delnasoir's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
ra_schmi's review against another edition
2.0
I finished Nnedi Okorafor's "Lagoon" this week. It's a story about aliens landing in the waters outside Lagos, Nigeria's capital city. These are good aliens though, they don't want to colonize and take over, they want to live peacefully among humans and they love Nigeria for its unique mix of excitement, turbulence and amped up human emotions, especially in the aftermath of an alien spaceship landing and unleashing a huge tsunami.
There are three main characters - a marine biologist and soldier from Lagos, and a rap star from Ghana, who are the chief intermediaries with the aliens. I've liked everything else I've read by Okorafor but I had a hard time getting into this one and it was a struggle to finish it. She paints interesting colorful characters and I felt like I learned more about bits of Nigeria. Quite a bit of the dialog is in pidgin which I didn't get except by extrapolating from the context. The story doesn't appear to really go anywhere. I understand that she wrote it partially in response to District 9, a movie that I haven't watched yet, so I don't really have anything intelligent to say about that.
I'm still going to continue to make my way through all her work, in any case
There are three main characters - a marine biologist and soldier from Lagos, and a rap star from Ghana, who are the chief intermediaries with the aliens. I've liked everything else I've read by Okorafor but I had a hard time getting into this one and it was a struggle to finish it. She paints interesting colorful characters and I felt like I learned more about bits of Nigeria. Quite a bit of the dialog is in pidgin which I didn't get except by extrapolating from the context. The story doesn't appear to really go anywhere. I understand that she wrote it partially in response to District 9, a movie that I haven't watched yet, so I don't really have anything intelligent to say about that.
I'm still going to continue to make my way through all her work, in any case
kawthar114's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
knockingonheavansbookstore's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
jamiezaccaria's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this book but didn't love it. Something felt off about the plot, I don't know if it was the pacing or if there was some sort of explanation/final impact that was missing. The characters were great though and the writing is fantastic.
nikkijazzie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
zivan's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
What if the aliens decided to make firs contact in Lagos?
Lagoon has all the elements of Ocorafor's novels, Aliens, Magic, Religion, Corruption and protagonists that are trying to do good in a broken world. But it is less polished than her later novels.
Perhaps it is telling that my favorite characters were a 7 legged spider and a bat, that appear in short vignettes.