Who Fears Death
core novel 2010 Who Fears Death
Record
| First published | 2010 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.93 (29,017 ratings, collected 2026-09-15) |
| Page count | 386 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780756406172 |
| Internal chronology | 2 |
Synopsis
Set in a post-apocalyptic African landscape, Who Fears Death follows Onyesonwu, a young Ewu woman, born of a violent act and marked by the mixed ancestry that classification implies, whose name translates to who fears death. As Onyesonwu comes into a powerful and largely self-taught sorcery, she learns she is prophesied to rewrite a sacred religious text whose teachings have long been used to justify violence and oppression against people like her. Gathering companions willing to join her cause, Onyesonwu sets out across a harsh desert landscape on a journey whose stakes reach far beyond her own survival, confronting both the physical dangers of the wilderness and the deeply entrenched beliefs she intends to challenge.
Where it sits
- Universe: Who Fears Death
- Series: Who Fears Death core; position 1 of 2 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Nnedi Okorafor
Awards (verified)
- World Fantasy Award (Novel), 2011: won
- Carl Brandon Kindred Award, 2012: won
- Locus Award (Fantasy Novel), 2011: finalist; 5th-place Locus poll placement, registered per this canon's standing no-cutoff Locus-poll convention.
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2010: nominated
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 1 of 2: next The Book of Phoenix (2015)
- Internal chronology, within Who Fears Death: position 2 of 2: previous The Book of Phoenix (2015)
Sources
- Wikipedia: Who Fears Death
- World Fantasy Convention: 2011 World Fantasy Convention
- The Nebula Awards: Who Fears Death
- sfadb: Nnedi Okorafor
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