The Book of Phoenix

The Book of Phoenix is a 2015 science fantasy novel by Nigerian American author Nnedi Okorafor.^[1] it is a stand alone prequel to Who Fears Death,^[2] it won the 2018 Kurd Laßwitz Preis for Best Foreign Fiction Book^[3] and was a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award.^[4]

Background[]

Nnedi Okorafor first started the novel as a short story titled "The Book of Phoenix" published in 2011 by Clarkesworld,^[5] then as a novella titled African Sunrise published in 2012 by Subterranean Press.^[6]

Plot[]

The novel opens with a Nuru man Sunuteel finding an ancient cave of computers before listening to an audio file called The Book of Phoenix.

Phoenix is an accelerated biological organism created by the LifeGen Technologies and lives in Tower 7 Manhattan with other SpeciMen. She and Mmuo escape and destroy the tower freeing Seven after Saeed Death.

She dies, regenerate a few days later and is given an alien seed by the backbone to return to Ghana. Phoenix develops wings and with the aid of Seven flies to Wulugu, Ghana where she plants the seed after fleeing from the Big Eye.

In Ghana, she is given the name Okore. A year later the Big Eye shows up and kills Kofi, her lover just before phoenix burns.

A reawaken phoenix gives herself to the Big Eyes and is taken back to America. she escapes and reunites with Mmuo and Saeed. Together they destroys Tower 1 freeing all the inmates.

Phoenix is deemed a terrorist, she access the Big Eye files in the Library of Congress heads to Tower 4. they successfully frees the inmates and finds HeLa, but they are attacked by the Big Eye. Phoenix burns and kills several Big Eye members before she dies. He regenerates and visit her Surrogate mother just before she dies. Returning she finds Mmuo dead and Saeed being taken away by the Big Eye.

In a might of anger and rage she over heat like the sun and explode causing an apocalypse to fall on Earth. Saeed survives, leaves the deadland of America and walks to the ruins of West Africa. Using phoenix feather and a machine extract her memory which is sent to an unknown database center, before placing it on his skin to extract his memory.

The novel ends with Sunuteel misinterpretating the Book of Phoenix and rewriting a wrong version of the story full of his own ideas as a justification of the enslavement of the Okeke people.

Characters[]

• Phoenix Okore: An accelerated mutant with wings, intense heat and the ability to die and regenerate. She is a special SpeciMen created by Life Gen Technologies from samples collected from West Africans to be used as a biological weapon by the Big Eye. She fights to free all the SpeciMen and in the end she causes the Earth to fall an apocalypse.

• Saeed: Phoenix's lover, he was taken from Cairo, Egypt at a young age and was alter into a SpeciMen to be used as a weapon, he knows how to escape and survive any problem. he preserves Phoenix memory after surviving the apocalypse.

• Mmuo: A Nigerian man who is altered into a SpeciMen who possess the ability to walk through walls and is able to hack any computer. He barely wear cloths and is often Naked because they alter his abilities. he is killed by the Big Eye.

• Seven: A legendary guardian from Senegal, who works as a saves people in New York from dangers, he is Phoenix mentor and was killed by a mob in New York. He states that he is a member of the leopard society and was killed in a wrestling match at the Zuma Rock Festival featured in Okorafor's Akata Witch.

• Bumi: A Nigerian Big Eye operative tasked with Taking care of Phoenix in Tower 7 and she seeks to capture her after phoenix escape from the tower.

• Koffi Annan: Phoenix's lover in Ghana. he is a doctor and the only person to see her bury the alien seed and dies protecting her from the Big Eye after they arrive in Wulugu.

• HeLa: A SpeciMen whose blood grants immortality who lives in Tower 4. She is the last Jarawa person on the planet. her blood is sold to wealthy billonaires and she longs for Death. She dies when Phoenix blow up the tower.

• Vera Takeisha Thomas: Phoenix's surrogate mother, she is an African American who is diagnosed with cancer due to her contact with phoenix and lives in a mental facility.

• Anansi Droids 419: Spider like robots which were initially created to protect the oil pipelines in Nigeria but however became violent towards humans.

• Sunuteel: A Nuru man who lived in the post apocalypse world. he finds phoenix extracted memory and used it to create the Great Book which is used to justify the oppression of the Okeke.

Reception[]

The book received generally positive reactions from reviewers and readers. ^[7][8]

A review from the Locus Magazine states that "The Book of Phoenix is actually a more playful and experimental novel than Who Fears Death, and in a weird and unsettling way, it's a lot of fun".^[9]

Awards and Recognitions[]

• 2018 Kurd Laßwitz Preis, Won^[3]
• Arthur C. Clarke Award, Finalist^[4]
• Campbell Memorial Awards, Finalist^[10]
• 2015 Locus Recommending Reading List^[11]
• Book Riot Best Book of 2015^[2]
• Barnes and Noble Bookseller Pick 2015^[2]

References[]