Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu

But is she ready for the responsibility that comes along with that? Embarking on a journey across the Sahara, Ejii befriends new allies and battles dangerous foes. When her world is completely upended after she witnesses her father’s death, Ejii faces a unique opportunity to explore her power and realize her destiny. In West Africa, fourteen year old Ejii struggles to master her own magical powers. Magic, mysticism, and mind blowing technology now rule the world.

Niger, West Africa, 2070: After a nuclear fallout in the early twenty first century, the earth’s civilization has been completely transformed. For this journey will cause her to grapple with nature, tradition, history, true love, and the spiritual mysteries of her culture, and ultimately to learn why she was given the name she bears: Who Fears Death? Eventually her magical destiny and her rebellious nature will force her to leave home on a quest that will be perilous in ways that Onyesonwu can not possibly imagine. But, even among her mother s people, she meets with frustrating prejudice because she is Ewu and female. Desperate to elude her would be murderer, and to understand her own nature, she seeks help from the magic practitioners of her village. During an inadvertent visit to this other realm she learns something terrifying: someone powerful is trying to kill her. As Onye grows, so do her abilities soon she can manipulate matter and flesh, or travel beyond into the spiritual world. But these amazing abilities are merely the first glimmers of a remarkable and unique magic. By the age of eleven, she can change into a vulture. As a child, Onye’s singing attracts owls. She is Ewu a child of rape who is expected to live a life of violence, a half breed rejected by both tribes. It doesn t take long for her to understand that she is physically and socially marked by the circumstances of her violent conception. From a young age, stubborn, willful Onyesonwu is trouble. Gripped by the certainty that her daughter is different special she names her child Onyesonwu, which means Who Fears Death? in an ancient tongue. Instead, she gives birth to an angry baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand. An Okeke woman who has survived the annihilation of her village and a terrible rape by an enemy general wanders into the desert hoping to die. After years of enslaving the Okeke people, the Nuru tribe has decided to follow the Great Book and exterminate the Okeke tribe for good. In a post apocalyptic Africa, the world has changed in many ways, yet in one region genocide between tribes still bloodies the land. International award winning author Nnedi Okorafor enters the world of magical realist literature with a powerful story of genocide in the far future and of the woman who reshapes her world.

Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu