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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
This is an urban fantasy set in Lagos, the largest city of Nigeria and written by a Nigerian author. I read is as a part of monthly reading for March 2021 at Speculative Fiction in Translation group.
The story starts shortly after African gods (orishas) descended to Lagos, heavily damaging it in the process. Now gods walk the earth and wizardry is real. The protagonist, David Mogo is a half-god (half-human), whose job is to hunt down gods, who disturb people. He lives in almost post-apoc Lagos with a man, who grew him up and who is a local mage Papa Udi, drives a motorcycle (which is also used as a power plant for their house) and lives from job to job. Now he is hired by a local powerful wizard / local informal boss not to banish, but to kidnap a pair of gods. Money are needed, so he takes the job…
The story is more or less run-of-the-mill fantasy adventure with a powerful hero, who at the same time can be smashed like a fly by major gods, but set in Africa and with local flavor and locations. The wandering around is interesting, for the placed are definitely unusual for Western reader, but battles, which are intended as high points are rather dull.
It is an interesting read for anyone, who want to try something from African fantasy, but per se is rather band story.
The story starts shortly after African gods (orishas) descended to Lagos, heavily damaging it in the process. Now gods walk the earth and wizardry is real. The protagonist, David Mogo is a half-god (half-human), whose job is to hunt down gods, who disturb people. He lives in almost post-apoc Lagos with a man, who grew him up and who is a local mage Papa Udi, drives a motorcycle (which is also used as a power plant for their house) and lives from job to job. Now he is hired by a local powerful wizard / local informal boss not to banish, but to kidnap a pair of gods. Money are needed, so he takes the job…
The story is more or less run-of-the-mill fantasy adventure with a powerful hero, who at the same time can be smashed like a fly by major gods, but set in Africa and with local flavor and locations. The wandering around is interesting, for the placed are definitely unusual for Western reader, but battles, which are intended as high points are rather dull.
It is an interesting read for anyone, who want to try something from African fantasy, but per se is rather band story.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The code switching was personally very immersion breaking. I wanted to love this so much, because it's everything I'd love to see in a novel, but when both the narrative and the characters code switch that heavily and there isn't enough context to figure out what's going on? I ended up spending a lot of energy on trying to follow what was being said, and not enough on the plot.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
an absolute slam-dunk of a book, for sure i will be rereading
pros:
- i'll start with the brilliant setting and how completely grounded the book is in Lagos' every back street and cross-roads, it's past and mythology, it's politics and its languages. Having a demi-god hunting godlings in Nigeria is such a perfect set up, and I loved the Lagos-ness of all of it. I've never been to any part of Nigeria, but I feel like Lagos is an old friend now. I searched up loads of the places and names of streets and finding the specific buildings Okungbowa was referencing was so exciting.
- the folklore!!! all of it new to me and fascinating. The Eyos were so creepy, Ogun strong but sad, Eshu tricksy but not what David assumes of him, the brilliant twin gods, Olokun and his kindness towards the Makoko people, and all the others. I loved the powers they used, David's descriptions of them being two images overlapping, the doorways to other spaces, David coming into his powers using his fire and machetes (love that he was always drawn to knives and then that's what his god weapon was). All the terms were great too: taboos, godlings, godhunter, orisha, etc.
- the structure is kinda unusual, with three shorter, novella-like 'books' within the main one, which did work really well. Each part concluded to an extent, but led onto the next, and i liked that a lot.
- the writing!!! gorgeous, show-stopping, gripping as hell, perfect. The absolute best combination of poetic amazingness with irreverence, too. David's adopted dad, Papa Udi, speaks in pidgin (hope that's right term) throughout and David sometimes replies like that too, which I didn't always understand but liked all the same, it added verisimilitude. Though it was sometimes quite sparse language, it was still so vivid and evocative and i had such a clear picture in my head. Almost all the characters felt super real and I liked David a lot; even though he makes mistakes, he learns from them and he has a strong core of wanting to right by people. Particularly, i liked when he realised he should've included Fati and apologised to her.
