A review by crothe77
Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

 

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa is a Africanfuturism climate fiction novella with three POV characters, interludes, poetry, and a report on the Nigeria-Biafra war and genocide. Yekini, Tuoyo, and Ngozi all live in the last tower left in Lagos after the other towers collapsed and took thousands of people with it. When Yekini is assigned to the underwater part of the tower, the Children start to rise. 

Africanfuturism is one of my favorite subgenres and this was another instant favorite in the subgenre. The use of cli-fi elements to discuss the current situation of Lagos, a city that is at risk of flooding if global warming continues, helped bring forth how Nigeria is expected to take the trash of the rest of the world as other countries pump out dangerous chemicals and gasses. It also discusses our potential future if we don’t start getting a handle on what we put into the Earth.

The novella flips through the three POVs and the various styles of interlude to provide rich worldbuilding and a layered story by drawing on the past, present, and what could come to be. Yekini’s parents died when the towers started falling and Ngozi’s sister passed when refugees from those towers were killed. Yekini and Ngozi both come from similar situations, but their unique perspectives put them in very different places when the story starts. Tuoyo works hard to keep the tower running but the higher-ups who rely on her don’t care enough to even know her name.

Along with discussing climate change, we also get an exploration of classism. The upper classes live on the higher floors and the lower classes, called Lowers, live on the lower floors. Yekini’s family used to be Lowers before her parents worked to change their family’s fortune. Ngozi has moved up a lot of levels and seems to have forgotten to show solidarity with his fellow former Lower, Yekini, and even steals credit for other people’s work, hinting at sexism in the workplace. 

I would recommend this to readers looking for cli-fi set in Africa, fans of explorations of the part towers might play in our future, and those looking for more experimental novellas.