Where do I begin!!! I loved this novella so much. In only 87 pages, Utomi packs a punch with a fantastical African fable-like story that warns about power, propaganda, greed, and family. My only wish was that it was a full length novel, rather than a novella. I have immediately gotten the second book in this series - although it takes place hundreds of years later and with different characters, I am so excited to enter this world again.

The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi is an incredible book, and somehow it's not on the Hugo longlist, but it is on the Ignyte novella shortlist so we can celebrate that recognition at least! The best thing about this story is its worldbuilding, which feels like it's come straight out of a fable: the protagonist comes from the "City of Lies", which has made the terrible bargain to cut the tongue out of every adult resident in return for an annual allocation of water from the Ajungo. This, of course, means that its residents can no longer tell their own story, and that their own history is now in the hands of their oppressors. When almost-13-year-old Tutu leaves the city in search of water to save his mother, he somehow avoids the disappearance that has befallen every other child who has left, and instead he finds out the truth behind the Ajungo's conquests and where his city falls within it. Amazing stuff.

This book is such a unique and imaginative world. It is so captivating, and the author does a great job with originality and vivid descriptions. The novel's setting and premise are so creative, providing readers with an intriguing backdrop and a fresh take on fantasy. However, the book struggles with uneven pacing, and some plot points feel rushed or underdeveloped, which can detract from the overall experience. While the characters show potential, they often lack the depth and growth needed to fully engage the reader. While reading, that made the novel feel like a mishmash of captivating ideas and I think there were some missed opportunities to take the book to the next level.

For generations, in exchange for desperately needed water, the City of Lies has been forced to pay the Ajungo Empire with the tongues of its people. But one child risks going on a journey across the desert, hoping to find water elsewhere. The story unfolds with the texture and cadence of ancient myth, even as it deals with the quite modern evils of state propaganda, predatory trade agreements and the suppression of dissident voices. Of particular merit is the characterization of the protagonist, whose growth from nothing to people's paragon follows a natural emotional progression. Within the limited size of a novella, the author finds space to speculate on the ways that the deeds of flesh-and-blood people can become part of a community's traditional tales and, eventually, end up joining the ranks of mythical heroes.

This is a coming-of-age story and a coming-into-power story folded into each other like a painted fan, the kind that snaps open to reveal the full breadth of the image.Utomi’s writing is both elegant and efficient, and the story is so eminently devourable that I finished it in a couple of hours. In keeping with the contradictions at the book’s heart, it left me perfectly sated and hungry for more.

Many thanks to NetGalley and TOR for providing me with an eARC.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor for providing me with an eARC.

”There is no water in the City of Lies.”

What an epic novella! I really wanted more of this world, I am a lover of desert setting, I think it’s a great idea in a book.
Tutu is a boy who lives in a city where’s there’s no water. For his city to receive water, they must give something back to the Ajungo Empire: their tongues. And he’s the next victim. So he has only a choice to save his mother and his city: go and search for water.

I loved Tutu, I felt bad for him throughout the whole story and the ending broke my heart. He’s only a boy, an innocent victim. While he’s in the desert, he meets people and he grows. He became a man, even if he’s only 13. He learns that the world is full of lies and he’s not the only victim of the Empire. The atrocities he faces change him forever, and he finds that he’s not a simple boy from a forgotten city.

The writing feels very whimsical, the pace is fast, being a novella of almost 100 pages. For a short book, the twists and turns were quite big and I didn’t see coming. It made me very glad.

You may find it rushed, but again, it’s a short book and things are happening very fast! It’s a emotional book, with a sad ending, about revenge, peace and justice.

Sahara-inspired fantasy parable about lies, greed and control

“The Lies of the Ajungo” by Moses Ose Utomi is a fantasy parable novella about a boy called Tutu who lives in the City of Lies. When children turn 13 years old, their tongues are cut out as a sign of fealty to the Ajungo Empire who provide the very limited amount of water available to the citizens of the City of Lies. Days before his thirteenth birthday, and with his mother slowly dying of thirst, Tutu sets out on a quest into the Forever Desert to find water for his mother and his home.

This was a brilliant debut novella with not a single word wasted. With a deceptively simple premise, Utomi creates a rich and heavy-hitting story about the insidiousness of corrupt societies and the real impact on the people who live in them. The fantastical elements of the story are subtle but effective, as is the world-building. Both Tutu and the story grow and grow until reaching the book’s devastating climax and it is impossible for your heart not to break as you and Tutu slowly realise the truth of the world.

One that will linger with you for ages, and I am really looking forward to reading more of Utomi’s work.

