A fitting end to the series. I really loved Binti and her world. Thank goodness I have more Nnedi to put on my Kindle with the 2nd Akata book. ( )

This third book in Okorafor’s Binti series brings the story of the eponymous character to a close. In this final chapter, Binti comes to know her diverse genetic selves in ways that defy her own understanding. Even among her father’s people, she outshines in aptitude and ability, giving a whole new definition to the meaning of harmonizer. Throughout the experience, she stays true to her many selves, but most of all to her family heritage. ( )

A reread for my book club :)

A very fitting conclusion to the trilogy. I do like the things Nnedi Okorafor does with her imagination! This world has expanded – beginning in the second installment, and continuing here. I would have loved to explore it even more – the living spaceships, different kinds of harmonisers, more about zinariya, etc etc etc.

I am not sure how to feel about Okwu – now we have its friendship with Binti (very cute), some comic relief (being too happy must be bad for everyone), and general Meduse superpowers stuff. There is some focus on things that had happened in the first book, but it wasn’t satisfying, imo.

In all honesty, there is too much plot for the number of pages, but I flew through them with pleasure. Binti’s journey is a delight – coming to terms with her powers, who she really is, questioning things she had been taught. What I loved most about this story was Binti being awesome, powerful, curious, courageous, her “magic” going wild. The trope of characters coming back from the dead is really not my favourite, but I am not complaining that it happened. Also, Binti deciding not to contact her family immediately to tell them “hello, I am not dead, and I thought you were all dead, so let’s all stop grieving and be happy” because they have too much to do… was very very weird.

Who doesn’t love a happy ending, though?

*4.5 stars on this reread, rounded up. ( )

Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti: The Night Masquerade is the third and concluding volume in her trilogy of novellas starring a young Himba woman who defies cultural expectations to go to an off-planet university. Binti is a har­moniser, with a natural talent for mathematics and a predisposition towards bringing people into new, better, more peaceful connections with each other.

In Binti, she left home, suffered significant trauma, formed a connection with Okwu, a mem­ber of an alien species (the Meduse) who have a long-standing rivalry with the Khoush – the people who rule the area in which Binti’s people live, and who look down on her people – and be­came part-alien herself. In Binti: Home, she re­turned home with Okwu, discovered new things about herself and her family, and found herself and Okwu at the centre of a flashpoint of renewed conflict between the Khoush and the Meduse. Binti is in the desert, learning about another side to her heritage from her father’s mother’s people, when the conflict starts. This is where Binti: Home ends, and Binti: The Night Masquerade begins.

Binti: The Night Masquerade is a story that is part science fiction and part fantasy and in many ways it defies genre. Its a story about self-discovery, political agency, the bonds of family, and of attempting to overcome the prejudices that define one's own worldview. It's also a story of two aspects of war: of the ignorant foolishness that keeps two peoples at each others throats for generations, but also of war as a metaphor for change.

As we reach the end of Binti’s journey, she’s been through so much of it that she’s barely even human, at least, not in a way we’d understand. Her very DNA has been altered and mixed with other alien forms. And, though this is challenging news for her, she’s the better for it.

I suppose the Binti trilogy could be read as a metaphor for the effects of cultural assimilation: both its challenges and its benefits.

Highly recommended. ( )

Such a satisfying conclusion to the series, I will miss Binti. ( )