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Who Fears Death
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Series: Who Fears Death, Book 1
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Classics
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Publisher's Summary
In a far future, post-nuclear-holocaust Africa, genocide plagues one region. The aggressors, the Nuru, have decided to follow the Great Book and exterminate the Okeke. But when the only surviving member of a slain Okeke village is brutally raped, she manages to escape, wandering farther into the desert.
She gives birth to a baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand and instinctively knows that her daughter is different. She names her daughter 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 journey to fulfill her destiny will force her to grapple with nature, tradition, history, true love, the spiritual mysteries of her culture - and eventually death itself.
Critic Reviews
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What listeners say about Who Fears Death
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- James Thompson
- 11-15-16
Amazing Book, bad narration
I love the story, very well written. The British narrator effecting a bad accent was very off putting. The accent made it impossible for me to be drawn into the story. I hope another version is made with a more appropriate narrator.
46 people found this helpful
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- Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
- 11-15-10
A journey.
This book is a journey, and it is at times an intentionally uncomfortable one. Set in a (far?) future subsaharan Africa, racially-based genocides continue between the Nuru and the Okeke. An "Ewu" girl (the result of the rape of an Okeke by a Nuru man) is given the name Onyesonwu -- "Who Fears Death". This book has magic -- in particular: shape-shifting, and traveling to The Wilderness, the space where spirits go after life -- and sand, and violence -- though this is not a book "about" magic, or sand -- and scenes which are both unsettling and gripping. The narration from Anne Flosnik here is quite primal; we feel the pain and, as often, anger of Onyesonwu and her companions and adversaries.
Okorafor's world is one where some technology remains -- portable computers with maps, water collection devices -- but this is not at all a book about technology. It is about people, and in particular the roles of women (and men) in a highly tribal culture. There are ruins -- old, paved roads -- but this is not a book about the past. It is also not a book about the future. It is a book which is quite present, and is highly recommended to readers with an interest in something beyond the beaten path, whether coming from an interest in fantasy or more mainstream fiction, and the willingness to travel on unfamiliar and rocky ground.
43 people found this helpful
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- muffins
- 10-09-15
Terrible Fake Accent
If you could sum up Who Fears Death in three words, what would they be?
Epic Female Fantasy
Who was your favorite character and why?
I really love the main character because she's so complex and has an eerie realness to her perceptions.
What didn’t you like about Anne Flosnik’s performance?
This is a book about a woman of color in Africa and it makes sense for the narrator to be female and have an African accent, but this narration is on par with blackface minstrelsy. She uses a way over the top accent that is distracting and also slows down her reading really significantly so that the book trudges along as she struggles over every contrived syllable.
Any additional comments?
Please re-record this.
50 people found this helpful
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- Marian Makins
- 02-12-15
Don't miss this one!
If you could sum up Who Fears Death in three words, what would they be?
Powerful, absorbing, refreshing
What was one of the most memorable moments of Who Fears Death?
When Onyesonwu, Luyu, and Mwita take shelter in the "haunted" cave
Have you listened to any of Anne Flosnik’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
Yes, I have listened to Anne Flosnik's narration of Robin Hobb's Rail Wilds trilogy. To be honest, I found her narration of those novels quite irritating, and thought she did a much better job with Who Fears Death. But, see my additional comments, below.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
So many—Onyesonwu's friendship with the blacksmith, who became her stepfather; Aro's decision to teach Onye; the reconciliation between Onye and her friends Luyu, Diti, and Binta (you'll know which one I mean); Mwita's declaration of ifunanya; etc. etc.!
Any additional comments?
Anne Flosnik did a good job with the "African" accent she adopted for this novel. However, I disagree with the producer's decision to ask it of her. There's no reason Onyesonwu needs to sound like (a white person's idea of) what an African sounds like when they are just learning to speak English. I could understand it better if there were non-African or native English-speaking characters in the novel, from whom Onyesonwu needed to be distinguished; but that is not the case. All the accent does is perpetuate the idea that fantasy/sci-fi novels dealing with non-Western cultures/settings are foreign and strange. Put another way: If you were to read this novel, you would "hear" Onyesonwu in your head speaking with your own voice/accent. I can't help thinking Okorafor would prefer that kind of reader-character identification to the "othering" effect created by Flosnik's artificially imposed "black African" accent.
39 people found this helpful
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- Luc
- 06-14-15
What am I listening to?
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
The premise this book has sounds amazing, and that's what really sold me. However, I haven't gotten more than 30 minutes in because the narration is absolutely awful. Anne Flosnik's breathy, "generic African" accent is such a turn off, and it's a huge distraction from the story, which sounds interesting.
