Stefen’s Bookclub – December

The December book club book is Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

This is the latest book from the World Fantasy Award winner. In it she once again draws on her West African homeland for inspiration and crafts a unique work of science fiction. When the book was first released in trade paperback I was tempted to set it as the book club book right away, but patience prevailed and with the $19.99 version on the way it seems like a good book to end the year on.

A meteorite falls from the sky into the ocean off the coast of Nigeria. On Bar Beach in Lagos are three lost souls each searching for something in themselves. Adaora is a Marine Biologist, Anthony a famous rapper, and Agu a soldier. A huge wave crashes onto the beach and they are swept away. This should be an end, but for these three it is only the beginning.

This is an alien first contact story with a twist. Nigerian folklore and contemporary life mix with science fiction elements. Perspectives shift, and narrators can be anyone or anything. This is not a science fiction story set in Africa. This is an African science fiction story.