The Lies of the Ajuno has a great message about the selfishness and greed of those with money and power, and the horrific acts they will commit to never lose their power over others. This is also an exciting and enraging reminder that sometimes being directed towards hating a common enemy from afar can cause you to miss the enemy right in front of you. This really successfully pulls off a lot of sociopolitical commentary as well as world building with this short novella

The Lies of the Ajungo is the debut novella of Nigerian-American author Moses Ose Utomi. The novella features a story about a boy from a city in world filled with desert that was taken advantage of by a powerful neighboring empire (the Ajungo). The Ajungo offers this city just enough water for its people to barely survive...in exchange for the tongues of every adult resident...and to make it worse, the Ajungo rename the city the "City of Lies" to prevent its residents from being believed when they seek for help. In this setting, the boy - Tutu - sets out into the desert to try to find water to save his dying mother...only to find the things he understands about the world aren't quite what he believed....

The result is a story of greed ad colonial and economic oppression and about the lies those in power use to prevent the oppressed from being able to rise up and change their fates. I'm gonna try to make this review as spoiler free as possible, although I may rot13 some spoilers after the jump, but I'll say straight out: this is a really effective novella in characters, themes, and message, and well worthy of award recognition.

Note: The novella is part of a series that will be continued next year apparently. But the story is entirely stand alone and the only connection I suspect there is in the series - from what I can tell from the next novella's plot summary - is that it takes place in the same world some 300 years later, when this story's events are long mythologized history.


Quick Plot Summary:

Tutu grew up in a city now known as the City of Lies. It wasn't always called that, but ages ago when the City ran out of water, it had no choice but to turn to the terrifying Ajungo Empire for help. And the Ajungo made them a horrific bargain: cut off the tongues of all citizens when they turn 13 and ship those tongues to the Ajungo...and the Ajungo will provide the city with just enough water for its people to survive. Barely. And to make sure that the City's inhabitants couldn't get help, the Ajungo renamed the city the "City of Lies", ensuring that no one would believe any of the City's residents who reached them and tried to explain their plight.

Since that bargain, countless wanna-be heroes have set out from the City into the desert to seek water or aid for the City so as to save its people....and none have returned successfully. And so the heroes have stopped coming and the saying has emerged: "There are no heroes in the City of Lies".

But when Tutu's mother is on the verge of death from a lack of water, 12 year old Tutu sees no other choice but to try to be that hero - to trek into the desert in search of water to save his city. But what he finds there will change....everything.


Thoughts: The Lies of the Ajungo packs a lot of details into a short package - as evidenced by the fact that my plot summary above being as long as the plot summaries I use in my reviews of novels despite this being a shorter work. The story features a strong lead character in Tutu, a boy who leaves his city hoping just to save his people and his mother in particular and who is in some ways naïve about how things work in the desert even as he is in no way optimistic about his chances. And so as Tutu grows and as he encounters other people in the desert who are in similar situations (a trio of girls/young-women whose city is forced to cut off its people's ears in exchange for iron for example), you really see how that naivete is broken and how he responds to the truths he uncovers. And it makes him incredibly relatable as he discovers that the world is even more unjust than he could've known...and as he becomes determined to take a desperate final action to put an end to it.

And then there are the reveals, which really centralize the themes of this novella. The novella begins as one that makes you think it's going to deal primarily with the horrors of colonization and empire...and while those themes are still definitely there, they are touched in a way that is not how you'd expect from how the novella starts. And yet the themes all make utter sense, as the plot reveals make both the reader and Tutu realize how much they missed in the first few pages. And so you have in the end a story about how greed and power really make people in power into monsters who will do almost anything to hold their grip on power...and how they will use propaganda and lies in order to ensure that no one can do anything to stop it. And I won't say much more since I don't want to spoil, but this story really shows in ways you won't expect the depths that people in power will go to keep their hold on power and makes clear that the only way to meet such monstrous acts is with desperate extreme actions.

A tour de force and I'll be back for Utomi's next novella in this world.

Do you ever read a book, and you know without a shadow of a doubt that you are seeing a piece of someone's soul? That there is some greater story, some message, that has been burning in the author's heart and that the story you just read is part of it?

Well, that's how I felt with The Lies of the Ajungo.

It shouldn't be too surprising that I felt the glimmering edges of some deeper story while reading this novella - it is, after all, full of metaphor and fable. The Forever Desert, Tutu, and the Ajungo were not poorly described substitutes for other themes. No, the metaphor and values were also the Forever Desert, Tutu, and the Ajungo. If you don't understand that, I'm not sure how else to explain it.

Beyond that, the writing is lovely. Succinct, flowing, and honest, I had an immediate grasp on the setting and characters. It was rather impressive how thoroughly I was transported to the Forever Desert in such a short novella! The umber sands, refreshing silkiness of water, and scratchy winds were vivid.

Sure, I felt like I wanted a little more time to understand the answers revealed at the end. Such is the life of reading novellas, and why I don't do it often. But for a short read, I found the story to be extremely well-developed, powerful, and immersive. Absolutely my favorite novella I've ever read!

The ending left me exactly as it should have. Did I expect it? No. Did it settle in me with the perfect ring of rightness and hope? Yes.

I will be keeping my eye out for Utomi's next work in the world, and whatever he puts out after that!!

