SciFi Novella Review Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

Remote Control is the latest novella by Nnedi Okorafor, renowned writer for her afrofuturist novels and novellas.  Okorafor's works are always inspired and based on African myth, folklore, or the modern African experience but feature a wide range of tones - hitting sometimes heartwarming YA with her Akata Witch series, strong character beats about knowing oneself and relationships with others in her Binti series, outright comedy in her stand-alone Lagoon, to devastating tragedy and wrathful anger in Who Fears Death and The Book of Phoenix.  I haven't always loved Okorafor's work, but it's always fascinating to read in some respects, which makes her one of the more interesting authors out there.  

Remote Control continues that trend for me - it's a fascinating novella, a dark tale of a girl who thanks to an alien artifact becomes a bringer of death, and finds herself wandering alone as a result.  Like her Binti Novellas, Remote Control will not be for you if you're looking for a classical plot structure - there is no clear bad guy for the protagonist to fight against or clear overall story arc.  But unlike Binti, Remote Control is not optimistic in its story of a girl figuring out her new dark place in the world, even as it doesn't quite reach the triumphant wrathful nature of The Book of Phoenix.  

I'll try to explain better after the jump: 

Quick Plot Summary:  Sankofa wanders Ghana, with only a strange red furred fox as a companion, following her always.  A young girl, Sankofa is known as the Adopted Daughter of Death - able to glow green at will, a glow that kills all those around her and a touch that destroys all technology, and she has killed countless through the country.  But once, Sankofa was a more innocent younger girl, a girl named Fatima, who wrote words in the sky and had a loving family, until one day she found an object from the stars.  And her journey will take her to people deathly afraid of her, people who want to help her, people who want to use her, and to a world where happiness seems to be fleeting, relying upon things and people that never last...

Thoughts:  Young girls - or young women - waking up with or discovering strange potentially destructive powers is not a new plot element for Okorafor's works (Binti, The Book of Phoenix).  Nor is a book focusing more upon its main character than any particular classical plot arc (Binti), with this book essentially containing no plot other than following Sankofa as she wanders Ghana.  

But where Remote Control differs from Okorafor's older works is in its tone: this is a story of a girl who will, for daring to reach for the sky, always be feared or held apart, with the moments where she finds acceptance always being fleeting due to circumstances never fully in her control.  This is a grim and somber look at the world, positing no room for happiness or triumph, and only sad loneliness and resolution - we don't even get the triumphant wrath of The Book of Phoenix to cap things off.  And it's fascinating for it, as it shows a girl facing down both the prejudices and fears of other humans, as well as the dangers of technology and the faceless corporations in the background who would peddle it (we never see the overt intentions of the named corporation in this future Africa, but can still slightly feel its influence).  I'm not sure I really love the result of it all, but it's just long enough that the sadness never gets too overpowering while also conveying an awful lot about a potential future.  Worth a read.