8 Great Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels by Nnedi Okorafor

In the northern Ooni Kingdom, children born dada are rumored to have special powers. Thirteen-year-old Zahrah Tsami feels like a normal girl, but the rest of her village sees her differently. The dadalocks she was born with mark her as one of them, and everyone keeps their distance from Zahrah, except for her best friend, Dari. As her abilities grow, the two friends investigate what's unfolding and what will happen to her. When Dari's life is threatened. Zahrah must face her worst fears alone, including the very thing that makes her different.

Binti is ambitious. She is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer means giving up everything she's known, including her place in her family. She boards the ship and prepares for a bright new future, one where her customs and identity are alien to all of her classmates. 

Unfortunately, the ship is invaded by the Meduse, a jellyfish-like alien race who murder everyone on-board … except for Binti. She forms a reluctant truce with one of the Meduse, Okwu, and tries to find a solution to this impossible situation. Doing so will require a profound and unheard-of change to Binti's very being. 

In old sci-fi movies, when aliens seek to make first contact with Earth, they always land in America. In Lagoon, their first destination is Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. When a massive object crashes into the ocean off the coast of Lagos three locals wandering along the beach find themselves bound together by this historic event. 

Adaora, a marine biologist; Agu, a Nigerian soldier; and Anthony, a Ghanaian hip-hop artist begin to develop strange powers after first contact. Around them, Lagos falls into chaos, with a barrage of violence breaking out across the city as the aliens loom overhead. It falls upon this trio of unwitting heroes to find a way to bring together human and alien for a future that could make or break humanity.

In a far future, post-nuclear-holocaust Africa, genocide has dominated one region. The aggressors, the Nuru, systematically target and brutalize the Okeke people, slaughtering entire families and raping women. One survivor wanders into the desert and gives birth to a baby girl. Her hair and skin are the color of sand, marking her to the rest of the world as the product of rape between Nuru and Okeke. Her name is Onyesonwu, which means "Who Fears Death?" in an ancient African tongue. 

Reared under the tutelage of a mysterious and traditional shaman, Onyesonwu discovers her magical destiny—to end the genocide of her people. The course of peace is one of blood, vengeance, and magic that she must tackle lest it overwhelm her and all who she loves.

Born in New York, but living in Aba, Nigeria, 12-year old Sunny is trying to find her place in the world. She is albino and thus incredibly sensitive to the sun, which isn't ideal for the long hot African days or for avoiding the ire of her new classmates. When she befriends Orlu and Chichi, Sunny is plunged in to the world of the Leopard People, where your worst defect becomes your greatest asset. 

Together, these young outcasts form the youngest ever Oha Coven. Their mission is to track down Black Hat Otokoto, the man responsible for kidnapping and maiming children. His powers are vast, far stronger than those of Sunny and her friends. Will they be able to overcome their destinies and stop him?

Phoenix was grown and raised among other genetic experiments in New York’s Tower 7. She is an “accelerated woman”—only two years old but with the body and mind of an adult. On top of that, she is no mere mortal. Her powers are vast and coveted by many shady figures who seek to keep her trapped in the tower. Still innocent and inexperienced in the ways of the world, she is content living in her room, speed-reading books and getting close with Saeed, a fellow altered human. 

Then, one evening, Saeed witnesses something so terrible that he takes his own life. Devastated by his death and Tower 7’s refusal to answer her questions, Phoenix finally begins to question her seemingly idyllic existence. Her home is actually a prison, and now she wants to break free. Her escape will change the future for all of humanity.

Fatima is a young Ghanaian girl who has taken on the mantle of the Adopted Daughter of Death. Renamed Sankofa, she wanders the land like her new father, leaving destruction in her path. Her touch is death itself, and all it takes for her to lay waste to an entire town is a glance. This is a mighty responsibility, one she must carry alone, except for her fox companion who follows behind at a careful distance. Her journey is long, one which she takes in hope of finding why she was given this job. All the while, Death himself watches over Sankofa, guarding her against everything that this world of the near future has to throw at her.

Anwuli Okwudili prefers to be called AO, simple initials she declares actually stand for Artificial Organism. It's fitting for her, because she's never felt like a normal human. From conception, everyone has known there's something off about her, including her parents. Then came the car accident years later that disabled her even further. 

Yet, instead of viewing her strange body the way the world views it, AO embraces it. With her many augmentations and machine add-ons, she is more than what everyone says she is. But after a tragic accident, she finds herself on the run across the deserts of Northern Nigeria. In a world where all things are streamed, everyone is watching the reckoning of the murderess and a Fulani herdsman named DNA who has been declared a terrorist. AO must rise above her destiny to find the truth and her own freedom.