- the action scenes! In a myth-based book, you don't always get a lot of gripping violence, but not here! i felt like this would make such a great film or series, because it is so visual. the descriptive writing of most of the book shifts into clear action scenes that I could *see* playing out, very gripping. the sheer badassery in this book just sending goosebumps over your arms when reading!
- oh also! Femi and Shonuga's little relationship was great :) i love to see some queer rep sprinkled in. and honestly i also liked that no romance plot was pushed into David's arc - he has so much going on that trying to shove that it could've ruined it.
cons:
- whilst I loved all of them, there were a few too many characters. I struggled to keep track of all of them, particularly when their names started with the same letter. I lost who Femi, Shonuga, Shonekan and some of the 'O' name gods were, as well as confusing the two 'A' names of god and host. this was a shame, because i was interested in all of them so it would've been great to have spent more time on them so i could really have a grip on them.
- too much location-ing. whilst I did really love the Lagos-ness of it all, sometimes naming all the streets did pull me out of the narrative a bit. i imagine that a person familiar with Lagos would have an absolute delight reading it and recognising everything, but a foreigner needed to re-orientate myself each time. I got confused at the start whether the gods were based on Lagos Island or the mainland, so that could've been explained a bit better. but this was really something i struggled a bit with, but still wouldn't change about the book at all - it made it what it is.
- in the action scenes, i did feel several times that David was just stood there narrating. like, he was saying what all the others were doing and i could only picture him just stood there doing nothing?? which did take me out the action
- i did feel that the ending was wrapped up a little suddenly, there could've been a bit more resolution i thought. i also got confused about what trick exactly Ogun pulled to ensure their victory. also, how did David survive the stab to the chest? and what was David's true name?
- finally, i would've loved to see some more development of David's powers. he loses himself to the chaos and power at times, but manages to rein it in near the end - i would've liked to see more of the training that got him to be able to control it. i love the trope of a character mastering their powers when it's desperately needed, but actually seeing David wrangle and learn about them would've been cool too.
(- unfortunately, the quality of the book itself was lacking. Every time a specific letter/character was printed, there was a faint square box beside it, which was annoying, and there were multiple typos too. whoever the editor or printer was didn't do a great job at all.)
so really, apart from some confusion, my only criticism is that it wasn't longer! i will definitely be hunting out more of Okungbowa's books, because this was amazing. it wasn't perfect, but i liked the good bits so very much, it's still getting 5 stars.
pros:
- i'll start with the brilliant setting and how completely grounded the book is in Lagos' every back street and cross-roads, it's past and mythology, it's politics and its languages. Having a demi-god hunting godlings in Nigeria is such a perfect set up, and I loved the Lagos-ness of all of it. I've never been to any part of Nigeria, but I feel like Lagos is an old friend now. I searched up loads of the places and names of streets and finding the specific buildings Okungbowa was referencing was so exciting.
- the folklore!!! all of it new to me and fascinating. The Eyos were so creepy, Ogun strong but sad, Eshu tricksy but not what David assumes of him, the brilliant twin gods, Olokun and his kindness towards the Makoko people, and all the others. I loved the powers they used, David's descriptions of them being two images overlapping, the doorways to other spaces, David coming into his powers using his fire and machetes (love that he was always drawn to knives and then that's what his god weapon was). All the terms were great too: taboos, godlings, godhunter, orisha, etc.
- the structure is kinda unusual, with three shorter, novella-like 'books' within the main one, which did work really well. Each part concluded to an extent, but led onto the next, and i liked that a lot.
- the writing!!! gorgeous, show-stopping, gripping as hell, perfect. The absolute best combination of poetic amazingness with irreverence, too. David's adopted dad, Papa Udi, speaks in pidgin (hope that's right term) throughout and David sometimes replies like that too, which I didn't always understand but liked all the same, it added verisimilitude. Though it was sometimes quite sparse language, it was still so vivid and evocative and i had such a clear picture in my head. Almost all the characters felt super real and I liked David a lot; even though he makes mistakes, he learns from them and he has a strong core of wanting to right by people. Particularly, i liked when he realised he should've included Fati and apologised to her.
