On This Page
Description
Now optioned as a TV series for HBO, with executive producer George R. R. Martin!An award-winning literary author enters the world of magical realism with her World Fantasy Award-winning novel of a remarkable woman in post-apocalyptic Africa.
In a post-apocalyptic Africa, the world has changed in many ways; yet in one region genocide between tribes still bloodies the land. A woman who has survived the annihilation of her village and a terrible rape by an enemy general wanders into the show more desert, hoping to die. Instead, she gives birth to an angry baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand. Gripped by the certainty that her daughter is different—special—she names her Onyesonwu, which means "Who fears death?" in an ancient language.
It doesn't take long for Onye to understand that she is physically and socially marked by the circumstances of her conception. She is Ewu—a child of rape who is expected to live a life of violence, a half-breed rejected by her community. But Onye is not the average Ewu. Even as a child, she manifests the beginnings of a remarkable and unique magic. As she grows, so do her abilities, and during an inadvertent visit to the spirit realm, she learns something terrifying: someone powerful is trying to kill her.
Desperate to elude her would-be murderer and to understand her own nature, she embarks on a journey in which she grapples with nature, tradition, history, true love, and the spiritual mysteries of her culture, and ultimately learns why she was given the name she bears: Who Fears Death. show less
Tags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
electronicmemory Who Fears Death is post-apocalyptic futuristic fantasy and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms draws from classical sword and sorcery, but both are excellent novels about heroines who have found themselves beset and gifted (or possibly cursed) by powers beyond reckoning, while caught up in a political and supernatural power struggle that spans generations and eventually time itself.
31
andomck Both stories of how young wizards with a knack for transforming into birds learned their powers
20
andomck Told from the pov of a daughter growing up in a science fantasy world
11
Member Reviews
Rating: 4* of five
The Book Description: An award-winning literary author presents her first foray into supernatural fantasy with a novel of post- apocalyptic Africa.
In a far future, post-nuclear-holocaust Africa, genocide plagues one region. The aggressors, the Nuru, have decided to follow the Great Book and exterminate the Okeke. But when the only surviving member of a slain Okeke village is brutally raped, she manages to escape, wandering farther into the desert. She gives birth to a baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand and instinctively knows that her daughter is different. She names her daughter Onyesonwu, which means "Who Fears Death?" in an ancient African tongue.
Reared under the tutelage of a mysterious and show more traditional shaman, Onyesonwu discovers her magical destiny-to end the genocide of her people. The journey to fulfill her destiny will force her to grapple with nature, tradition, history, true love, the spiritual mysteries of her culture-and eventually death itself.
My Review: Who fears Death? I suppose most living things fear death. Onyesonwu, our title character, is the product of a genesis no one should have to carry with them: She is a child of rape, a product of brutality that should have made her mother hate her. Instead, her mother names her “who fears death” and never from that moment on, despite the both of them being outcast and made into The Other, never fears anything again.
I had a very hard time with this book, wanting to Pearl Rule it on average three times per reading session. I did in fact abandon it when a major major major anti-man hot button issue occurred near the end. But this is what earns the book four stars from me: I could not not read the rest. I had to know why what happened, happened.
Am I happy I read it? Not really. It was harrowing for me. I don't like man-bad-woman-good books. There are two unforgivable things in my moral universe: Abusing animals and rape. I'm no fan of supernatural/magjicqkal stuff (Onye's a shapeshifter). What on the surface of the earth persuaded me to read this thing?! I mean, it's even praised by Luis Alberto Urrea forevermore! I shoulda stood home, as the saying goes.
But Dr. Okorafor is a sorceress. She cast a spell on me. She reached out from inside this book and she made sure my brain needed to know this, and needed it so much I'd overcome my prejudices and make it part of my mental furniture.
I will step on her foot if I ever meet the Doctor in person.
She set the book in a post-nuclear-holocaust Africa! I love postapocalyptic fiction! How am I gonna resist that? And she made explicit a disdain for the rotten, evil-souled uses of religion in oppressing and abusing people of all types. I think I purred. I know I smiled.
It's also a joy and a pleasure to me to see women, and women of color, and women of immigrant parentage, enter the lists of American English-language speculative fiction. It makes me feel that this world has a shot at survival after all. Writers are not ignored because of their bodily plumbing or skin color or weird names. (Sorry, but I'm still an old white man, and this lady's name is really seriously weird to me.) This is the world I grew up wanting to live in, and now I get to...for a while anyway...and that, more than any other factor, made me stick with the book long past my usual stop.
Should you read it? Should you turn page after page of non-European-named characters, landscapes bursting with heat and searing miseries of spirit, heroes whose lives are blighted by origins beyond their control?
Yep. show less
The Book Description: An award-winning literary author presents her first foray into supernatural fantasy with a novel of post- apocalyptic Africa.
