Book #78 of 2020:
War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi (War Girls #1)
This #ownvoices sci-fi novel is an amazingly brutal piece of Afrofuturism, sort of like Black Panther by way of Mad Max: Fury Road. Inspired by the Nigerian Civil War (as experienced by author Tochi Onyebuchi’s mother), it tracks two teenage sisters who end up on opposite sides of a bloody conflict in the 22nd century and get drawn into increasingly desperate acts of violence and retribution. The story is bleak as heck, both for the specific plot events and for the motivating thesis of humanity’s inability to ever break free from repeating such cycles. Our technology may improve, Onyebuchi seems to argue, but the body counts just keep rising.
There are some pacing issues in how the narrative jumps around, and I feel like the voices of the two protagonists could have been better distinguished, yet this is still a powerful and necessarily uncomfortable read.
[Content warning for racism, ableism, graphic violence, child soldier impressment, suicide bombings, and other war crimes.]
★★★★☆
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