

232 pages

English language

Published April 1, 2015

ISBN:: 978-0-7564-1019-3
Goodreads:: 23281789

(2 reviews)

"Phoenix was grown and raised among other genetic experiments in New York's Tower 7. She is an 'accelerated woman'--only two years old but with the body and mind of an adult, Phoenix's abilities far exceed those of a normal human. Still innocent and inexperienced in the ways of the world, she is content living in her room speed reading e-books, running on her treadmill, and basking in the love of Saeed, another biologically altered human of Tower 7. Then one evening, Saeed witnesses something so terrible that he takes his own life. Devastated by his death and Tower 7's refusal to answer her questions, Phoenix finally begins to realize that her home is really her prison, and she becomes desperate to escape. But Phoenix's escape, and her destruction of Tower 7, is just the beginning of her story. Before her story ends, Phoenix will travel from the United States to …

"Phoenix was grown and raised among other genetic experiments in New York's Tower 7. She is an 'accelerated woman'--only two years old but with the body and mind of an adult, Phoenix's abilities far exceed those of a normal human. Still innocent and inexperienced in the ways of the world, she is content living in her room speed reading e-books, running on her treadmill, and basking in the love of Saeed, another biologically altered human of Tower 7. Then one evening, Saeed witnesses something so terrible that he takes his own life. Devastated by his death and Tower 7's refusal to answer her questions, Phoenix finally begins to realize that her home is really her prison, and she becomes desperate to escape. But Phoenix's escape, and her destruction of Tower 7, is just the beginning of her story. Before her story ends, Phoenix will travel from the United States to Africa and back, changing the entire course of humanity's future"--

4 editions

Paul reviewed Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor

Review of 'Book of Phoenix' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

For me, the big bugbear with this book is that there's no explanation of who is behind Big Eyes (the principal antagonist), what their motivations are (the story touches on greed and weaponry - but who are they intending to use the weapons against?), and why they are allowed to get away with what they do. It's a similar story with the protagonists - though their motivations are clear, their backstory is limited (with the exception of the titular character).

Perhaps this is what happens when you turn a novelette into a novella into a novel, stretching the story beyond its natural limits. Or maybe I'm supposed to read the rest of the books in the series - but there wasn't enough of a hook to make me do that.

On the plus side, it was easy to read and didn't end up as a DNF -though part of that …

For me, the big bugbear with this book is that there's no explanation of who is behind Big Eyes (the principal antagonist), what their motivations are (the story touches on greed and weaponry - but who are they intending to use the weapons against?), and why they are allowed to get away with what they do. It's a similar story with the protagonists - though their motivations are clear, their backstory is limited (with the exception of the titular character).

Perhaps this is what happens when you turn a novelette into a novella into a novel, stretching the story beyond its natural limits. Or maybe I'm supposed to read the rest of the books in the series - but there wasn't enough of a hook to make me do that.

On the plus side, it was easy to read and didn't end up as a DNF -though part of that was wanting to take part in a book club discussion.

CTD

rated it

July 12, 2016