The year is 2172. Climate change and nuclear disasters have rendered much of earth unlivable. Only the lucky ones have escaped to space colonies in the sky. 

In a war-torn Nigeria, battles are fought using flying, deadly mechs and soldiers are outfitted with bionic limbs and artificial organs meant to protect them from the harsh, radiation-heavy climate. Across the nation, as the years-long civil war wages on, survival becomes the only way of life. 

Two sisters, Onyii and Ify, dream of more. Their lives have been marked by violence and political unrest. Still, they dream of peace, of hope, of a future together. 

And they’re willing to fight an entire war to get there.

Like a lot of book bloggers & Bookstagrammers, I’ve spent the last couple weeks taking a hard look at both my bookshelves & my previous reviews. I think I’ve sort’ve prided myself on reading books from a pretty diverse pool of authors, but when I really look, I see that isn’t the case. And it’s clearly not the case when it comes to reading & reviewing books from Black authors. In embracing the difference between being not racist (passive) and being anti-racist (active), I’m committed to making a change.

In the wake of George Floyd’s (and countless others) murder at the hands of police and the subsequent worldwide Black Lives Matter protests, Book Twitter & Bookstagram were flooded with amazing lists of works by Black authors. TBRs everywhere exploded, mine included. I already had copies of Tochi Onyebuchi’s books, Riot Baby and War Girls. In a lousy twist of fate, I had gotten both in a Book Outlet order at the end of March, before they completely showed their ass last week & lost a lot of supporters (like me). But that’s a whole separate story, I guess.

ANYWAY! Something about War Girls had been calling to me (that epic cover, though!!), and I was excited to finally read some of Onyebuchi’s work! This book…oof, it fucking dazzled me, cover to cover. As much as my reading pace has been awful lately, this was a book that I couldn’t wait to get back to every time I was away from it.

The story is inspired by the Nigerian Civil War, a conflict that I’ve honestly never learned about. Onyebuchi sets his story in 2172, and I suppose it would fall somewhat into a dystopian category. Many parts of the world have been lost to climate change & nuclear fallout. Space has been colonized. But back on Earth, war rages on in Nigeria. The conflict is between Nigerians & Biafrans, and it’s a long, bloody, disastrous nightmare.

The two POVs belong to Onyii and Ify, sisters. Not by blood, but by choice & circumstance. They are the War Girls, a camp of survivors who have rescued people displaced by the war. War brought Onyii and Ify together, and the core of this story is about war threatening to tear them apart.

War Girls was, to me, everything I love about science fiction. Like, there is some SERIOUSLY COOL SHIT happening all throughout this book. Huge-ass mechs doing battle. Androids. Augmented humans. One of the secondary characters, Chinelo, has these awesome nanobot bees that fly out of her hair & measure things like temperature & radiation in the air. Just these effortlessly cool sci-fi elements that enhance the story, without ever taking away from the human conflict at the heart of things.

Onyii & Ify are incredibly written, compelling characters. Onyii is this great mix of badass, haunted , and hopeful. Someone who puts everyone else before her, because she doesn’t know any other way. Ify is the younger of the two, and a bit more naive about the world around her. The realities of her life & her circumstances are brutal & hard for her to comprehend.

I fucking adored War Girls. Tochi Onyebuchi is a fantastic writer, and I’m looking forward to reading more of his work going forward (I understand he’s got a sorta post-apocalyptic novel in the works right now!)

War Girls is a powerful & haunting story about friendship, found family, and sacrifice. It’s got a ton of heart & humor, and also has queer representation too! And although it’s inspired by real-life events & is at times quite tragic, there’s also some seriously kick-ass action scenes in this book…kinda like a Black Panther meets Pacific Rim vibe at times. Just an incredible novel, and a great introduction to a new-to-me author…really looking forward to the sequel, Rebel Sisters, in the fall!