Review: Noor by Nnedi Okorafor

Noor by Nnedi Okorafor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an arc via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This story was a bit confusing at times . The plot jumped around quite a bit. Nnedi Okorafor's books previously, her writing is complex and full of meaning. I've gone back and re-read several of her works and gained a much deeper and richer experience on the second read. I feel like Noor will be the same way. I just finished it and I feel like I need to read it again to gain the full appreciation for the work itself. I also feel that on the second read I'll already have a handle on certain situations and characters.

Our main character AO, as she prefers to be called, was disabled at birth. She was fitted with with prosthetics, but a car accident at 14 injured her arms and legs even further. She was then outfitted with cybernetics much to her parents horror. AO accepts that she is human and part machine and rejoices in her dual nature. Society on the other hand does not really accept her with her robotic arms and legs. This causes people to lash out at her for no reason other than she is different. She is often asked "What kind of woman are you?" When this question leads to a physical altercation in a market, AO flees the scene and runs to the desert where she meets DNA. They are drawn to each others and are able to find comfort in their differences and the struggles they both face. DNA is a cattle herder, and when his herd is attacked, he and AO end up on the run from the authorities. As they run, AO begins to develop abilities that she finds are linked to her prosthetics and the corporation that is after her and DNA.

This is a little more violent and mature than Okorafor's other works. I think that plays along nicely with the social commentary regarding self acceptance, body shaming, and the anti-capitalist theme to the story. The big corporation, Ultimate Corp, has rooted themselves in everyday life and has influence over everything. It brings up a good social commentary discussion about big corporations and the power they wield and the impact they have on society and culture. We've seen this before where a big corporation has overstepped and played with the lives of people in books and movies before and I think that plotline was really interesting. It took a while to get to that part of the story and the truth behind what was really going on.

I thought the world building was really excellent. The descriptions of the Red Eye, The Hour Glass, and other places and events in the book were really well done. This was a really interesting African-futurism book that blended futuristic sci-fi with cultural aspects. I actually really look forward to reading it again to experience the full effect of the author's message and story.

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