Would you be willing to try another book from Nnedi Okorafor? Why or why not?
I'd love to try this title again, but if there's not a better performance, I'll have to see about getting a physical copy to read with my actual eyes.
And sure, I'd be up for some more Nnedi Okorafor work.
Would you be willing to try another one of Anne Flosnik’s performances?
No. Nope. Not a bit. None.
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Who Fears Death?
Everything read by Anne Flosnik.
Any additional comments?
Protip for audiobook producers: if you want an authentic African voice, get an authentic African person to narrate.
60 people found this helpful
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- Ryan
- 03-10-12
Intelligent fantasy in an African setting
This novel was a bit different, but mostly different in a good way. Having read dozens of fantasy books set in quasi-European worlds, I appreciated finding one set in Africa. The cultural attitudes reminded me a lot of the Sudanese in Dave Egger's wonderful book, What is the What, so I felt immediately drawn into Okorafor's world. That world, to be sure, is a pretty grim one, full of prejudice, superstition, ethnic violence, misogyny, and other problems that plague modern Africa. The "post-apocalypse" setting is a little unclear -- all we really know is that it's sometime in the future, various bits of technology are still around, and that some sort of now-mythical past event brought about a new (or maybe not?) magical order to the world.
The heroine resembles a typical fantasy heroine in generalities. She's an outcast for reasons of birth, has latent magical abilities that gradually come to the fore, and is stubborn and persistent in the face of tradition. But, more than the archetype, she has a believably human and conflicted voice. The other characters and cultures felt suitably complex, too, and different enough from my own experience that I became absorbed in the world. Be warned, some the themes are pretty mature, from scenes of violence and rape to some frank sexuality, so this isn't a novel for readers looking for lightweight escapism. Even the friendships between characters are infected by social attitudes -- the protagonist has to battle her own lover’s idea that it’s somehow not right for female sorcerers to be more powerful than male ones.
I did have my frustrations. The storytelling could have used better editing in places, and in later parts of the book, magic begins to be relied on too heavily as a plot device, at the expense of organic character development. The setting never entirely made sense to me, either. The levels of technology and magic are a bit inconsistent, and the minimal establishment of background history made the import of different events unclear. And I’d take a point off for the stilted use of “prophecy”.
Still, I’m not sure that these issues detracted too much from my overall appreciation. Onyesonwu’s story feels like a humanization of a myth -- the raw, unfiltered version prior to its formation into legend. Even a world in which magic is real might still be like our own in that heroes are flawed, “evil” is something that resides in all people and can’t just be blamed on a select villain, and powers don’t always make sense, even to those wielding them. Worth reading if you’re looking for a serious-minded fantasy novel set in an interesting world.
15 people found this helpful
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- Shane Charleson
- 09-14-16
Well written, well read...but...
There are many voice talents who are POC in general, and of African blood in particular. Why did this have to be performed by a white woman? I take nothing away from Ms Flosnik's talents and performance, however for a tale that is 100% African (Sudanese, to be correct), I think another voice would have lent true authenticity.
The story itself, much like everything else I've read from Ms Okorafor, was a pleasure.
28 people found this helpful
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- obsidian dusk
- 07-30-17
Wrong Narrator for this work.
I love the premise- I actually love everything this author writes- Oh have such an invigorating and interesting intellect!!!
However I hated the narration and will be buying the book...
I wish whoever performed The Book of Phoenix would've narrated this one... I think it was Robin Miles who is also awesome
20 people found this helpful
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- Ernessa T. Carter
- 04-18-11
My favorite book of 2010!
I’ve been trying to figure out why I loved this novel so much, and one word keeps on popping up: hero. This book has a hero — I mean a real hero. I mean a “move over Clint Eastwood” em-effin HERO. Onyesonwu is fierce and intelligent. Never backs down. I could go on and on, but you know, spoilers.
12 people found this helpful
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- Anthony Powers
- 02-20-19
Audio Blackface (culturally unacceptable!)
I couldn't take the narrator's fake African accent. I stopped listening after two minutes. Who thought that it would be ok to have a white woman narrate a book in poor African accents? No offense to miss Flosnik, I'm sure she's a fine actress in proper casting. However, if it's not ok for her to do a visual portrayal of an African, then the same holds true for an audio portrayal. I was really looking forward to listening to this book, but I can't. I got more offended every second I listened.
3 people found this helpful
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- Alex Antrobus
- 08-23-17
Accented reading horrible
What would have made Who Fears Death better?
Having it read in a natural, comfortable accent - by almost anyone! But the way it is read in a horrible, forced accent in this recording is unacceptable (please see the general comments section below).
