Who fears death

Nnedi Okorafor

In a future New York City where the skyline is partly submerged, Phoenix—an engineered biological being—lives within the guarded confines of Tower 7, surrounded by other SpeciMen and watched over by shadowy corporate power. When a “memory extract” draws her into a story of love, loss, and rebellion, Phoenix’s world fractures into urgent questions about identity, agency, and who gets to control the narrative of a life. Blending science fantasy with sharp social imagination, the novel explores themes of exploitation, ethical science, grief, and the fierce drive to escape predetermined fates. With Nnedi Okorafor’s lyrical, propulsive style and myth-tinged futurism, this standalone prequel expands a larger universe while delivering its own haunting, high-stakes journey toward freedom.