Lost Arc Dreaming is a post climate disaster novella set off the coast of West Africa. It's surrounds these five pillars that create a tower where all the humans who survived the climate disaster now reside. The tower is split up into three class levels the uppers, the midders and the lowers. Due to a series of unfortunate events one person from each level must work together to ensure the stability and survival of others in the tower.

I found the prose and overall storyline to be extremely interesting and well thought out. The closest I can think of to something like this would be The Deep by Rivers Solomon. But this definitely has more of a post-apocalyptic fill to it.

In addition to the well thought out main storyline, each of the three people within the tower that the story revolves around has their own interpersonal storylines and conflicts. Which only added to the depth and overall enjoyment of the novel. I wished we had gotten more surrounding the beings that lived out in the water. I would've really liked to have seen this be a full length novel. I also think a prequel covering the actual creation of the towers, and the climate disaster would be super interesting.

Overall, I can fully recommend this Novella. It is interesting and well thought out. It definitely left me wanting more by this author, and I will continue to read from this author based off of this Novella.

Genre: science fiction, speculative fiction, Afrofuturism

In a future of pollution and sea level rise, the people of Lagos live in giant towers, kilometers high but also partially submerged. Yekini is a Midder, a middle-class citizen who lives above the waters but well below the top floors of her tower, and she’s just been given her first solo workzone assignment…on the lower levels, undersea. There’s a legend of other creatures who inhabit the water, called Children, potentially descended from those who were shut outside of the towers when the waters rose. And something is telling Yekini that the disturbance undersea she’ll be investigating has to do with them.

I really enjoyed the scope and pacing of Lost Ark Dreaming. I love the concept of towers as the futuristic living space - it's not an uncommon trope to find in SF, but Okungbowa has put a lot of thought into the worldbuilding. For under two hundred pages, the story has a rich background of details, and Okungbowa knows what to bring into the prose and what to leave floating just off page in the periphery. It has the feeling of a worldbuilding activity, a place where the author could nurture an imaginative instinct while working on his longer epic fantasy.

I haven't left many novellas feeling like I wanted more recently, but I think this could have been a little longer. The ending is very abrupt, and while I enjoy an unsettling end - after all, I cut my teeth on SF short stories as a teen - it felt disconnected from the rest of the story. I recommend approaching the book like a short novel rather than a novella for the pacing.

The publisher's description of this book being Snowpiercer meets Rivers Solomon’s The Deep is spot on. In a far future, the coast of Nigeria has been swallowed up by massively rising sea levels, with people living in a partially submerged, miles-high towers originally designed as luxury living spaces for the ultra-wealthy. Now, the descendants of those wealthy people live at the top of these towers, while the rest of the population is crammed into the dank floors below sea level. There are also those who were left for dead as the sea level rose, some of whom have been reawakened by a mysterious and ancient power and now seek vengeance on those who abandoned them. This novella focuses on three people living within the tower: Yekini, a mid-level analyst; Tuoyo, an undersea mechanic; and Ngozi, a bureaucrat from a high level of government. Their lives intersect in surprising and unexpected ways as this unlikely trio may be the ones who affect the fate of everyone--both those living in the tower and outside it.

I was really impressed with how much the author conveys in such a short novella--he quickly and skillfully establishes the premise, gives a good sense of the characters, and what the stakes are. The action starts quickly and keeps going the entire time. I wasn't a huge fan of the lyrical interludes that were interspersed throughout but I'm sure others will enjoy that. I will warn you that the ending is a bit open-ended/open to interpretation, which I didn't mind because I did feel like it was optimistically open-ended (if that makes sense) but your milage may vary.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have been in a kick lately of really enjoying all that novellas have to offer me--short, bite-sized adventure, low-commitment for high-pay off, glimpses into fun worlds, etc. This one was no exception. Though I tend to avoid books (sci-fi or otherwise) that center climate-change, I did end up liking this one. In my mind, I really don't need more anxiety-inducing food for thought about an even that I'm actively living through--similarly, I strongly dislike books that feature COVID. In this story, I liked that we got to see the way that memory served as a through-line for community, and the way that all the different ideologies in this story blend together. I do wish that we got a little more depth of the characters and the world, but for how few pages this story occupied it did a pretty good job. This is an instance where I definitely think that this could have been a longer novel, because the world and characters could use the room to breathe.

For such a short work, Okungbowa pours such history and meaning into these pages where climate change has finally culminated and the hubris of man is revealed to be found in their pride and greed for power, longevity, and a selfish legacy.

I love how memory was used to impart the importance of how we truly exist in our cultures and communities and of how we use memory as a glue, to teach, to preserve, and to transcend.

This was truly a wonderful piece of fiction.

