Here are two new
books which deal with quests and young and empowered female characters in magical,
yet dystopian settings.
REMOTE CONTROL by Nnedi Okorafor is a very exciting sci-fi
read that was a LibraryReads selection for January 2021. The main character, envisioned on the cover, is
a child named Fatima who develops a magical power so that whenever she touches mechanical
or technological devices they “die.” Anger, too, causes her to glow green and
sometimes kill people around her so there are several dark moments. Eventually,
she becomes widely known as Sankofa, or the adopted daughter of the Angel of
Death. The story (also labeled Afrofuturism) involves a meandering journey across
Ghana as she grows into being a teenager and learns to anticipate and control
her “power.” There is an air of mystery and menace throughout and I quite liked
the way Okorafor shifted the scenes with travelling and new characters,
although the ending was a bit puzzling to me. Okorafor has won both Nebula and
Hugo awards for her writing; REMOTE
CONTROL received starred
reviews from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly who said, “Readers
will be blown away.”
A gentler, but
sadly, slower adventure story is
D (A
TALE OF TWO WORLDS) by Michel Faber. I requested an advance reader copy
based on its being termed a “sheer delight” by
The Washington Post and because the premise (the letter d is
disappearing or, isappearing, to be precise) seemed unique and appealing. I did
like the fantastical elements – with cat-like characters named Droods (roos, of
course) and an evil ruler called Gamp, both somewhat reminiscent of Star Wars
stories. There is a sphinx called Nelly, who can change into a dog/og, and a young
female protagonist named Dhikilo (Dicky/Icky), too, but she often seems overly naïve
and conveniently lucky and their travels dragged a bit for me.
D (A TALE OF TWO WORLDS) received
a starred review from
Publishers Weekly and seems more likely to work as
a read-aloud (have fun with the missing “d’s”) for late elementary and/or early
middle school students, fans of Pullman’s
The Golden Compass or
The
Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.