The Daughter Who Remains

I have to admit that I was expecting much more than what the author delivered thus far regarding Najeeba's origin story. Unfair it may be, yet in my humble opinion Who Fears Death will always be the benchmark against which all other works by Nnedi Okorafor will be judged. And the sad truth is that neither She Who Knows or One Way Witch can't hold a candle to the novel that engendered this new trilogy.

Hence, my expectations for The Daughter Who Remains were relatively low. Given that One Way Witch was essentially the first part of what should have been a single book, my only hope was that Okorafor could bring this series to a close with style and aplomb. Alas, the lukewarm endgame and the somewhat uninspired finale ultimately prevented the ending from elevating this trilogy to another level.

Here's the blurb:

Set in the universe Africanfuturist luminary Nnedi Okorafor first introduced in the World Fantasy Award-winning Who Fears Death, The Daughter Who Remains is the breathtaking conclusion to the She Who Knows trilogy.

Featuring Najeeba, now older and wiser than readers have ever known her, this is a tale of family, courage, and healing.

Najeeba has something terrible to kill.

And now she’s off to go and kill it. A fully trained, mature, and sharply focused sorcerer (don’t call her sorceress), Najeeba has left the comfort and security of her town with two companions, the glass maker Dedan and the old camel MorningStar. This journey takes her back to where it all began. And despite the fact that her training with the sorcerer Aro forced her to face her deepest fears, she hasn’t seen anything close to what she’s about to see.

As the Igbo proverb goes, a masquerade does not dance for nothing. The Daughter Who Remains is the final book in the She Who Knows trilogy. This tale isn’t about Najeeba learning to master her powerful skills, it’s about her having the audacity and courage to use them and use them well…no matter the consequence.

It's no secret that Nnedi Okorafor writes very short novels and novellas. Once again, the 133-page format precludes much as far as worldbuilding is concerned. Like its predecessors, The Daughter Who Remains takes place in the same post-apocalyptic African environment. As is habitually her wont, Okorafor holds her cards very close to her chest and the worldbuilding leaves a lot to be desired this time around. Indeed, the conclusion of this series, which technically should answer most of our questions, doesn't even try to provide those answers. The Africanfuturism setting and some Africanjujuism elements that Okorafor has accustomed us to in the past form the usual backdrop to this tale. Trouble is, the intriguing concepts such as the Mystic Points, the masquerades, and the enigmatic Cleanser, which were introduced in her previous works, aren't explored with much depth. This third installment is basically just Najeeba and Dedan's journey across the desert, where she hopes to confront and kill the Cleanser once and for all.

In my review of One Way Witch, I said that headstrong, capricious, and impetuous, Najeeba isn't necessarily a protagonist that you want to root for. True, her horrible past and the pain of losing her daughter for the greater good of the world explain why she has become such an impulsive and emotional woman. But even if you understand her plight, it's hard to actually care for her as a character. And since this is a first-person narrative, it does hurt the overall reading experience from time to time. Her time amongst the Vah after she gives birth to her daughter Ikuku/Sssolu makes her a little easier to like, but it has more to do with Najeeba being physically and emotionally drained than with her becoming wiser and more even-keeled. Surpringly, the most interesting character in the supporting cast is Ting, a woman from the Vah who will accompany Najeeba to Adoro 5.

Like One Way Witch, The Daughter Who Remains is another slow-moving affair. Be that as it may, it doesn't suffer from any pacing issues per se. And yet, it must be said that Najeeba and Dedan's time amongst the Vah could have been shorter. One would expect this final volume to hold all the answers, but revelations are few and far between. It's as if Okorafor had no idea and was making everything up as she went along, only to realize too late during that process that she didn't quite know what the Cleanser was. To all ends and purposes, this kills the endgame, for the last two installments were all about Najeeba training to gain the knowledge and power to defeat the Cleanser. Even worse, the open-ended finale was disappointing. Three volumes leading to the culmination of Najeeba's storyline and this is what we got? Personally, it felt a bit like a cop-out.

I believe the time has come for me to accept that Nnedi Okorafor may have reached her peak with Who Fears Death. Ever since, I've been hoping for the author to somehow recapture that sort of magic. Sadly, though her works feature the same Africanfuturism setting and Africanjujuism notions, nothing she has written since then packs the same kind of emotional punch. As mentioned, it's unfair for me to expect everything she writes to be as good as her best work to date. But a guy can dream.

The final verdict: 6.75/10

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