Lagoon

Stephanie Jane reviewed Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

Memorable characters

4 stars

I was first attracted to Lagoon on Audible by the dramatic cover art which incorporates a myriad of sea creatures into the title word. The book is expertly narrated by Adjoa Andoh and Ben Onwukwe who between them portray many Lagos residents, a smattering of aliens, and also several magical beings from Nigerian folklore. From her initial chapter, spoken as a swordfish who is vandalising an oil pipeline, Okorafor doesn't let up for a minute. The science fiction storyline of alien invasion is fairly standard, but her inventiveness and understanding of human nature makes Lagoon a cut above the norm. I could easily visualise each location from their detailed descriptions and would love for it to be possible to visit that beautiful underwater world!

There are some fabulously memorable characters populating this frightened yet vibrant Lagos. Father Oke is great and so true! I sympathised with poor overlooked Philo and …

I was first attracted to Lagoon on Audible by the dramatic cover art which incorporates a myriad of sea creatures into the title word. The book is expertly narrated by Adjoa Andoh and Ben Onwukwe who between them portray many Lagos residents, a smattering of aliens, and also several magical beings from Nigerian folklore. From her initial chapter, spoken as a swordfish who is vandalising an oil pipeline, Okorafor doesn't let up for a minute. The science fiction storyline of alien invasion is fairly standard, but her inventiveness and understanding of human nature makes Lagoon a cut above the norm. I could easily visualise each location from their detailed descriptions and would love for it to be possible to visit that beautiful underwater world!

There are some fabulously memorable characters populating this frightened yet vibrant Lagos. Father Oke is great and so true! I sympathised with poor overlooked Philo and even Adaora's husband Chris is stuck in an all too understandable predicament. Plus I don't think I've ever felt sorry for a tarantula before! I did initially have trouble keeping up with the pidgin english, but could generally work out enough to get the gist without having to replay the sentences. The environmentalism and the message of change are nicely done without being preachy and I liked the unusual ending. Nice touch.

Gwenfar reviewed Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

Starts well, but then...

3 stars

Content warning Does reference some later chapters.

I so agree with @whami. I felt the same about it starting off well. In one way I thought it was a rush, covering just 2-3 days. But I went with it, and really got in to the story, but then feel it didn't quite finish off properly. Some plots just stop, and I kinda feel the 'chapter' where she said that they met the aliens but would never remember what was said, was a bit of a cop-out. So it didn't feel properly finished. I think this is one of her earlier books, and defo not as good as Who Fears Death or the Binti novels.

Will reviewed Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

So much potential

2 stars

Content warning Whole book spoilers

This book starts out great. I loved the style of writing and the setup. A lot of wonderful characters and all of their side plots are introduced. Things keep going for a while. And then side plots just stop. Some of the minor characters are written out, but most just aren't talked about anymore. The book wanders a bit more and then pretty much just ends with little resolution to anything.

I'm not someone who feels that all plot points of a novel must be neatly resolved and tied up into a nice package with a bow, but this was just so abrupt. One of the members of the online book club I was reading with commented while she was only partially through that she couldn't see how all the plot lines would tie together get be resolved. Unfortunately, they don't.

Citoyen MR

rated it

July 15, 2020

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