In a far future, post-nuclear-holocaust Africa, genocide plagues one region. The aggressors, the Nuru, have decided to follow the Great Book and exterminate the Okeke. But when the only surviving member of a slain Okeke village is brutally raped, she manages to escape, wandering farther into the desert. She gives birth to a baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand and instinctively knows that her daughter is different. She names her daughter Onyesonwu, which means "Who Fears Death?" in an ancient African tongue.
Reared under the tutelage of a mysterious and show more traditional shaman, Onyesonwu discovers her magical destiny-to end the genocide of her people. The journey to fulfill her destiny will force her to grapple with nature, tradition, history, true love, the spiritual mysteries of her culture-and eventually death itself.
My Review: Who fears Death? I suppose most living things fear death. Onyesonwu, our title character, is the product of a genesis no one should have to carry with them: She is a child of rape, a product of brutality that should have made her mother hate her. Instead, her mother names her “who fears death” and never from that moment on, despite the both of them being outcast and made into The Other, never fears anything again.
I had a very hard time with this book, wanting to Pearl Rule it on average three times per reading session. I did in fact abandon it when a major major major anti-man hot button issue occurred near the end. But this is what earns the book four stars from me: I could not not read the rest. I had to know why what happened, happened.
Am I happy I read it? Not really. It was harrowing for me. I don't like man-bad-woman-good books. There are two unforgivable things in my moral universe: Abusing animals and rape. I'm no fan of supernatural/magjicqkal stuff (Onye's a shapeshifter). What on the surface of the earth persuaded me to read this thing?! I mean, it's even praised by Luis Alberto Urrea forevermore! I shoulda stood home, as the saying goes.
But Dr. Okorafor is a sorceress. She cast a spell on me. She reached out from inside this book and she made sure my brain needed to know this, and needed it so much I'd overcome my prejudices and make it part of my mental furniture.
I will step on her foot if I ever meet the Doctor in person.
She set the book in a post-nuclear-holocaust Africa! I love postapocalyptic fiction! How am I gonna resist that? And she made explicit a disdain for the rotten, evil-souled uses of religion in oppressing and abusing people of all types. I think I purred. I know I smiled.
It's also a joy and a pleasure to me to see women, and women of color, and women of immigrant parentage, enter the lists of American English-language speculative fiction. It makes me feel that this world has a shot at survival after all. Writers are not ignored because of their bodily plumbing or skin color or weird names. (Sorry, but I'm still an old white man, and this lady's name is really seriously weird to me.) This is the world I grew up wanting to live in, and now I get to...for a while anyway...and that, more than any other factor, made me stick with the book long past my usual stop.
Should you read it? Should you turn page after page of non-European-named characters, landscapes bursting with heat and searing miseries of spirit, heroes whose lives are blighted by origins beyond their control?
Yep. show less
In a far-future Africa, in a region plagued by waves of genocide, a baby girl is born of rape, and her mother names her Onyesonwu, a name which means "Who fears death?" Her mother is Okeke, her mother's rapist Nunu. Onyesonwu herself is Awo, what the Okeke and Nunu alike call the products of such rape. She has sand-colored hair and skin, not to be mistaken for either the dark brown Okeke, or the golden-skinned Nunu who persecute them.
But Onyesonwu is different, with gifts her mother demanded of the gods, but which at first neither the girl herself nor those around her suspect. She makes friends, and rivals, and becomes the apprentice of an old, traditional shaman, who at first strongly resists teaching a girl.
As her powers manifest, show more Onyesonwu is pursued by resentment, fear, and a bizarre prophecy. Onyesonwu and her friends set out on a journey to confront the prophecy, and death, and the sorcerer who haunts her dreams.
There's wonderful, rich, layered world-building, here. There's also wonderful characterization, and complex, believable relationships, that develop and change and produce surprises along the way. I read science fiction and fantasy to experience new and different people, ideas, and things, and this offers that in abundance. Meanwhile, the plot carries us along to an unexpected and satisfying ending.
Highly recommended.
I bought this audiobook. show less
But Onyesonwu is different, with gifts her mother demanded of the gods, but which at first neither the girl herself nor those around her suspect. She makes friends, and rivals, and becomes the apprentice of an old, traditional shaman, who at first strongly resists teaching a girl.
As her powers manifest, show more Onyesonwu is pursued by resentment, fear, and a bizarre prophecy. Onyesonwu and her friends set out on a journey to confront the prophecy, and death, and the sorcerer who haunts her dreams.
There's wonderful, rich, layered world-building, here. There's also wonderful characterization, and complex, believable relationships, that develop and change and produce surprises along the way. I read science fiction and fantasy to experience new and different people, ideas, and things, and this offers that in abundance. Meanwhile, the plot carries us along to an unexpected and satisfying ending.