Would you recommend Who Fears Death to your friends? Why or why not?
No. The reading is uncomfortable to listen to and borderline racist.
Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Anne Flosnik?
I have nothing against Anne per se, but I feel she should have read it in a comfortable, natural voice. If the accenting is so essential to the telling, why not choose an African and raised English speaker to read it? Or at least someone of relatively recent African origin -
Britain has a huge and highly capable African diaspora!
Any additional comments?
The reader (Anne Flosnik, a white, British women) reads the story in a horribly fake accent, where she is quite obviously trying to sound like a non-first language reader, with an "Africanised" accent. The result is a podcast that is impossible to bear listening to and, I actually feel, is quite offensive and an insult to the author and the listener.
3 people found this helpful
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- Paula
- 10-12-17
Re: audiobook and choice of narrator
Contrary to Binti, this book is read by a white woman, and that is my only criticism about the book. The accents are cringeworthy and border on racist. The race wars subtleties are missed. I listened to this book during Black History Month and closely after listening to Binti, which made the choice even sadder and more disconcerting.
(disclaimer: 1. I am white and I am trying to be cautious of my privilege and ignorance here; 2. I only researched the narrators after listening to both books, so it was a “(race) blind experiment”, albeit unintentionally)
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- Mary Moos
- 09-30-17
Unlistenable
Who let this lady do this jarring, stereotypical "African" accent? Why is this happening? It's so unnecessary.
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- kingsrollo
- 07-26-17
harrowing and beautiful
a really special piece of contemporary fantasy. the narrator's voice wraps around you like a warm blanket until you are completely immersed in okorafor's words.
content warnings: graphic depictions of violence , rape and genocide. in no way gratuitous but crucial to the story so can't just be skipped over.
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- Halimah
- 01-22-19
just ok,
just ok quite long even for an unabridged version.. took a while to get into the story.. the performer could've been better .. just ok not good not bad
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- Lynn
- 03-05-15
Unusual story - very enjoyable
What made the experience of listening to Who Fears Death the most enjoyable?
Enjoyed the unusual storyline
Any additional comments?
Not sure if there was a fault in my download as there seemed to be a strange chapter which read out of context. The book went from the main character having tea with her mum prior to going into the desert - to her being in jail, pregnant. It didn't seem to connect in any way .
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- Bianca Bücherwurm
- 09-16-14
Just Brilliant, but not for the fain hearted :)
I was simply spellbound by the book from start to the end. Upfront I would like to say that this is not a book for the faint-hearted, as it contains so much violence and therefore makes it very hard to read at times. Okorafor depicts violence without flinching, and because most of the events echo what is still happening in a lot of countries around the world, this hits hard. We are confronted with topics such as genocide, rape, and female circumcission - showing us how brutal and stupid the practice is. Although, I have to say she doesn't glorify the violence she depicts, she more less tells it in a matter-of-fact way. She does, however, glorify everything which is beautiful in this story such as love, kindness and some of the magic.
In Okorafor's post-apocalyptic Sudan we find fragments of how the world used to be, but what makes this story different is that we don't have all this descriptions of technology long gone. Which usually plays an important part in a lot of post-apocalyptic stories. What I enjoyed was that it was more about the characters and the plot. Here, we find two predominant ethnic factions: the light skinned Nuru and the dark skinned Okeke. The Nuru feel that they are superiour and commit genocide against the Okeke, which includes both murder and rape. The Nuru enjoy to rape the Okeke women in a deliberate and violent manner, in order to impregnate them to show them how powerless they are as a race. This mixed offspring are called Ewu and treated as outcast on both sides, they are despised and shunned. The word Ewu means born of pain and violence, therefore the people believe that those children will themselves become violent.
Onyesonwu who's name means "Who Fears Death" is the result of such rape. The first six years of her life she spends with her mother in the desert as nomads, then her mother takes her to a city to give her the chance of some education. Still a child she develops more and more magical powers, which sets her even further apart from others. She meets Mwita who is also Ewu, and lives with the powerful sorcerer Aru. Mwita's abilities are the healing arts. Aru refuses to take Onyesonwu as his apprentice for several years, because he fears the powers she has. Her abilities, though extraordinary, cause her more grief than anything else. Aru only agrees to apprentice her when he discovers her ability to raise the dead and what impact her powers can have on a larger community. A few years later, she and her friends go on a quest, to confront and destroy Onyesonwu's biological father, who himself is a powerful sorcerer and the mastermind behind the genocide. However, it is important for Onyesonwu to save her mother's people from the impending war, the ongoing slavery and genocide of her people.