Five books from five different continents

S. L. Huang has a math degree from MIT and is a weapons expert and professional stuntwoman who has worked in Hollywood on Battlestar Galactica and a number of other productions. Her novels include the Cas Russell series—a new edition of book one, Zero Sum Game, is now available.

At Tor.com she tagged "five knockout reads from five different continents," including:

Kintu, by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

Kintu is spectacularly popular in Uganda, and is described in the introduction as being a book written unapologetically “for Ugandans.” In other contexts, I’ve been in that place where something felt like it was written “for me”—my cultural touchstones, my life experiences—so my interest was piqued immediately.

And I haven’t been disappointed. But Kintu is more than a novel that celebrates Uganda. It’s also an incredible, mind-blowing story. The narrative sucked me in from its first riveting scene, and I haven’t predicted a single twist it’s taken. The speculative elements have a literary bent, entwining with a tale that feels very human.

I haven’t finished Kintu yet, but at the rate I’m blowing through it I’ll be done very soon, and I’m already comfortable giving it my enthusiastic recommendation.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue