
The Book of Phoenix
core novel 2015 Who Fears Death
Record
| First published | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Original language | |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.93 (6,136 ratings, collected 2026-09-15) |
| Page count | 232 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781444762808 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
The Book of Phoenix follows Phoenix, an artificially engineered being possessing rapid regeneration, intense heat-based abilities, and wings, who has spent her entire short life held captive within a corporate-controlled Manhattan tower alongside a population of other genetically modified beings created and studied there. When Phoenix learns the true, sinister extent of the corporation's plans for her and the other captives, held under a research and control apparatus with no intention of ever releasing them, she resolves to escape rather than remain a subject of further experimentation. Alongside two allies she finds within the facility, Phoenix attempts a daring bid for freedom that sets her against the full resources of the corporation that created her.
Where it sits
- Universe: Who Fears Death
- Series: Who Fears Death core; position 2 of 2 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Nnedi Okorafor
Notes
- From the series record (Who Fears Death): 2-book Core Canon: Who Fears Death (2010) is the original novel; The Book of Phoenix (2015) is an explicit prequel set earlier in the same mythology (the Phoenix/Sola figure who recurs in Who Fears Death's own in-world legends), published in reverse of story order: The Book of Phoenix comes first in-story, Who Fears Death comes first in publication order (2010, then 2015).
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Who Fears Death: position 2 of 2: previous Who Fears Death (2010)
- Internal chronology, within Who Fears Death: position 1 of 2: next Who Fears Death (2010)
Sources
← Who Fears Death dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.