A multi award winning SF novella by an author with a literary Ph.D.
The main character Binti (16 years old, just done A-levels) has sneaked away from her family. She's on her way from Earth to Oomza Uni, the first of her race (Himba) to do so. The spaceship (a creature of sorts) is attacked by the meduse (2 meter high jellyfish). All 500 passengers except the pilot and Binti are killed by them. The Meduse chief wants his stinger back - it's at the Uni.
She is a skilled astrolabe maker and keen mathematician - "We ... challenged each other to look out at the stars and imagine the most complex equation and then split it in half and then in half again and again. When you do math fractals long enough, you kick yourself into treeing just enough to get lost in the shallows of the mathematical sea. None of us would have made it into the university if we couldn't tree, but it's not easy" (p.22).
Binti has brought her edan with her - little more than a charm until it reveals its ability to translate and protect. When they arrive, Binti convinces both sides that further bloodshed is unnecessary. A medusa stays on to be a fellow student.
All rather underwhelming, with some unconvincing plot details.
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