This book is about the adopted daughter of Death. It’s an afrofuturist magical realism story set in Ghana; lots in here about shea butter and the matriarchal society really shines through as well; enjoyed the light touch on giving a slice of the culture.

This is a coming of age story about a young girl who suddenly has the power of death which, at the onset, is completely subconscious; it flares up as her body’s reaction to feeling threatened. Towards the beginning of the story her power kills everyone in her town including her mother and father and sibling. From then onward she roams the land from place to place and people give her anything she wants, both fearing and pitying her. Sometimes hating her. Sometimes loving her, when she eases the passing of people who are greatly suffering. Oh and a mysterious fox follows her around. Oh and whenever she touches technology (cars, robots, whatever) it ceases to function.

All of that is basically the setting and initial premise, the setup for the story. What is the story? Well, it’s a bit complicated. It feels like the coming of age story often but that’s not the only main part. There’s an evil corporation doing evil things, but that’s just really in the background. There’s a significant amount of story around how tech affects culture and vice versa. But I’d say the main story might be more about how one relates to oneself, especially the parts of oneself that are really hard to live with.

Yes, that’s a very important part of it. Perhaps the central thread. But certainly just one of many important threads. This book is more like a tapestry than a subway diagram. Which I like. That brings me to another thing I noticed, informed by my studies of cross-cultural communication. There’s a big difference between African storytelling and Western story telling. Western story telling is more about cause and effect, a focused linear plot; it’s more obvious what the plot is. Non Western cultures tend to think more holistically, like a tapestry. My thought is…this story is a really good blend of the two. It’s very cultural, it feels like the author is probably familiar with Ghana (a lot of nuances of a different culture come through), and yet it’s written so that Westerners can sink their teeth into it too.

If you’re looking to broaden your horizons into non Western literature this would be a great place to start.