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A review by cathepsut
David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
5.0
A new take on classic Urban Fantasy—Godpunk?
Gods have rained down on Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. We enter the story some time later, into the dystopian society that has developed here in the aftermath. David Mogo, our 1st person narrator, is a demi-god working as an illegal godhunter. An old wizard with dubious morals sends David Mogo off to catch two high gods, Taiwo and Kehinde. David is in need of money to fix his roof, so off he goes, despite his misgivings about this wizard. Obviously things don’t go as expected.
This was the first part in a book that reads like three novellas collected in one volume, with a red thread running through them and each connected closely in terms of time, location and characters. Enjoyable, even though I never really connected with David Mogo on an emotional level.
I looked up a lot about Nigeria, the orishas, Nigerian Pidgin, a lot of vocabulary, food items, clothing styles, etc. Then I was looking up info about Lagos, Victoria Island, Makoko, and, and, and... all this kept slowing down my reading speed, as I kept going off on tangents and looking something up almost constantly... My kind of fun!
I struggled a bit with the Nigerian Pidgin used in some of the dialogues, but decided to just go with it — I hope I managed to get the gist of the conversations.
Interesting article in the Guardian about the floating city of Makoko:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/feb/23/makoko-lagos-danger-ingenuity-floating-slum
Bottomline: I had fun, my imagination got engaged, I learned a lot of new things, I enjoyed the writing. I would read more by this author. 4.5 stars.
+*+*+
Part of my #ReadPOC2021 challenge. I read this for the March prompt, „A Work of Fiction“.
Post about the March prompt: https://lonelycryptidmedia.com/2021/02/08/nine-works-of-fiction-by-authors-of-color-to-expand-your-reading-list/
Main challenge: https://lonelycryptidmedia.com/2020/12/11/reading-writers-of-color-2021/
From the author‘s website: (slightly amended)
Suyi Davies Okungbowa is a Nigerian author of fantasy, science fiction and other speculative works inspired by his West-African origins. His new epic fantasy trilogy, The Nameless Republic, is forthcoming from Orbit, beginning in May 2021 with [b:Son of the Storm|50718369|Son of the Storm (The Nameless Republic, #1)|Suyi Davies Okungbowa|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1601953281l/50718369._SY75_.jpg|75749627]. His highly-anticipated debut, the godpunk fantasy novel David Mogo, Godhunter, won the 2020 Nommo Ilube Award for Best Speculative Novel by an African. Learn more at suyidavies.com.
I received this free e-copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!
Gods have rained down on Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. We enter the story some time later, into the dystopian society that has developed here in the aftermath. David Mogo, our 1st person narrator, is a demi-god working as an illegal godhunter. An old wizard with dubious morals sends David Mogo off to catch two high gods, Taiwo and Kehinde. David is in need of money to fix his roof, so off he goes, despite his misgivings about this wizard. Obviously things don’t go as expected.
This was the first part in a book that reads like three novellas collected in one volume, with a red thread running through them and each connected closely in terms of time, location and characters. Enjoyable, even though I never really connected with David Mogo on an emotional level.
I looked up a lot about Nigeria, the orishas, Nigerian Pidgin, a lot of vocabulary, food items, clothing styles, etc. Then I was looking up info about Lagos, Victoria Island, Makoko, and, and, and... all this kept slowing down my reading speed, as I kept going off on tangents and looking something up almost constantly... My kind of fun!
I struggled a bit with the Nigerian Pidgin used in some of the dialogues, but decided to just go with it — I hope I managed to get the gist of the conversations.
Interesting article in the Guardian about the floating city of Makoko:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/feb/23/makoko-lagos-danger-ingenuity-floating-slum
Bottomline: I had fun, my imagination got engaged, I learned a lot of new things, I enjoyed the writing. I would read more by this author. 4.5 stars.
+*+*+
Part of my #ReadPOC2021 challenge. I read this for the March prompt, „A Work of Fiction“.
Post about the March prompt: https://lonelycryptidmedia.com/2021/02/08/nine-works-of-fiction-by-authors-of-color-to-expand-your-reading-list/
Main challenge: https://lonelycryptidmedia.com/2020/12/11/reading-writers-of-color-2021/
From the author‘s website: (slightly amended)
Suyi Davies Okungbowa is a Nigerian author of fantasy, science fiction and other speculative works inspired by his West-African origins. His new epic fantasy trilogy, The Nameless Republic, is forthcoming from Orbit, beginning in May 2021 with [b:Son of the Storm|50718369|Son of the Storm (The Nameless Republic, #1)|Suyi Davies Okungbowa|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1601953281l/50718369._SY75_.jpg|75749627]. His highly-anticipated debut, the godpunk fantasy novel David Mogo, Godhunter, won the 2020 Nommo Ilube Award for Best Speculative Novel by an African. Learn more at suyidavies.com.
I received this free e-copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!