The Lies of the Ajungo

Hands down an author to watch. This is an African-inspired fantasy novella that was very dark. In 80 pages Utomi manages to poetically paint picture of the harshness of the desert and the cruelest side of humanity. As can happen with novellas, I did want just a tad more about one aspect, but that's didn't ruin it at all for me and there is a sequel coming out in a couple months. It is very violent, so if you pay attention check trigger warnings.

So good

I wrote about this book for the Hugo-winning, Ignyte-winning blog Nerds of a Feather:

http://www.nerds-feather.com/2024/06/quick-round-my-recent-readings.html

This is more of a fable than anything else and I quite enjoyed reading it.
I liked the characters and setting, as well as the plot, which was quite intriguing, even though I guessed the big twist rather early. Still it was quite exciting to see the threads line together and the bigger picture crystallising. II tip my hat to the author for the way he has woven the mystery.

The reason why this book isn't 5 stars is because in my opinion, the story deserved more world-building and character bonding to reach its full potential and deliver the most impact.

Still, I had a great time reading it and will be looking out for future works by the author.

A wonderful short fantasy with a splash of folklore. At just roughly 80 pages the read was packed with action, adventure, as well as great twists. It's absolutely amazing what the author packed into this short novella! I really enjoyed the theme of oppression by a ruling empire as well as the symbols and metaphors throughout the book that accompanied it. I am really glad to find out this will be a series and am excited to see how it will unfold and where the author will take this world he has created!

An example of a completely transparent allegory / fable (intentionally so). The analogies are obvious and unsubtle. For me, that sucked the life out of this story, for others, it may be compelling and stylish; goodness knows, it is well-written. Yes, I understand, this is a style. The ending skews to a super-powered deus-ex-machina style resolution as well, which felt cliché.

Damn, this was good!

THE LIES OF THE AJUNGO is a novella that feels like one of those typical dystopian YA stories where shock turns out they were lying to us all along but the protagonist single-handedly destroys the enemy because of some vague superpowers they've gained along the way that make them the obvious chosen one.

Though those tropes are executed quite well here (this is no YA drivel), I'm still not especially fond of them. I still thought it was a decent read, however. The book has an excellent atmosphere and a cute coming-of-age feeling plot line.

DISCLAIMER: I received an advanced reading copy of this in exchange for an honest review.