- the action scenes! In a myth-based book, you don't always get a lot of gripping violence, but not here! i felt like this would make such a great film or series, because it is so visual. the descriptive writing of most of the book shifts into clear action scenes that I could *see* playing out, very gripping. the sheer badassery in this book just sending goosebumps over your arms when reading!
- oh also! Femi and Shonuga's little relationship was great :) i love to see some queer rep sprinkled in. and honestly i also liked that no romance plot was pushed into David's arc - he has so much going on that trying to shove that it could've ruined it.
cons:
- whilst I loved all of them, there were a few too many characters. I struggled to keep track of all of them, particularly when their names started with the same letter. I lost who Femi, Shonuga, Shonekan and some of the 'O' name gods were, as well as confusing the two 'A' names of god and host. this was a shame, because i was interested in all of them so it would've been great to have spent more time on them so i could really have a grip on them.
- too much location-ing. whilst I did really love the Lagos-ness of it all, sometimes naming all the streets did pull me out of the narrative a bit. i imagine that a person familiar with Lagos would have an absolute delight reading it and recognising everything, but a foreigner needed to re-orientate myself each time. I got confused at the start whether the gods were based on Lagos Island or the mainland, so that could've been explained a bit better. but this was really something i struggled a bit with, but still wouldn't change about the book at all - it made it what it is.
- in the action scenes, i did feel several times that David was just stood there narrating. like, he was saying what all the others were doing and i could only picture him just stood there doing nothing?? which did take me out the action
- i did feel that the ending was wrapped up a little suddenly, there could've been a bit more resolution i thought. i also got confused about what trick exactly Ogun pulled to ensure their victory. also, how did David survive the stab to the chest? and what was David's true name?
- finally, i would've loved to see some more development of David's powers. he loses himself to the chaos and power at times, but manages to rein it in near the end - i would've liked to see more of the training that got him to be able to control it. i love the trope of a character mastering their powers when it's desperately needed, but actually seeing David wrangle and learn about them would've been cool too.
(- unfortunately, the quality of the book itself was lacking. Every time a specific letter/character was printed, there was a faint square box beside it, which was annoying, and there were multiple typos too. whoever the editor or printer was didn't do a great job at all.)
so really, apart from some confusion, my only criticism is that it wasn't longer! i will definitely be hunting out more of Okungbowa's books, because this was amazing. it wasn't perfect, but i liked the good bits so very much, it's still getting 5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Domestic abuse, Sexism
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really struggled with the pacing of this book. It felt like a lot of starting and stopping. There were lots of interesting aspects to the book just felt like we never stayed in one place long enough to appreciate them, especially character relationships that are rushed into development. I think the book would have benefited from multiple view points. The main character is often so clueless that it feels like we as readers are missing out.
Arc provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
David Mogo, Godhunter is set in Lagos, Nigeria, and is an African-inspired story about a half God who's occupation is being a Godhunter. In this book, Gods and higher deities have fallen to earth after a heavenly war. David Mogo, our protagonist, spends his days hunting down fallen deities and capturing them for money. When a deal to catch two twin Gods lands in his lap, he knows he's going to be in trouble.
In the beginning of this book, I struggled with the voice of the book and the language. It was a lot more modern than I was expecting and it ruined the mythology-inspired story I was looking forward to. After getting used to the voice, I started enjoying myself a bit more, but there were still some issues. Mainly, the book had way too many unfamiliar words and names for me, it kept throwing me off balance. This also made me struggle to separate characters from one another, as I struggled remembering who was called what. I also found the ending of the book very anti-climatic to the rest of the story. It felt very rushed and I wish the final clash had begun a little earlier in the story, or had lasted a little longer.
My favorite parts of the book were for sure the mythology and lore behind the Gods and why they were on earth. I also loved the morally grey characters, even though I felt the attempt at making them grey fell a little flat. I always love delving into unfamiliar worlds with mythology from new parts of the world, and this was for sure a new experience! I loved the Gods and how they interacted with the ordinary people in the book. I also loved Papa Udi, even though I sometimes struggled to understand what on earth he was saying.
In summary: this book was a fun experience. There were some amazing aspects and some not-so-good aspects. A solid 3-star book. I'd recommend it to anyone looking to read stories based on African/Nigerian mythology or lore!
