The World Doesn't Require You is a formally and conceptually ambitious collection of stories, myths, and a closing novella. Aside from the closing novella, Special Topics in Loneliness Studies, the most satisfying set of stories, "The Electric Joy of Service" and "Mercury in Retrograde," situate a larger discussion about race and racism in a science-fiction aesthetic. This is a collection I hope to return to in the future, and I would argue The World Doesn't Require You is particularly relevant for anyone interested in Afrofuturism.