A review by kitvaria_sarene
David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
4.0
The publisher calls this God-Punk - that is a bit to detailed or me, so I'll go with either Urban Fantasy or Dystopia...
While David Mogo wasn't just as fast paced and fun as some of my other favourite UFs, the fresh setting, and different tone and voice more than made up for it!
I've seen some other reviews complaining about too much introspection and not enough action, and I can't say I consciously noticed that or was in any way bothered.
I did really like the main character and especially his Papa Udi and a girl named Fati. I did lose track about who is who a few times with the other side characters though, as the cast grew, and they all seemed to have a whole multitude of names (or titles?). I always found my footing again, but my memory is already bad for names, so this was the only real challenge for me.
Bits and pieces of the dialogue where in slang, and I had to work to catch all of that, but it was little enough to actually add to the setting, and not feel like a chore. I got used to it pretty quickly and then it got easier to "translate". Here's one such example:
I usually hate info dumps, and I also saw some reviews complain about those in here - I actually felt like I got just the utter basic info, and had to make do with that! Which is fine, especially with such a short and quick read.
All in all this was fun to read and to explore Lagos, which I have since looked up!
While David Mogo wasn't just as fast paced and fun as some of my other favourite UFs, the fresh setting, and different tone and voice more than made up for it!
I've seen some other reviews complaining about too much introspection and not enough action, and I can't say I consciously noticed that or was in any way bothered.
I did really like the main character and especially his Papa Udi and a girl named Fati. I did lose track about who is who a few times with the other side characters though, as the cast grew, and they all seemed to have a whole multitude of names (or titles?). I always found my footing again, but my memory is already bad for names, so this was the only real challenge for me.
Bits and pieces of the dialogue where in slang, and I had to work to catch all of that, but it was little enough to actually add to the setting, and not feel like a chore. I got used to it pretty quickly and then it got easier to "translate". Here's one such example:
"I understand." He chews a bit. "That thing wey you do with Sango, your body suppose don scatter."
"I feel like say pessin carry my body knack am for ground, arrange am back," I say, glad to be back to the old us. "The thing dey pain, I no lie."
I usually hate info dumps, and I also saw some reviews complain about those in here - I actually felt like I got just the utter basic info, and had to make do with that! Which is fine, especially with such a short and quick read.
All in all this was fun to read and to explore Lagos, which I have since looked up!