Imaro

Locations
Call Number: Fantasy / Saunders, Charles
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Fantasy / Saunders, Charles	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Saunders' novel fuses the narrative style of fantasy fiction with a pre-colonial, alternate Africa. Inspired by and directly addresses the alienation of growing up an African American fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy, which to this day remains a very ethnically homogonous genre. It addresses this both structurally (via its unique setting) and thematically (via its alienated, tribeless hero-protagonist). The tribal tensions and histories presented in this fantasy novel reflect actual African tribal histories and tensions, and provide a unique perspective to current and recent conflicts in Africa, particularly the Rwandan genocide and the ongoing conflict in The Sudan.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Fiction Profile

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Disappointing, chauvinistic, and violent submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on June 11, 2022, 10:43pm 2/5 stars. What a chauvinistic, male-centered work of violence. I certainly appreciate that this is Afro-centric and celebrates aspects of many different pre-colonial African cultures (that’s why I didn’t give it a 1-star rating). It points out the flaws in prejudice between people and cultures… and solves them through additional prejudice and violence. Women exist almost nowhere, and where they do exist are typically sexual objects to be won or discarded. Then it ended more in the middle of a chapter than at a reasonable end-point of a story. This book was a terrible disappointment.