Lit List Short Reviews: The Black Pages by Nnedi Okorafor; The Havoc Tree by Layden Robinson

 Lit List Short Reviews: The Black Pages by Nnedi Okorafor; The Havoc Tree by Layden Robinson

The Black Pages by Nnedi Okorafor

Nendi Okorafor's novella, The Black Pages is an enchanting book that combines African fantasy and mythology with current events.

Faro is a djin whose spirit has been trapped inside a book for over a thousand years. During an Al-Qaeda jihad attack in which several books are burned, Faro is set free. She wanders around Timbouctou, her book in hand to see the carnage and destruction. Meanwhile, Issaka, a student from Chicago ends up in Timbouctou right in the middle of this conflict. Naturally, Faro and Issaka are destined to meet.

Between the two characters, Issaka and Faro represent Timbouctou's past and present. Issaka stands right in the middle of violence, revolution, and a changing government. He,his father, and uncles hide several books and manuscripts from the library (and quite a collection indeed, considering the long history of the University of Timbouctou). Issaka understands the importance of protecting that knowledge and the fear that it brings. At one point he wonders,"How could Issaka sleep when he was lying on a bed in a room surrounded by items that could get them all killed?" 

Issaka doesn't feel like a hero. In fact, he would rather be in the United States, attending his studies and hanging out with his girlfriend. 

Of course being a typical modern kid, Issaka's smart phone is always on (even if it has reception trouble during sandstorms) and through that phone, Issaka receives an unusual connection. 

Okorafor cleverly updates the djin to modern day. When Faro's book is destroyed, she finds a way to travel through the Internet. Faro's journey is described as "lights, heat, acrid, and sweet smells the taste of salt and metal, and billions and billions of that which she had the closest relationship to words. In many languages. She could hear the world...what the world had become since her Imprisonment."

Instead of Issaka and Faro representing the new and old worlds respectively, the two characters mix both worlds. Issaka is a modern young man protecting the knowledge of the past. Faro is an ancient spirit using modern technology to make her presence known. The past and present are combined within these two characters.

The violence from Al-Qaeda mounts and affects Issaka personally and emotionally which results in him and Faro meeting. In their encounter some provocative questions are raised, suggesting that there is more to this story than the 31 pages have to give us.

Still, The Black Pages is a thrilling start in uniting a modern man and a mythological creature to explore Timbouctou's past and present and maybe save its future.

The Havoc Tree by Layden Robinson

Layden Robinson's short horror anthology The Havoc Tree is for those who like their horror filled with scares, gore, blood, and splatter and don't want to wait around for things like rising action and character development. If you are into quick horror, then this is the anthology for you. But if you like to build your fear slowly and want to get to know the protagonists before they meet horrible gruesome ends, then looks elsewhere.

Many of the stories feature narration that sounds, perhaps purposely so, like the rantings of someone having a nervous breakdown or in the middle of a psychopathic rage. In the first stories, "A Final Moment" and "I'm Coming (Continued)", the Narrator is trying to convince us that he fought against a mysterious IT while trying to hold onto what remains of his sanity. The trick is trying to figure out if he's telling the truth or hallucinating this terrible confrontation to cover up a worse crime.

The stories are pretty frank in their description of sexual situations and strong language. Sometimes the repetition of cuss words can get overdone like a kid learning to swear for the first time and using the words more for shock value than any other means. Readers who get offended by that sort of thing may want to avoid reading this anthology. But if you can get past the constant swearing and sex talk, the Reader is in for a good time.

In "The Suit" Sarah Lawson,  a young woman puts on a suit that gives her a certain arousal but becomes stuck to her as though holding her captive. The suit could be a metaphor for sexual assault as well as how the fashion industry controls people. Sarah cannot get the suit off and becomes a literal slave to fashion.

Robinson's stories explore the darkest depths of humanity and how many are controlled by their obsessions, lusts, hatred, and destructive tendencies. The story, "Mr. Sacorp" explores that as two characters, Mr. Sacorp and Memphis Buckminster, take their dislike for each other to more frightening levels. The tension is palpable as their rivalry becomes murderous and their violent tendencies are explored especially towards an innocent person.

The Havoc Tree is the right book that gets you right away to a good scare. It's not one that creates a lot of thought and analysis later, but it may give the Reader chills for some time to come.