Anwuli Okwudili (although she prefers to be called AO for Artificial Organism) was born disabled, and only survived due to massive medical intervention. Between that and a car accident when she was 14, she has had both legs amputated and replaced, one arm, a lung, and various other enhancements. This is just who she is and since she was old enough to decide, these choices have been ones that she made. She just had no idea how others were helping to shape those choices.
Then comes the day in the market where everything goes wrong. Now she is on the run but she doesn't know what she's running to, only that she's running away from what has happened, and this running runs her into DNA, a Fulani herdsman, who is trying to figure out what is happening in his life except that for him, he is returning to his family to get guidance. His kind nature brings AO along with him but fate has determined that they are both to be outcasts, hunted together through the desert. AO is about to learn so much more about who she is and what she can do against those who sought to use and control her.
I've been enjoying Nnedi Okorafor's work and this was no exception. An indictment of oligarchies and large corporations, intolerance for differences, and our loss of privacy in society. She is succinct in her brevity but she continues to draw me into her worlds and her characters with her weaving of African lore and culture throughout her stories.
Page count: 214p/462p ytd/371,390p lifetime
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