Out of an amazing African fantasyland of computers, portable water stations and free-range camels, comes the desert heroine of Nnedi Okorafor’s Who Fears Death.

Onyesonwu lives in a post-apocalyptic fictional country that resembles the civil conflict in Sudan. From birth, she has been markedly different because of her sandy-coloured skin and hair.

Her African mother was raped by a high-ranking army officer during an invasion, fled her home town to escape the shame and gave birth in the desert to an Ewu, a mixed-race child born of violence.

Onyesonwu, whose name means who fears death, finds love and acceptance at home with her mother and stepfather. But she is shunned by the black Okeke people of her mother as well as their oppressors, the fair skinned Nuru race. From an early age, she exhibits supernatural abilities that further alienate her from a society where sorcery is deeply entrenched and feared.

Later in life, she returns to the desert place of her birth with three school friends and two young men.

Along the way, the five companions face the brunt of caste and ethnic intolerance in a quest that will test their friendship.

In over 300 pages, Okorafor has written a gripping quest story that explores genocide, racial prejudice, female circumcision and rape as a weapon, within the rich cultural and spiritual traditions of Nigeria.

Based on real-world social inequity, the plot is flavoured by fantastical beings and Onye’s journeys in and out of the spiritual world, her battles with mythical creatures and shape shifting talents.

African fantasy novels are few and far between, and Okorafor has created a powerful female protagonist, burdened with the prejudice of her birth circumstances, a patriarchal society and the horrors of ethnic conflict.

The author does not mince her words with respect to violence.

Set in a stark desert landscape, the novel is richly imbued with cultural myths in the manner of African story-telling traditions.

The book’s pace slows down considerably when Onye and her friends spend an extended period of time with a band of socially liberal desert nomads.

Despite frequent references to the Great Book that supposedly determines the fate of all people, it remains unclear how and why things came to be in this country, leaving a gap in the historical background. Yet overall, this a perceptive, horrifying and fascinating read.

Okorafor, who was born and raised in America by her Nigerian parents, has written several books on young adult fiction, and this is her first adult novel.

Who Fears Death won the 2011 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and the 2010 Carl Brandon Kindred Award. In 2015, Okorafor released a prequel to the book, called The Book of Phoenix.