Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
Jun. 11th, 2014 11:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
A star falls from the sky. A woman rises from the sea. The world will never be the same.
Three strangers, each isolated by their own problems: Adaora, the marine biologist, Anthony, the world-famous rapper, Agu, the troubled soldier. Wandering the beach outside Lagos, Nigeria’s capital city, they’re more alone than they’ve ever been before.
But when a meteorite hits the ocean and a tidal wave overcomes them, these three people will find themselves bound together in ways they’ve never imagined. Together with Ayodele, a visitor from beyond the stars, they must race through Lados and against time itself in order to save the city, the world … and themselves.
On 8th January 2010, three people converge on Bar Beach in Lagos at exactly the same moment. Adaora is a marine biologist re-evaluating her marriage to born-again Christian Chris after he slaps her. Anthony is a famous Ghanaian rapper seeking some peace and quiet after performing at a sold-out concert. Agu is a soldier who’s just tried to stop his platoon from raping a drunken young woman and been badly beaten for his trouble. Their meeting coincides with the moment a sonic boom strikes at Lagos, bringing with it a tidal wave that sweeps them out to sea.
When they arrive back on the beach, they accompanied by Ayodele (an alien able to shape shift her body and affect the physical world around her) who’s promising to bring change. Adaora, Anthony and Agu must get her to the Nigerian president but that’s not easy when Lagos starts to fall apart …
Nnedi Okorafor’s novel marries fantasy with science fiction in a vividly imagined (if slim) novel that was written partly as a response to DISTRICT 9. I thoroughly enjoyed the way it marries the old SF trope of alien’s arriving on Earth with Nigerian mythology and the way Okorafor depicts the complicated mix of poverty, greed, superstition, religion, crime and corruption that drives modern-day Lagos together with the effect that’s had on the country’s environment. There’s some great writing here – my favourite chapters being where Okorafor writes from the perspectives of different sea creatures, all of which are being transformed by the aliens – and while there’s a lot of dialogue in Pidgin English, it’s pretty obvious what’s being said from the context and there’s a glossary at the back to deal with any unclear words. However the story itself is very slim and there’s a large cast with the result that some (particularly Anthony) remain underdeveloped, while the novel stops just when things are really starting to build up and I’m not sure if this is a set up for a sequel (which I would definitely read).
The book is strongest in combining its fantasy and SF elements. This is particularly effective in those scenes where the alien visitors meet Nigeria’s age-old deities with a scene involving a bloodthirsty road god being particularly chilling. While it’s not a perfect book, it’s definitely worth checking out for anyone who’s bored with reading SF&F told from only a western point of view.
The Verdict:
Nnedi Okorafor’s novel marries fantasy with science fiction in a vividly imagined (if slim) novel that was written partly as a response to DISTRICT 9. I thoroughly enjoyed the way it marries the old SF trope of alien’s arriving on Earth with Nigerian mythology and the way Okorafor depicts the complicated mix of poverty, greed, superstition, religion, crime and corruption that drives modern-day Lagos together with the effect that’s had on the country’s environment. There’s some great writing here – my favourite chapters being where Okorafor writes from the perspectives of different sea creatures, all of which are being transformed by the aliens – and while there’s a lot of dialogue in Pidgin English, it’s pretty obvious what’s being said from the context and there’s a glossary at the back to deal with any unclear words. However the story itself is very slim and there’s a large cast with the result that some (particularly Anthony) remain underdeveloped, while the novel stops just when things are really starting to build up and I’m not sure if this is a set up for a sequel (which I would definitely read).
LAGOON was released in the United Kingdom on 10th April 2014. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
Three strangers, each isolated by their own problems: Adaora, the marine biologist, Anthony, the world-famous rapper, Agu, the troubled soldier. Wandering the beach outside Lagos, Nigeria’s capital city, they’re more alone than they’ve ever been before.
But when a meteorite hits the ocean and a tidal wave overcomes them, these three people will find themselves bound together in ways they’ve never imagined. Together with Ayodele, a visitor from beyond the stars, they must race through Lados and against time itself in order to save the city, the world … and themselves.
On 8th January 2010, three people converge on Bar Beach in Lagos at exactly the same moment. Adaora is a marine biologist re-evaluating her marriage to born-again Christian Chris after he slaps her. Anthony is a famous Ghanaian rapper seeking some peace and quiet after performing at a sold-out concert. Agu is a soldier who’s just tried to stop his platoon from raping a drunken young woman and been badly beaten for his trouble. Their meeting coincides with the moment a sonic boom strikes at Lagos, bringing with it a tidal wave that sweeps them out to sea.
When they arrive back on the beach, they accompanied by Ayodele (an alien able to shape shift her body and affect the physical world around her) who’s promising to bring change. Adaora, Anthony and Agu must get her to the Nigerian president but that’s not easy when Lagos starts to fall apart …
Nnedi Okorafor’s novel marries fantasy with science fiction in a vividly imagined (if slim) novel that was written partly as a response to DISTRICT 9. I thoroughly enjoyed the way it marries the old SF trope of alien’s arriving on Earth with Nigerian mythology and the way Okorafor depicts the complicated mix of poverty, greed, superstition, religion, crime and corruption that drives modern-day Lagos together with the effect that’s had on the country’s environment. There’s some great writing here – my favourite chapters being where Okorafor writes from the perspectives of different sea creatures, all of which are being transformed by the aliens – and while there’s a lot of dialogue in Pidgin English, it’s pretty obvious what’s being said from the context and there’s a glossary at the back to deal with any unclear words. However the story itself is very slim and there’s a large cast with the result that some (particularly Anthony) remain underdeveloped, while the novel stops just when things are really starting to build up and I’m not sure if this is a set up for a sequel (which I would definitely read).
The book is strongest in combining its fantasy and SF elements. This is particularly effective in those scenes where the alien visitors meet Nigeria’s age-old deities with a scene involving a bloodthirsty road god being particularly chilling. While it’s not a perfect book, it’s definitely worth checking out for anyone who’s bored with reading SF&F told from only a western point of view.
The Verdict:
Nnedi Okorafor’s novel marries fantasy with science fiction in a vividly imagined (if slim) novel that was written partly as a response to DISTRICT 9. I thoroughly enjoyed the way it marries the old SF trope of alien’s arriving on Earth with Nigerian mythology and the way Okorafor depicts the complicated mix of poverty, greed, superstition, religion, crime and corruption that drives modern-day Lagos together with the effect that’s had on the country’s environment. There’s some great writing here – my favourite chapters being where Okorafor writes from the perspectives of different sea creatures, all of which are being transformed by the aliens – and while there’s a lot of dialogue in Pidgin English, it’s pretty obvious what’s being said from the context and there’s a glossary at the back to deal with any unclear words. However the story itself is very slim and there’s a large cast with the result that some (particularly Anthony) remain underdeveloped, while the novel stops just when things are really starting to build up and I’m not sure if this is a set up for a sequel (which I would definitely read).
LAGOON was released in the United Kingdom on 10th April 2014. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