David Mogo, Godhunter is set in Lagos, Nigeria, and is an African-inspired story about a half God who's occupation is being a Godhunter. In this book, Gods and higher deities have fallen to earth after a heavenly war. David Mogo, our protagonist, spends his days hunting down fallen deities and capturing them for money. When a deal to catch two twin Gods lands in his lap, he knows he's going to be in trouble.
In the beginning of this book, I struggled with the voice of the book and the language. It was a lot more modern than I was expecting and it ruined the mythology-inspired story I was looking forward to. After getting used to the voice, I started enjoying myself a bit more, but there were still some issues. Mainly, the book had way too many unfamiliar words and names for me, it kept throwing me off balance. This also made me struggle to separate characters from one another, as I struggled remembering who was called what. I also found the ending of the book very anti-climatic to the rest of the story. It felt very rushed and I wish the final clash had begun a little earlier in the story, or had lasted a little longer.
My favorite parts of the book were for sure the mythology and lore behind the Gods and why they were on earth. I also loved the morally grey characters, even though I felt the attempt at making them grey fell a little flat. I always love delving into unfamiliar worlds with mythology from new parts of the world, and this was for sure a new experience! I loved the Gods and how they interacted with the ordinary people in the book. I also loved Papa Udi, even though I sometimes struggled to understand what on earth he was saying.
In summary: this book was a fun experience. There were some amazing aspects and some not-so-good aspects. A solid 3-star book. I'd recommend it to anyone looking to read stories based on African/Nigerian mythology or lore!
sono arrivata al 25% perché è corto, ma il protagonista non mi piace e la trama è un po' scontata. non credo che ci tornerò
2.5/5
Described as a Nigerian god-punk, Okungbowa’s David Mogo sounded like something I absolutely had to read. The story, told through the first-person POV of titular Godhunter, dives into Orisha mythology. The story develops on the street Lagos. As European I found the setting fascinating and exotic.
David works freelance hunting lesser godlings. It turns out a powerful wizard plans to use one of his catches to seize control of the city. David has to fix his mistake and save the day.
I like the concept, but I have numerous issues with the execution. David’s continuous internal dialogue (info-dumps, back stories, stuff) tired me and negatively impacted the pacing. I found the characters intriguing, but not relatable. David’s interesting heritage and his unique skills made parts of the book fun to read, but his internalizations lacked substance and efficiently killed my enthusiasm.
Readers looking for fresh ideas and an interesting will find some here. That said, I couldn’t get into it. If only I could relate to characters, my rating would be a bit higher. Because I couldn’t, I’ll settle on a 2.5/5 rating.
ARC through NetGalley
Described as a Nigerian god-punk, Okungbowa’s David Mogo sounded like something I absolutely had to read. The story, told through the first-person POV of titular Godhunter, dives into Orisha mythology. The story develops on the street Lagos. As European I found the setting fascinating and exotic.
David works freelance hunting lesser godlings. It turns out a powerful wizard plans to use one of his catches to seize control of the city. David has to fix his mistake and save the day.
I like the concept, but I have numerous issues with the execution. David’s continuous internal dialogue (info-dumps, back stories, stuff) tired me and negatively impacted the pacing. I found the characters intriguing, but not relatable. David’s interesting heritage and his unique skills made parts of the book fun to read, but his internalizations lacked substance and efficiently killed my enthusiasm.
Readers looking for fresh ideas and an interesting will find some here. That said, I couldn’t get into it. If only I could relate to characters, my rating would be a bit higher. Because I couldn’t, I’ll settle on a 2.5/5 rating.
ARC through NetGalley
A Nigerian urban fantasy set after a godpocalypse, I think this would make an epic graphic novel. It’s full of superhuman feats, raging gods and gritty endurance. It’s really three novellas stacked together rather a novel, though, which left me frustrated as I found it light on character and lacking depth in service to packing in all the action. However, Okungbowa has a strong vision, and I’m curious to see what he dreams up in future.
Full review:https://onemore.org/2020/12/28/twelve-days-of-bookmas-mini-reviews/
Full review:https://onemore.org/2020/12/28/twelve-days-of-bookmas-mini-reviews/