Powered by a book like {foo}
Recommendations based on Who Fears Deathby Nnedi Okorafor
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Akata Witch
by Nnedi Okorafor
A magical journey of self-discovery, learning to use powers to help save the world.
Twelve-year-old Sunny Nwazue was born in America yet lives in Nigeria. She is Black and albino. She's a great athlete, yet she can't go out in the sun to play soccer. Sunny then discovers that she ... (Wikipedia)
Parable of the Talents
by Octavia E. Butler
A post-apocalyptic tale of survival, exploring themes of faith and power.
Parable of the Talents is told from the points of view of Lauren Oya Olamina and her daughter Larkin Olamina/Asha Vere. The novel consists of journal entries by Lauren and passages by Asha Vere. Four ... (Wikipedia)
Parable of the Sower
by Octavia E. Butler
A post-apocalyptic story of survival, hope, and the power of community.
This highly acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel of hope and terror from award-winning author Octavia E. Butler "pairs well with, 1984, or, The Handmaid's Tale," (John Green,, New York Times,)–now with a ... (Barnes & Noble)
Binti
by Nnedi Okorafor
A journey of self-discovery for a young African girl as she confronts xenophobia, racism, and alien cultures.
A young woman named Binti is the first member of the Himba ethnic group on Earth (closely modeled on the Himba people ) , to be accepted into the prestigious intergalactic university Oomza Uni. Upon ... (Wikipedia)
Akata Warrior
by Nnedi Okorafor
Sunny Nwazue continues her journey as a Leopard Person, fighting against a powerful and evil force threatening her community.
A year ago, Sunny Nwazue, an American-born girl Nigerian girl, was inducted into the secret Leopard Society. As she began to develop her magical powers, Sunny learned that she had been chosen to lead ... (Goodreads)
The Stone Sky
by N.K. Jemisin
A climactic finale to a trilogy, featuring a powerful woman's journey to save her world from destruction.
Following the events of, The Obelisk Gate, , the former inhabitants of Castrima-under are moving north after damage by rival comm Rennanis has compromised the mechanisms of the geode and made it ... (Wikipedia)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
by N.K. Jemisin
Yeine Darr is summoned to the city of Sky, where she must compete for the throne against two powerful cousins.
Yeine Darr was born to Kinneth Arameri, who was heir to the Arameri throne but abdicated twenty years before the start of the story to marry Yeine's father, a Darre man. Kinneth was disowned by ... (Wikipedia)
The Fifth Season
by N.K. Jemisin
A world where seismic and magical disasters ravage the land, and a woman's journey to save humanity.
In a prologue, an extraordinarily powerful orogene discusses the sad state of the world and laments the oppression of his race. He then uses his enormous power to fracture the entire continent along ... (Wikipedia)
Dawn
by Octavia E. Butler
An epic science fiction story of a post-apocalyptic future and humanity's struggle for survival.
Lilith Iyapo has just lost her husband and son when atomic fire consumes Earth—the last stage of the planet’s final war. Hundreds of years later Lilith awakes, deep in the hold of a massive alien ... (Goodreads)
Embassytown
by China Miéville
Exploring a distant alien city and unraveling its mysteries.
Embassytown takes place mostly in the city of the title, on the planet Arieka. Embassytown exists on the very edge of the "Manchmal" (from the German for "sometimes"), which is suspected to be the ... (Wikipedia)
Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi
Spanning centuries, the intertwining stories of two African sisters, their descendants, and the legacy of slavery.
Effia is raised by her mother, Baaba, who is cruel to her. Nevertheless she works hard to please her mother. Known as a beauty, Effia is intended to be married to the future chief of her village, but ... (Wikipedia)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Díaz
An exploration of love, identity, and the power of fate in a family's struggles and triumphs.
Oscar de León (nicknamed Oscar Wao, a bastardization of Oscar Wilde ) is an overweight Dominican growing up in Paterson, New Jersey. Oscar desperately wants to be successful with women but, from a ... (Wikipedia)
The Left Hand of Darkness
by Ursula K. Le Guin
A diplomat's mission to a distant planet, exploring themes of gender and identity.
The protagonist of the novel is Genly Ai, a male Terran native, who is sent to invite the planet Gethen to join the Ekumen, a coalition of humanoid worlds. , Ai travels to the Gethen planetary system ... (Wikipedia)
Americanah
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
An exploration of race, identity, and belonging as two Nigerian immigrants experience life in America and beyond.
Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to ... (Goodreads)
Throne of the Crescent Moon
by Saladin Ahmed
A fantasy adventure in a magical world of djinns and monsters.
