Binti

eBook, 96 pages

English language

Published Sept. 22, 2015 by Tor.com.

ISBN:
978-0-7653-8446-1
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4 stars (131 reviews)

For the first time in hardcover, the winner of the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award!

With a new foreword by N. K. Jemisin

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.

Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti's stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.

If Binti hopes to survive the …

2 editions

Review of 'Binti' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

At 16, Binti is the first of her people to leave the safety of home to study mathematics at the unparalleled Oomza University. When her transport ship is attacked and all her future classmates are killed, Binti alone stands between a war that would span the entire galaxy.

This short novella is sharp, poignant, and intense – with complex world building.

Review of 'Binti' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Short but sweet, a coming of age story about a girl from the desert who leaves to go to the Galactic university and finds herself confronting aliens of many kinds. A great wee parable about the importance of negotiation, de-escalation and the sharing of culture between peoples.

Review of 'Binti' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This was a cute and charming story about a Himba girl, first of her tribe to be accepted to a distant university due to her mathematical brilliance. She sneaks away from her family (who do not believe she should go) and travels to the university via space ship ... but the ship is attacked by the Meduse, a race of aliens who have been at war with humans (some humans? the university? It's a bit unclear who or why).

I enjoyed the unusual worldbuilding and the character of Binti very much, and would be interested to read more. However, there were elements that just seemed to make no sense at all. In particular, why on earth would the Meduse - whose technology seems to far surpass humanity's, and who can literally change the genetic structure of Binti with apparently no effort at all - why do they magically seem to …

Review of 'Binti' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

Binti is about restitution and amends, bravery and voyage, halting a cycle of violence and miscommunication...in space. The tech is described with the surety and shorthand of familiarity to say you don't need more, for Binti knows what she's doing.

The pacing was strange and dreamlike. I don't normally read novellas and this one felt far too short of an exploration for such a rich world as was hinted at in the text. Luckily for my satisfaction there are sequels which I will be exploring, as I have been intrigued and want to linger longer here. There is just enough explanation of technology as to be satisfying without being hard sci-fi. I'll have to see how the later books handle it before I can say whether this is due to the brevity of the text or if it's a stylistic choice that will persist in the series. Overall I liked …

Review of 'Binti' on 'LibraryThing'

4 stars

I loved that this is a sci-fi/action novel in which the driving conflict is not resolved by force or technology, and I love the picture it paints of the interstellar-cosmopolitan university. I wanted more character development--a bit more of Binti ethnicity and excellence, but mainly a few other fleshed-out characters--but I'm also mindful of how short a book this is. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series and wonder if it will scratch that itch.

Review of 'Binti' on 'LibraryThing'

4 stars

I loved that this is a sci-fi/action novel in which the driving conflict is not resolved by force or technology, and I love the picture it paints of the interstellar-cosmopolitan university. I wanted more character development--a bit more of Binti ethnicity and excellence, but mainly a few other fleshed-out characters--but I'm also mindful of how short a book this is. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series and wonder if it will scratch that itch.

Review of 'Binti' on 'GoodReads'

3 stars

I've been putting off reading this solely because it's a novella. They need to be written in a very specific way, otherwise they end up being not enough. I think that's ultimately what happens with Binti. The story is great, the ideas put forward are unique & interesting, and the writing is nuanced & engaging.

But then what? There are a number of really cool things to explore here, but instead you get precisely one line about them.

- Living ship, designed to have breathing bladders
- The concept of harmonisation
- The specifics of Himba culture


Are just a few pieces you'd want to know more about, but can't due to this format. Perhaps these things will be explored in the following two novellas - but there in lies my point. Why is this three novellas and not three parts to an actual story? If it's not self contained …

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