A fiery spirit dances from the pages of the Great Book.
She brings the aroma of scorched sand and ozone. She has a
story to tell….
The Book of Phoenix is a
unique work of magical futurism. A prequel to the highly
acclaimed, World Fantasy Award-winning novel, Who Fears
Death, it features the rise of another of Nnedi
Okorafor’s powerful, memorable, superhuman
women.
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, Phoenix’s abilities far exceed those of a
normal human. Still innocent and inexperienced in the ways
of the world, she is content living in her room speed
reading e-books, running on her treadmill, and basking in
the love of Saeed, another biologically altered human of
Tower 7.
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 realize that her home is really her
prison, and she becomes desperate to escape.
But
Phoenix’s escape, and her destruction of Tower 7, is just
the beginning of her story. Before her story ends, Phoenix
will travel from the United States to Africa and back,
changing the entire course of humanity’s future.