This was an absolutely incredible book. I finished it and thought, “That may have been one of the best books I’ve ever read.” That’s likely hyperbole, but not by much.
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor is a genre mismash, part patriarchal dystopia and part fantasy, although the tone is much more magical realism that straight fantasy. The feeling of it was more similar to Salman Rushdie than anything else I’ve ever read. It has that floating, detached, purposely-rushing-along feeling you don’t really find in anything but magical realism, so for me, that is how I’d describe it, even though it was also technically a post-apocalyptic dystopia and the magic elements were more overt than you often see in that genre.
Before you go off and read it, though: this is a book with a lot of violence against women, particularly rape and female genital mutilation, and it can be tough to get through (the author’s note at the end implied it was also at times tough for her to write). If this kind of violence and the attitudes associated with it can set you off, you should definitely have someone who knows your situation well screen it for you.