There aren’t many words that I can use to describe how good The Night Masquerade, the third and final volume in the Binti series, is, and if there were any words I could use, they would probably spoil it. So here’s what I can say.
I can say that the conclusion to the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning series more than does the first two volumes justice. It in fact blows all of the science fiction novels I have read out of the water entirely, evoking Bradbury, Le Guin, and Butler while at once being, of course, completely new.
I can say that you might expect certain things from this conclusion, and I would warn you not to expect anything from a series that defies all expectations.
I can say that Nnedi Okorafor’s world-building continues to blow me out of the water, and that it’s given me a new love for grasshoppers, and that it makes me want to lay out beneath a night sky, and visit a desert, and that I am still held in wonder of the things she has created.
I can say that I read it late into last night as my anxiety and insomnia kept me awake, and that this book twisted me into unending circles in the best way. I can say that I read it on the way to work today like someone entranced, and that it twice shocked me into tears, and that it once made me stop in my tracks and say, “How dare you,” loudly enough that a fellow commuter walking in the other direction stopped to give me a very strange look.
I can say that as you begin this book, Nnedi Okorafor holds all the rules of science fiction in her hands, and that as you read, she drops them at your feet to smash, and she laughs, and you laugh too.
The Night Masquerade comes out in January 2018. I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. You should preorder now. You won’t want to miss the conclusion of the to-be-science-fiction-classic that is Binti.
Stressed, Depressed, and Story Obsessed 