Highly recommended.
I bought this audiobook. show less
Onyesonwu is the child of rape, an Ewu, the daughter of an Okeke woman and a Nuru man. The Okeke have always been subjected to the Nuru, and the history of violence between these people has taken its toll. As a young woman, Onye recounts her childhood and growth into the one who's going to change everything.
The first words drew me in immediately and though a couple of times my interest flagged it was more to do with my inability to sit down and read for long stretches than any real flaw in the storytelling. Onye and her friends are fantastic characters. Though the story is violent and difficult, it's powerful and compelling, defying easy categorization into a particular genre just as Onye herself doesn't fit in a simple box. I can't show more believe I've never read any of this author's work before; it certainly won't be the last. show less
The first words drew me in immediately and though a couple of times my interest flagged it was more to do with my inability to sit down and read for long stretches than any real flaw in the storytelling. Onye and her friends are fantastic characters. Though the story is violent and difficult, it's powerful and compelling, defying easy categorization into a particular genre just as Onye herself doesn't fit in a simple box. I can't show more believe I've never read any of this author's work before; it certainly won't be the last. show less
An original novel set in a post-apocalyptic Africa with plenty of magic and genocide. Onyesonwu is a child of rape and a consequence of the ongoing genocide the Nurus have enacted on the Okeke people. She is considered an outcast in the Okeke community she lives in, but she is also powerful - with the ability to change forms and work powerful magic. As she grows older, she learns more about her past and her power, leading to a journey to find and eliminate her biological father. Overall, I enjoyed this book, even if it made for a challenging read at times. I struggled at times with Onyesonwu as a character (especially with how she treated some of her friends), although I still rooted for her. A compelling and original story.
Okorafor is such a compelling storyteller, somehow telling these beautiful complicated human stories in a way that is hopeful despite the darkness they describe. This one is rough; well, I think because when I picked it up I needed something lovely and hopeful (as I think of her) and the first 50 pages or so are full of trauma. I'm very glad to read this though, I'd read the Book of Phoenix first and wondered what I had stumbled into. There are shades of Akata Witch, in both a more mature form and a fledgling idea. What is this author, whose ideas and books both defy timelines? Oh, I love her.
It wasn't an easy book to read. I'm not sure to what extent I found it an enjoyable book to read. But it was really, REALLY good. It's one of the few books I've read that achieved a perfect balance between a surreal, mythic narrative and complex, fully human characters.
It was beautiful and painful, and I don't fully understand what happened but at the same time I don't really care. There was a profoundly emotional payoff that didn't rely on me understanding every single aspect about the plot — plus, I'm 98% sure I would understand the plot better if I took more time to think about it while I read. A light summer beach read this book is not.
It was beautiful and painful, and I don't fully understand what happened but at the same time I don't really care. There was a profoundly emotional payoff that didn't rely on me understanding every single aspect about the plot — plus, I'm 98% sure I would understand the plot better if I took more time to think about it while I read. A light summer beach read this book is not.
If you think Katniss Everdene is kickass wait until you meet Onyesonwu.
Part dystopian fantasy, part traditional folk tale, Nnedi Okorafor's tale of inter-tribal violence, rape and female castration is unshirking in its telling.
The book is a quest to put right ancient wrongs, to make reparation, to rewrite a twisted culture's holy book. Onyesonwu is both sorceress and teenager, a woman of incredible power who has to learn how to control that power. The book is about love, about being seen and accepted by those who love you and how that can empower a person to become who they are meant to be. Rooted as it is in African traditions, the magic and fantasy is far more interesting than the swords and sorcery of Western literature. Onyesonwu is show more a deliciously feisty character as well. You should read it. show less
Part dystopian fantasy, part traditional folk tale, Nnedi Okorafor's tale of inter-tribal violence, rape and female castration is unshirking in its telling.
The book is a quest to put right ancient wrongs, to make reparation, to rewrite a twisted culture's holy book. Onyesonwu is both sorceress and teenager, a woman of incredible power who has to learn how to control that power. The book is about love, about being seen and accepted by those who love you and how that can empower a person to become who they are meant to be. Rooted as it is in African traditions, the magic and fantasy is far more interesting than the swords and sorcery of Western literature. Onyesonwu is show more a deliciously feisty character as well. You should read it. show less
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Best Fantasy Novels
821 works; 361 members
Science fiction novels with a female protagonist
105 works; 30 members
Favorite Science Fiction by Women Authors
737 works; 202 members
Magic Realism
371 works; 52 members
Best Post-Apocalyptic Stories
143 works; 88 members
Diversity in Fantasy and Science Fiction
219 works; 33 members
Best Feminist Science Fiction
188 works; 35 members
Female Protagonist
1,056 works; 57 members
Dystopian and Apocalyptic Literature
350 works; 74 members
Best Feminist Literature
188 works; 26 members
Bookriot's 100 Must-Read Sci-Fi Fantasy Novels By Female Authors
100 works; 9 members
Recommended Speculative Fiction by Women and People of Color
298 works; 45 members
Female Author
1,234 works; 67 members
The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time
100 works; 15 members
Tagged Parallel Worlds
43 works; 11 members
Science Fiction by female authors
43 works; 4 members
Top Five Books of 2017
757 works; 231 members
Black Authors
384 works; 32 members
Speculative Fiction to Read
706 works; 32 members
SFFKit 2016
13 works; 1 member
Top Five Books of 2016
795 works; 229 members
LIBROS DE CIENCIA FICCIÓN Y FANTASIA
60 works; 1 member
Diverse Horror
262 works; 6 members
Reading Glasses Podcast
410 works; 3 members
Summer Reading
30 works; 1 member
Global Reads: Books Set in Africa
19 works; 3 members
CIENCIA FICCIÓN Y FANTASÍA ESCRITA POR MUJERES
19 works; 1 member
Books Read in 2016
4,666 works; 199 members
Books Read in 2013
1,630 works; 51 members
Books Tagged Magic
7 works; 2 members
Black Women Writing Speculative Fiction
6 works; 1 member
Best African and African diaspora books
111 works; 4 members
Angry Women Reading List
17 works; 2 members
Africa
109 works; 8 members
Books With Complete Sentence Titles
502 works; 17 members
Books Read in 2025
4,128 works; 98 members
Author Information
108+ Works 21,955 Members
Nnedi Okorafor was born on April 8, 1974 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is a graduate of Clarion Writers Workshop in Lansing, Michigan and earned her PhD in English from the University of Illinois. Currently she is an associate professor of creative writing and literature at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). Her awards include a 2001 Hurston-Wright show more literary award for her story Amphibious Green, The Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa for Zahrah the Windseeker, the Carl Brandon Parallax Award for The Shadow Speaker, the 2007-08 winner of the Macmillan Writer's Prize for Africa for Long Juju Man, the 2011 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for Who Fears Death, and her science fiction novella Binti won the 2016 Nebula Award (Best Novella) and the 2016 Hugo Awards for Best Novella. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Nnedi Okorafor is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
Notable Lists
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
DAW Book Collectors (1512)
Work Relationships
Has the (non-series) prequel
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Qui a peur de la mort ?
- Original title
- Who fear deaths
- Original publication date
- 2010-06-01
- People/Characters
- Onyesonwu Ubaid-Ogundiwu; Mwita; Luyu Chiki; Binta Keita; Diti Goitsemedime; Fanasi (show all 35); Fadil Ogundimu; Aro the Worker; Abeo Ogundimu; Daib Yagoub; Sola; Chief Ussun; Chieftess Sessa; Ssaiku; Ting; Eeyes; Ji; Najeeba; Amaka; Idris; Yere; Lady Abadie; Ochi Naka; Zuni Whan; Nana the Wise; Fanta; Nuumu; Dika the Seer; Oyo the Ponderer; Ababuo; Anai; Bunk; Tamer; Rana the Seer; Shukwu
- Important places
- Jwahir; Banza; Papa Shee; Ssolu; Gadi; Durfa (show all 8); Ginen; Sudan
- Related movies
- Who Fears Death (2018 | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- "Dear friends, are you afraid of death?" - Patrice Lumumba, first and only elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo
- Dedication
- To my amazing father, Dr. Godwin Sunday Daniel Okoroafor, M.D., F.A.C.S. (1940-2004).
- First words
- My life fell apart when I was sixteen. Papa died. He had such a strong heart, yet he died. Was it the heat and smoke from his blacksmithing shop? It's true that nothing could take him from his work, his art. He loved to make ... (show all)the metal bend, to obey him. But his work only seemed to strengthen him; he was so happy in his shop. So what was it that killed him? To this day I can't be sure. I hope it had nothing to do with me or what I did back then.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)But the wave of change was yet to sweep by directly below. There, thousands of Nuru still waited for Onyesonwu, all of them screaming, yelling, shouting, laughing, glaring . . . waiting to wet their tongues with Onyesonwu's blood. Let them wait. They will be waiting for a long long time.
- Publisher's editor
- Wollheim, Betsy
- Blurbers
- Straub, Peter; Foster, Alan Dean; El Saadawi, Nawal; Chikere, Tchidi; Rothfuss, Patrick; Urrea, Luis Alberto (show all 7); Durham, David Anthony
- Original language
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 2,607
- Popularity
- 7,257
- Reviews
- 117
- Rating
- (3.79)
- Languages
- 11 — Catalan, Czech, Danish, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 41
- ASINs
- 13
