Sunny's been having strange nightmares, possibly tied to new environmental disasters. The magic appears influenced by Igbo religious practices in Sunny’s diverse Nigeria, populated by Muslims and Christians, where Sunny and her African-American and Nigerian friends learn magic and eat in Uzoma’s Chinese Restaurant. A superstitious bigot accuses Sunny (who does draw supernatural power from her albinism) of being a witch as albino Nigerians suffer genuine harm from such accusations, the truth in this attack strikes a discordant note. Sunny is albino, though her magic has eliminated most disabling effects aside from a need to wear glasses. Now she alternates among regular school Leopard training with her teacher, Sugar Cream training with her magical alter ego spirit face and hiding her secret life from her parents and brothers. It is also excellent introspection.A soccer-loving, American-born Nigerian 13-year-old matures into her mystical powers.Ī few years after her Igbo parents brought their children to live in Nigeria ( Akata Witch, 2011), Sunny Nwazue had learned she belonged to the mystical Leopard People. Remote Control is excellent story-telling. I often found myself wondering what if someone was able to overcome their fear, to have real interaction and impact on Sankofa? How would that have changed her and/or her journey? And there’s strength too, in a young girl who has nothing but her own conviction in her path. There’s a sad isolationism in Remote Control, and it’s not just from others’ fears of what she can do, but also Sankofa’s own fears of never finding the seed, never being able to belong. We meet her when she’s fourteen, an unwanted Christmas guest, knowing she’s not wanted yet doing what she must to continue her journey. Known as the Adopted Daughter of Death, Sankofa accepts offerings as her due, though she’s (mostly) polite about it. Only seven when she first accidentally obliterates her entire village, Fatima renames herself Sankofa and wanders from village to village seeking out the seed that started it all. Set in a future-Ghana where autonomous robots coexist with mud huts, Nnedi Okorafor’s Remote Control is a lyrical tale of a young girl who acquires the power to kill.

And she walks-alone, except for her fox companion-searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged searching for answers.īut is there a greater purpose for Sankofa, now that Death is her constant companion?Purchase at IndieBound | Amazon | The Book Depository

Her touch is death, and with a glance a town can fall. From hereon in she would be known as Sankofa-a name that meant nothing to anyone but her, the only tie to her family and her past. The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit.

'She’s the adopted daughter of the Angel of Death. The new book by Nebula and Hugo Award-winner, Nnedi Okorafor. Published by Tordotcom on 19 January, 2021

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor