herschelk 's review for:

Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi

4.0

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Emezi’s lush writing style was the perfect palette to color in the darkest corners of New Lagos, capturing the city’s ugly underbelly but also its dangerous appeal. What starts as a story of a break-up  broadens to many characters, whose very short fuses are all tangled up, and the book follows the chain reaction after the first explosive event. It’s a juicy, fast read—so fast that I think the story becomes a bit unmoored by expanding the world beyond its central couple a bit too quickly. I definitely would have loved 100 more pages, which is a good problem to have.