LOVED THIS! absolutely incredible piece of fiction. need book 2 now!!! need more from moses ose utomi now!!! just fantastic. i devoured this and i'm now addicted. will read anything this author writes - give me the shopping lists!

— thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the free digital ARC.

Reading 'The Lies of the Ajungo' by Moses Ose Utomi felt like sitting around a campfire, engrossed in an age-old tale passed down generations. This novella carries the quintessential charm of a fairytale or fable.

The story takes us on a journey with the main protagonist Tutu, a child who left his community in hopes of saving not everyone, but a single being: his mother. As a child, he is a delightful balance of bravery and naivety, intellect and open-mindedness. It's this unique blend of qualities that made me cheer for him from start to finish.

What amazed me most about this novella is the depth and breadth of storytelling packed into just about a hundred pages. Despite its brief length, it felt as comprehensive and compelling as an entire novel. Utomi masterfully constructs a vast, magical world and a compelling tale that warns, informs, and enchants, much like a classic fable.

Overall, this was a brilliant read that left me pondering its powerful message long after I had turned the last page. It's a testament to the power of concise, well-crafted storytelling that I would highly recommend.

This was such a fabulous novella! The world building was stellar, and I loved unraveling the mysteries of the plot. I wish this was longer because I enjoyed it so much!

This was such an interesting read. It takes us to a different world with part sci-fi and part fantasy. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC.

This book has an opening line that will hook you, and a taut story that continues to unfold from there. It's a sharp, beautiful novella.

The story follows Tutu, a child from the City of Lies. The desert city-state is under the thumb of the Ajungo Empire, who force every citizen to cut off their tongue at thirteen in exchange for water. Tutu is about to turn thirteen and decides instead to go out into the desert to find water for his people - and save his mother.

Utomi depicts a stunning, evocative desert full of danger magical and not. It's three quarters fable and one quarter fantasy, with visceral action and heartbreaking sacrifice. It has a cast of great characters and the rhythm of the storytelling is perfection. The sentences are spare and words precisely chosen. I was blown away by it and am looking forward to reading more by this author!

Realy enjoyed this book and I think it will have a good audience at my library. Definitely will be ordering.

Despite primarily being a romance reader, this book was extremely enjoyable. The cross between folklore and fantasy was immersive and clearly well researched. I love the transformative message of the story that is buried in the action and fast pacing of the book. A super fun read!

The Lies of the Ajungo is very short, shorter than I’d expected, and follows the journey of one boy from the City of Lies. Slowly, he begins to meet people from other cities, begins to learn their stories, and perhaps to have the tools to unravel the problems they all turn out to share. I didn’t find the eventual secret too surprising, but I did enjoy the journey, the accumulation of evidence that finally made the whys and wherefores clear.

I’m surprised to read that this is actually going to have a sequel/companion, because it felt very self-contained. I can see where you could fill in the gaps in the world, but at the same time, I’m not sure why you’d want to. It feels like a fully-formed thing of its own, and almost with a moral to it, like a story plucked from the middle of a set of stories from One Thousand and One Nights (or The Decameron, or the Canterbury Tales, if they hadn’t been such very white European stories).

I enjoyed the reading experience well enough without getting deeply absorbed or very involved with it. I’d be curious to read more, but I’m not in a hurry for it and if I don’t read more, I’ll be alright with that.

Thanks to @tordotcompub @torbooks for the reading copy.

"The Lies of the Ajungo" by Moses Ose Utome is a fantastic, fleeting novella. I am mostly reading fantasy or scifi but I read anything especially if they're queer!

This is a tale of prolonged suffering that is ended by tempered resolve, its point polished ever sharper. I am not sure how to talk about it without spoiling much since it's such a short read. What I can tell is that Utome paints vivid pictures both bleak and hopeful from a barren desert landscape. This is a journey to uncovering the truth and knowing that it sometimes is just a mirage, all lies orchestrated to fool us. I am entralled by Utome's work and can't wait to read a full-length novel soon.

A stunning novella which I devoured in one sitting. It is refreshing to have a book where the mythos is outside of the traditional Western/European cultures, and sits in great company with P.Djeli Clark, Rebecca Roanhorse and Aliette de Bodard.
Tutu a young teen, on the verge of turning 13 lives in the City of Lies, a place bereft of water and dependant on the Ajungo Empire. In this city when you turn 13 your tongue is cut out as a payment to the Ajungo to keep the water flowing.
Tutu's mother is slowly dying of dehydration and his only hope to save her is to go on a quest into the Forever Desert to find a source of water. This would not only save his mother but also his city. Tutu starts out his journey with the naivety of a sheltered boy of his age, but he is forged in the heart of the desert and his understanding expands exponentially beyond his original narrow horizons.
The book explores themes of nation, isolation, division and the length that those in power will go to keep hold of it. This is a complete story which in the space of 96 pages provides full immersion into the authors imagined world and builds up plot twists that blindside the reader.
I would thoroughly recommend and my thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this gem. All views are my own.