Read c/ NetGalley and the publisher. It’s out in October.

There’s a Trevor Noah skit about how aliens never land anywhere near Africa, in Hollywood movies. Literature, of course, puts that to the lie, especially with Afro- and Africanfuturism over the last couple decades. Nonetheless, it sprang to mind while reading this excellent novel, because it’s set entirely in Africa – in Nigeria and South Africa, mostly – except for the bits that are set off-planet, that is.

Talabi uses multiple narrators to tell this story of memory, power, family and history. The first is The Irunmole – a name I had to look up, because my knowledge of mythology originating in Africa is woeful; I only did so when I was about halfway through and I’m glad I did that, so I’m not going to spoil it; feel free to do so for yourself. But here, The Irunmole starts off out at the Kuiper Belt, and they are focused on Earth. So yes, that’s a bit intimidating, but also there’s no sense of threat. We come back to the Irunmole just occasionally. Next is Tope: a killer for hire (that’s not a spoiler, she tells you she’s good at killing in the first line), she lives in Nigeria. Her story is told in the first person, so we’re right inside her head for her first chapter as she focuses on her target – and then deals with the aftermath. She has a painful backstory – and a painful present, too, as we slowly discover. Then there’s Itumeleng, an astrophysicist living in South Africa and a disappointment to his family; his story is told in the third person. I think Itu is my favourite character; his struggles to understand things outside of his worldview are highly believable. The story largely revolves around these two. Additionally, there’s Ahanna – also a killer, but these days hellbent on revenge, and pretty unpleasant as a result. His story is one that I was less interested in, ultimately, as the story progressed. And getting just a few chapters is Ufuoma, aide to the president of Nigeria – an intriguing character, with unexpected motivations; I would have enjoyed more from her perspective.

The overarching story is that humans register the approach of the Irunmole, and the Powers That Be respond as they think fit. But the truth is that this takes up far less of the novel than I had expected – while it’s always in Itu’s mind, it barely registers for the others until quite late in the story, because it’s kept quiet. So really this is a story of a near-future Nigeria (mostly; Itu goes to Nigeria relatively early on); and it’s fantastic. This is a world where most people have AI implants, which are trained on the individual – ask it for the time, or for basic info about something, or have it question whether you’re making sensible decisions. It’s a world of self-driving cars (mostly), and various other impressive technological features… but also one where corruption, and poverty, and other human vicissitudes are very present – why else would someone like Tope still get work? But that’s not to ignore that humanity’s other aspects – the love, the collegiality, the desire to do and be better – are also, of course also present.

I don’t know Nigeria, so I can’t speak to how well Talabi sites the novel geographically – he’s Nigerian, so one assumes he knows what he’s writing. Same goes for the way he portrays Nigerian society, and the use of language; several speakers use pidgin, and there’s a fair amount of slang too, all of which makes sense in context and adds to the sense of place. Additionally it’s worth noting the use of “juju” – just a few mentions, but at key moments – this is a word that I’ve only come into contact with as meaning ‘magic’, basically. Is the reference here meant to be ‘magic’ in a Western fantasy understanding? Is it science that’s not explained? It’s unclear – and I think that’s actually the point. Differentiating is unnecessary, and even unhelpful.

I was a little… surprised, maybe, by the ending. It wasn’t what I expected; I’m maybe a little disappointed, but also intrigued. Basically I have to keep thinking about it, which in itself isn’t a terrible result.

Overall though his is a really great novel, and one I enjoyed a lot.