War Girls, Tochi Onyebuchi
War Girls, Tochi Onyebuchi
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War Girls

Author: Tochi Onyebuchi

Narrator: Adepero Oduye

Unabridged: 12 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/15/2019


Synopsis

In a postapocalyptic Nigeria plagued by violence and political unrest, two sisters dream of peace, hope, and a future together. They’re willing to fight an entire war to get there.

“Onyebuchi has created a fascinating futuristic Nigeria and a plot filled with left hooks and upper cuts.”—The New York Times Book Review

“High action and high drama in equal measure . . . Perfect for fans of Paolo Bacigalupi’s novels and the Pacific Rim films.”—School Library Journal

The year is 2172.

Climate change and nuclear disasters have rendered much of Earth unlivable. The lucky ones have escaped to newly formed space colonies, but those remaining are left to deal with the aftermath.

A civil war between Nigerians and Biafrans over mineral-rich land is wreaking havoc on the country. Battles are fought using flying, deadly robots, and soldiers are outfitted with bionic limbs and artificial organs meant to protect them from the harsh, radioactive environment. Survival has become the only way of life.

In a technologically advanced camp that serves as a refuge for former child soldiers and girls orphaned by the war, Onyii and her little sister, Ify, are largely protected from the fighting. But all that changes when Nigerian soldiers intercept a signal from them. A bomb is dropped. Their home is decimated. And Onyii and Ify are ripped apart, forced onto opposite sides of the conflict.

Four years later, the war rages on. Onyii has become a decorated solider for the rebellion, known as the Demon of Biafra. She is hell-bent on revenge. Ify is the most promising student at her STEM-based school in Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria. She dreams of escaping to space. Both girls believe they will never see each other again. But then top-secret information is leaked. A mission goes wrong. Suddenly, reuniting might be within reach. But in their war-torn homeland, being together means risking everything.

About Tochi Onyebuchi

Tochi Onyebuchi is the author of the young adult novel Beasts Made of Night, which won the Ilube Nommo Award for Best Speculative Fiction Novel by an African, its sequel, Crown of Thunder, and War Girls. His novella Riot Baby, a finalist for the Hugo, the Nebula, the Locus, the Ignyte, and the NAACP Image Awards, won the New England Book Award for Fiction and an ALA Alex Award. He holds a B.A. from Yale, a M.F.A. in screenwriting from the Tisch School for the Arts, a Master's degree in droit économique from Sciences Po, and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. His fiction has appeared in Panverse Three, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Obsidian, Omenana Magazine, Uncanny, and Lightspeed. His non-fiction has appeared in Tor.com, Nowhere Magazine, the Oxford University Press blog, and the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy, among other places.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Julie on June 18, 2019

I’m ashamed to admit that I went into reading WAR GIRLS knowing almost nothing about the Nigerian Civil War that ravaged the country in the late 1960s, following a declaration of secession and resulting in the displacement and death by famine of countless millions. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I held my breath through m......more

Goodreads review by Deborah on September 18, 2020

War Girls has lots of potential to be a great book but in my opinion it wasn't well utilised. Despite being a dystopian book, it's the first of it's kind, not only does it has black characters it is also set in Nigeria, that makes it the first dystopian book set in western Africa that I know of. I r......more

Goodreads review by Justine on May 16, 2020

This was a book that I thought had a great premise, and I wanted so much to love it. But, there was something about the writing which failed to engage me as a reader. I didn't mind that the chapters are presented in alternating POV's as the two main characters (Ify and Onyii) have such integrated jo......more

Goodreads review by Adah on October 22, 2019

War Girls is s five star novel. It has a great plot, great theme, great everything. The novel was awesome and action-packed. I feel there should not be a book 2. The novel shouldnt have been a series. I liked how it ended.......more

Goodreads review by Holly (The GrimDragon) on September 17, 2020

"We have tried peaceful protest,” Ngozi continues. “We have tried marching. We have tried registering even those Igbo in the hinterlands to vote in the elections.” She speaks not like she’s reciting from an article or from some downloaded history but from life experience. She speaks like someone who......more


Quotes

“A brilliant novel about sisters, war, and freedom."Booklist, starred review

“Onyebuchi has created a fascinating futuristic Nigeria and a plot filled with left hooks and upper cuts, even as he nobly illuminates one of the most pervasive conditions of the human experience.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Set amid the horrors of war in a world ravaged by climate change and nuclear disaster, this heart-wrenching and complex page-turner, drawn from the 1960s Nigerian civil war, will leave readers stunned and awaiting the second installment.”Publishers Weekly, starred review

“The intense plot is narrated in alternating third-person perspectives, and the author explores themes surrounding colonization, family, and the injustices of war. The story culminates in an unexpected, heart-wrenching end. An exhilarating series opener.”Kirkus Reviews

“[A] compulsively readable story with high action and high drama in equal measure. Perfect for fans of Paolo Bacigalupi’s novels and the Pacific Rim films.”—School Library Journal

“War Girls
is a brutal and spectacular feat of imagination.”—Dhonielle Clayton, New York Times bestselling author of The Belles series