The premise of LaGuardia is both startlingly unique and uncomfortably close to home. In an alternative world where aliens are integrated into Earth’s society, LaGuardia airport in New York City is one of the handful of interstellar airports around the globe. The airport, city, and world at large is hostile toward immigrants and outsiders, human or otherwise.
One of the many to pass through this airport is the pregnant Nigerian-American doctor, Future Nwafor Chukwuebuka. She’s smuggling in an illegal alien plant named “Letme Live” and seeking a better life for herself and her unborn child.
LaGuardia makes a powerful statement about the unfortunate realities of modern politics. It doesn’t take much to recognize the real-world parallels to harsh and prejudiced treatment of the aliens passing through LaGuardia airport or the travel ban the United States passes. Hell, the “aliens as Aliens” trope is taken a step further when Okorafor shows how cruelly human beings deemed as “other” are still treated when there are literal aliens from all over the universe.
In spite of all that, there’s an underlying element of hope to the story. People portrayed as oppressors occasionally show compassion, victims of discrimination recognize and attempt to overcome their own discrimination against others, and the main characters never stop fighting for what they believe in.
LaGuardia is a richly imagined story with a compelling message—one that’s highly relevant and necessary in today’s world. There’s a reason why Okorafor has won the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards, and this story has encouraged me to read her other works.
I received a free ARC of this book from Penguin Random House via Edeweiss in exchange for a fair and honest review. LaGuardia by Nnedi Okorafor and Tana Ford releases July 30, 2019. You can preorder now or check it out on Goodreads here.
