The Black Pages
Ratings20
Average rating3.7
By fate and fire, a being four millennia old is reborn in Mali in a short story of contemporary African life and ancient secrets by the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of the Binti trilogy.
Issaka has returned home to Timbouctou and a devastating al-Qaeda raid. His only hope for survival is Faro, a stunning, blue-beaded supernatural entity who rises free from the flames of her imprisoning book as it burns. Compelled to follow Faro, Issaka is opening his eyes to their shared history and the ancestral wisdom of his own past.
Nnedi Okorafor’s The Black Pages is part of Black Stars, a multi-dimensional collection of speculative fiction from Black authors. Each story is a world much like our own. Read or listen to them in a single sitting.
Series
Featured Series
6 primary books#2 in Black Stars
Black Stars is a 6-book series with 6 released primary works first released in 2021 with contributions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nnedi Okorafor, and Nisi Shawl.
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
Extremely Difficult Emotionally, Interesting Plot, But Feels Unfinished
I'm in a daze after finishing this one. I feel distant and kind of sick.
I suppose I should have DNF when I had a chance - when I felt the emotional, empathetic turmoil and borderline triggering caused by religious fanaticism and religiously fueled hate crimes - but I was deeply curious about the spirit Faro who possessed an iPad. By time I was quite literally triggered by the brutal murder of someone's close relatives at the hands of terrorists, it was too late to quit. So I kept going, feeling myself tumble emotionally through the callousness of Faro being disgusted at a character for being upset by their family's execution all the way to the confusing ending which offered no resolution.
It's not a bad story. It's well written, enough to make me feel emotions I'd quite frankly have rather never felt. I like the concept a lot. But there just isn't any payoff for all the emotional drain. Few, if any, lore questions are answered.
I can't decide if I want to get far away from the world this tale presents or if I want closure.
The ending was meh but otherwise it was an interesting story with characters I would have liked to spend more time with.
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