A review by lipglossmaffia
David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

4.0

As a Nigerian girl, all my life I read fantasy books by white writers and always understood it no matter how it was written. I was almost misdirected by reviews of white readers of this book. Most of them don't seem "to get it." They DNF it at 25% and have the guts to put long commentary on the book, they even go as far as rating a book they didn't finish. Who the hell does that?!?

Enough of this negative talk, here is why you should read David Mogo, Godhunter.

1- It’s a pleasurable adventure. A demigod and some mortals get to fight gods. On the streets of Lagos. Just visualize that for a bit. If you know nothing about Lagos Nigeria, YouTube is your friend.

2- In the realms of the unbelievable, it’s important that the lead character is portrayed realistically and deeply. David Mogo is a demigod and has the personality to go with that. I was rooting for him a lot even though he was so cocky sometimes but he’s a demigod, I’d be cocky too.

3-When I read fantasy fiction, I expect the writer to be crazy, be inventive and not play safe just like Jemisin did in How Long ‘Til Black Future Month(that’s my standard now). I’m glad Suyi Davies put in the effort. Especially as the location for the book is such a famous city. He also made some changes to the gender of a god that I applauded.

4- His worldbuilding is wonderful. Again, Lagos is a very popular city, I live in Lagos but since I’ve read the book, I can’t look at Lagos the same. I just keep seeing things differently. So weirdly amazing.

5- Through fantasy, we can talk about real-life issues in a removed way. and David Mogo Godhunter does a decent job of addressing Nigerian police brutality.

This is one of the most entertaining fantasy books from a Nigerian writer and if you've read better, drop your comments.