The book follows Doctor Adoulla Makhslood, an aging ghul hunter based in the city of Dhamsawaat, who would really like to retire from having adventures and quietly drink cardamom tea. Events rapidly ... (Wikipedia)
Railsea
by China Miéville
An epic adventure set in a fantastical world of giant moles and mutant creatures.
Sham Yes ap Soorap is a young assistant doctor on a moletrain, captained by Abacat Naphi, that hunts giant moles for meat in a similar fashion to whaling . Naphi is especially obsessed with one mole ... (Wikipedia)
Hild
by Nicola Griffith
A young girl's rise from obscurity to power, as she navigates a medieval world of danger and intrigue.
Hild is born into a world in transition. In seventh-century Britain, small kingdoms are merging, usually violently. A new religion is coming ashore; the old gods’ priests are worrying. Edwin of ... (Goodreads)
The Underground Railroad
by Colson Whitehead
An escaped slave's daring escape to freedom, fighting against the brutality of slavery.
The story is told in the third person, focusing mainly on Cora. Scattered single chapters also focus on Cora's mother Mabel, the slavecatcher Ridgeway, a reluctant slave sympathizer named Ethel, and ... (Wikipedia)
Ancillary Justice
by Ann Leckie
A sci-fi epic of revenge and redemption, exploring the far reaches of the galaxy.
On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest. Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking ... (Goodreads)
City of Stairs
by Robert Jackson Bennett
A spy investigates a murder in a city where the gods were killed and their powers vanished. But are they really gone?
An atmospheric and intrigue-filled novel of dead gods, buried histories, and a mysterious, protean city—from one of America's most acclaimed young science fiction writers., The city of Bulikov once ... (Barnes & Noble)
I Shall Wear Midnight
by Terry Pratchett
A young witch must battle a malicious presence threatening her beloved land.
Tiffany is working as the Chalk 's only witch in a climate of growing suspicion and prejudice. When the local Baron (for whom she had been caring) dies of poor health, she is accused of murder. ... (Wikipedia)
The Deep
by Rivers Solomon
The descendants of pregnant African women thrown overboard during the slave trade can breathe underwater and live in a utopian society.
The water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater society—and must reclaim the memories of their past to shape their future in this brilliantly ... (Goodreads)
The Slow Regard of Silent Things
by Patrick Rothfuss
A solitary journey into the depths of a mysterious underground realm.
Deep below the University, there is a dark place. Few people know of it: a broken web of ancient passageways and abandoned rooms. A young woman lives there, tucked among the sprawling tunnels of the ... (Goodreads)
Annihilation
by Jeff VanderMeer
A team of four women venture into a mysterious, surreal landscape in search of answers.
A team of four women cross the border into an uninhabited area known as "Area X", an unspecified coastal location that has been closed to the public for three decades. The group consists of a ... (Wikipedia)
Ghana Must Go
by Taiye Selasi
A family saga that explores the complexities of identity, love, loss, and the immigrant experience.
The death of Kweku Sai, a renowned surgeon, in Ghana launches a series of events in his family's life. Although he has left them behind, his wife Fola and their four children—Olu, Kehinde, Taiwo, and ... (Wikipedia)
The Girl Who Fell from the Sky
by Heidi W. Durrow
A young black girl's story of survival, resilience, and self-discovery in a world of racial prejudice.
"The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, can actually fly." —,The New York Times Book Review, , Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I., becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy after a ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Traitor Baru Cormorant
by Seth Dickinson
A young woman's struggle to free her homeland from oppressive foreign rule.
Tomorrow, on the beach, Baru Cormorant will look up from the sand of her home and see red sails on the horizon. The Empire of Masks is coming, armed with coin and ink, doctrine and compass, soap and ... (Goodreads)
Spinning Silver
by Naomi Novik
A young woman turns silver into gold and attracts the attention of a dangerous fae king. She must use her wits to outsmart him and save her kingdom.
Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father's inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty–until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. ... (Goodreads)
Sing, Unburied, Sing
by Jesmyn Ward
A family's journey through the Mississippi Delta, confronting a traumatic past.
It is Jojo's thirteenth birthday. To step into his new role as a man, Jojo tries to bravely help his grandfather, Pop, kill a goat. Jojo ends up throwing up at the sight although Pop is sympathetic. ... (Wikipedia)
We Need New Names
by NoViolet Bulawayo
A young girl's journey from Zimbabwe to America, encountering the struggles of adapting to a different culture.
The novel begins by following a group of mostly pre-teen children - the central character Darling and her friends Stina, Chipo, Bastard and Godknows - living in tin shacks in Zimbabwe after their ... (Wikipedia)
