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zaung 's review for:
David Mogo, Godhunter
by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
NB: ARC received from netgalley
Well. That was amazing. The first thing that told me this book was going to be right up my alley was the code-switching. Which, for those of you who don't know, is a linguistic thing where people's phrasing and grammar order etc changes between situations. It's particularly prevalent among multi-lingual cultures. I loved how Okungbowa writes Davids speech without trying to explain it. The book is unshamedly Nigerian and this is just one of the ways it does this.
Then there is the worldbuilding. Long story short, a whole bunch of gods have been thrown into the human world and this is causing some major conflict. The main character is a half-god who is something of a pest control except fr supernatural creatures wreaking havoc called godlings. I really loved how Okungbowa wrote the gods and provided an explanation for the different pantheons and how they interact.David's mother is a god of war and is claimed by different pantheons, which actually plays a role in the character's development and the plot. So that was really cool.
As for the characters, they paled a little in comparison to the worldbuild, and felt mmm slightly superficial? Outside of David, I never got much of a feel for other characters. We get a bit of a history on Papa Udi, but nothing much on Fatoumata or Onipede or even his mother. Part of this is perhaps because of the way the book is staged. I've seen some people say it's really three stories published as one, but it's more like three acts. And each act has a bunch of new characters introduced so the characters that show up later have less of a chance to stand out.
Ultimately, I enjoyed this novel. It's about found families and communities, it's about coming together when the world is on the verge of ending, it's about finding home where you can and the cost of greed.
Well. That was amazing. The first thing that told me this book was going to be right up my alley was the code-switching. Which, for those of you who don't know, is a linguistic thing where people's phrasing and grammar order etc changes between situations. It's particularly prevalent among multi-lingual cultures. I loved how Okungbowa writes Davids speech without trying to explain it. The book is unshamedly Nigerian and this is just one of the ways it does this.
Then there is the worldbuilding. Long story short, a whole bunch of gods have been thrown into the human world and this is causing some major conflict. The main character is a half-god who is something of a pest control except fr supernatural creatures wreaking havoc called godlings. I really loved how Okungbowa wrote the gods and provided an explanation for the different pantheons and how they interact.
As for the characters, they paled a little in comparison to the worldbuild, and felt mmm slightly superficial? Outside of David, I never got much of a feel for other characters. We get a bit of a history on Papa Udi, but nothing much on Fatoumata or Onipede or even his mother. Part of this is perhaps because of the way the book is staged. I've seen some people say it's really three stories published as one, but it's more like three acts. And each act has a bunch of new characters introduced so the characters that show up later have less of a chance to stand out.
Ultimately, I enjoyed this novel. It's about found families and communities, it's about coming together when the world is on the verge of ending, it's about finding home where you can and the cost of greed.