"Remote Control" by Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor in my opinion is one of the best short science fiction authors. This novella is under 200 pages, and yet, it manages to convey so much depth about the human nature that I keep thinking about this book even though I finished it a few days ago. Needless to say, I do not review every single book that I read. Only those that stir something in me or get me to think deeply about a topic inspire me to write my thoughts down.

Remote Control is set in near future in Ghana. Our main character Sankofa is a young girl known among Ghanaians as simply the witch or the adopted daughter of death. She walks on foot from village to village and has the power to take someone's life with simply a glance. An unexplained celestial phenomenon occurred when she was just a young child sitting in the branches of a shea tree in her yard. She describes it as simply green stars/lights falling from the sky and landing at the roots of the shea tree. Shortly after her powers first manifested itself when she inadvertently killed the entire population of the town she lived in. Now Sankofa walks from place to place in search of the box containing the shea tree seed, which originally gave her this power.

I think what makes this novella especially powerful is the fact that it is written from the point of view of a young child/preteen. Sankofa gradually learns to control her power and actually manages to use it for good by relieving the suffering of those who are dying from terminal illnesses. Adults and children fear her, try to use her for their own gain, and almost universally shun her company. I thought it was amazing to watch how Sankofa adjusts to having this new power, how she deals with grief and loss, and also how she retains her childlike goodness and purity.

As with Binti I think Remote Control is great for book clubs and buddy reads as people will inevitably have things to say and opine about.

5 out of 5 stars.

"Daughter of the Moon Goddess" by Sue Lynn Tan

This is officially my first review of 2022. Before I dive into the story, please take a moment to appreciate the cover of this book. I must say the cover as well as the title were the first two things that drew me to this book. 

The story is inspired by the Chinese mythology in which a young girl has to overcome multiple obstacles and face numerous challenges in order to free her mother, the Moon Goddess, who is imprisoned on the moon. Even though this book is over 500 pages long, I find that I don't have much to say. Even though individual quests Xingyin goes on were interesting and at times action packed, I did not feel vested in the story. The love triangle became annoying pretty quickly and I also found that none of the other characters were well fleshed out. Maybe if the book followed multiple POVs, the story would have more depth. 

I did like the twist that occurred towards the last one third of the book. However, even there I felt the author missed some opportunities to give us a better idea of the world and magic, and also show Xingyin's character a bit more. She is an immortal warrior who's lived at the Celestial court for many years and understood at least some things about politics and ruthlessness of rulers. Yet, here, when betrayed by someone close to her, she acts quite childish and also at one time, I frankly had to suspend my disbelief when she was able to harvest poisonous flowers while being escorted through the garden by several guards. 

Overall, this book definitely feels and reads like a debut novel. I did think it was too long and even though I enjoyed individual quests, I kept wanting more in terms of character development and world building. 3 out of 5 stars. This is supposed to be a duology, but I am not sure if I will be picking up the sequel.

An e-ARC was provided by NetGalley.com in exchange for an honest review.