SuitabookTomorrow's sphinx
Clare Bell
- Reading
- Preview that the book moves between a threatened future and ancient Egypt. Pause to discuss whether Kichebo’s choices reflect personal freedom, inherited destiny, or both.
- Themes
- Difference and belonging: Kichebo’s black colouring makes acceptance and hunting difficult, while her rarity also connects to unusual abilities and heritage. The story appears to place both cost and potential in being different, rather than presenting difference as simply weakness or advantage.
- Power and responsibility: Kichebo and Menk acquire the power to bond in a way that creates unusual strength, with a stated destiny beyond the damaged Earth. The premise raises questions about whether power should be used for protection, survival or a larger destiny, but its moral judgement is unclear.
- History and inherited consequences: Kichebo’s mental link reaches Kheknemt, whose life with Tutankhamun includes the pharaoh’s assassination and provides clues to Kichebo’s heritage. Past events function as knowledge that helps Kichebo understand the present, linking personal identity with historical memory.
- Worth knowing
- The story includes pursuit by humans in flying craft, a future world ravaged by ecological disaster, Tutankhamun’s assassination, a car-crash survivor, and the effects of being different.