I liked the premise of this more than I liked the actual story, sadly. it might have been the novella pacing that didn't work for me, but while the worldbuilding was cool it felt shallow, and the characters were one dimensional and forgettable. that said this does what good scifi should do in that the world it creates keeps living in your head after you finish it. and ppl who liked The Deep better than i did might get a lot out of this one

Firstly, this eco-sci-fi dystopian story surprised me by also having a thriller component. I went into this book assuming it was slow and meditative, but thankfully I was wrong because my attention never wavered. I picked this up because the marketing compared it to The Deep by Rivers Solomon, which I read earlier this year and loved! The author himself specifically claims The Deep as an influence and it shows through. I also see little bits of Howey’s Silo series—a population living in a tower divided by class depending on which floors they live on. Regardless of the tropes or inspirations, Lost Ark Dreaming is a compelling story in its own right.

The book has short chapters and alternates POVs between our three protagonists, with interludes sprinkled throughout. The interludes contain excerpts from archives, intelligence reports, and such which help to provide some in-world historical context to the events unfolding in the present. Sometimes those sections are philosophical musings or communications of bone-deep knowledge that feel like prayers which I found difficult to parse but integral to the lore and culture of this world. The writing style felt to me at times matter-of-fact and at others poetic, which kept me turning the pages at a quick pace.

Regarding the three protagonists, I found their actions believable within the context of their respective personalities. Although each character played a crucial role in the story's progression, some of them showed more growth than others. While at the end all three characters felt self-actualized, to me, Yekini carried the emotional weight of the story. Ngozi’s arc was one of more obvious growth but I didn’t connect as much with it, and even though I found Tuoyo more likeable, it also felt like she was relegated to the background (which is a bummer).

Overall, I felt like this novella was a satisfying blend of pacey adventure and thought-provoking ideas—Which, by the way, is my favourite type of sci-fi! Above all, it’s a story about the negative effects of capitalism and colonialism on the environment. I loved the way the book called out greedy corporations for messing with ecosystems they know nothing about because that’s something we’ve been seeing more and more in real life. Something else I appreciated, surprisingly, is the open-ended ending; there are mysteries left unexplained but the reader is left with an understanding that not everything has to be! The book concludes on a powerful yet optimistic note, encouraging readers to imagine potential futures for both the book and themselves.

As a last note, I want to mention a small bone to pick with the blurb of this book: I feel like it gives too much information away. The blurb is a disservice to the careful way the book presents information to readers. It’s not the book’s fault but rather a fault of the marketing which negatively affected the intrigue and emotional impact of the book for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. I'm leaving my honest review voluntarily.

A novella with an amazing amount of depth and thematic resonance, Lost Arc Dreaming is an absolute tour de force.

This book reminded me quite a bit of the movie/show Snowpiercer, due to the structure of the tower - which you heard in the jacket copy - and the focus on classism. While Snowpeircer was entirely about that, this novel goes further, using its plot and setting to dig into themes of climate change, elitism, and historical debt.

Yet, despite all these complex topics, the story is also entirely entertaining and exciting. Once the book starts, it doesn’t stop when it comes to action and pacing, moving at a breakneck speed that suited the story and maintained great tension. There are three character points of view, though the one main character, Yekini, gets the most attention. We are given just enough backstory on the characters to give them motivations and goals that make sense, as well as depth. We have a skeptical government worker, a devoted tower manager, and a grieving engineer; their personalities and plans worked well with and against one another to create an engaging dynamic between the three. I loved seeing them work and fight with one another.

The setting is simple yet effective. It’s one of those books where I didn’t care how feasible the setting was because it’s an allegory. To be clear, the setting made sense as a setting, but certain infrastructure questions I had regarding the entropy of technology and even structural concerns were not addressed. YET, the tower setting is not meant to be a hyper-realistic exposition of what it would be like living in such a closed system. It's an allegory for not only classism in general, but how certain countries or cultures are being left behind (or, most likely, will be left behind) as climate change claims more and more coastlines. As such, there is enough explained or fleshed out to make the story make sense and extrapolate on these themes in a way that felt organic and not didactic.

I can’t say too much else about it without going into spoilers, but Lost Arc Dreaming is utterly entrancing.

Let me start by saying that dystopian novels are my original bread and butter - the real reason I fell in love with reading as a pre-teen. This book, clocking in just under 200 pages, gave me the same sort of feelings that I felt when I devoured books as my younger self: I wanted to stay up late and finish this book in one go (sadly, things like work and sleep get in the way of pulling all-nighters anymore). The chapters are short, bite-sized, and perfect for convincing yourself to read “just one more.”

It opens with a dream sequence that helps situate the reader in the setting: post-climate disaster where the Atlantic Ocean has overtaken lands and humans off the coast of West Africa are now permanently living in five high-rise towers with distinct class ranks. The Uppers are where the wealthy and affluent live, giving little to no thought about the people or structures below their floors. The Midders are the general working class, only really able to rise to other floors for work, but are still considered to be above new sea levels. The Lowers are just that - those who reside beneath the new sea level. They are a misunderstood people, generally full of engineers and technicians who help keep the entire structure from collapsing and ruin.

We meet our protagonists: Yekini, a Midder analyst; Ngozi, a cocky higher-level Midder working for the government; and Tuoyo, a Lower mechanic whose rank was lowered after a devastating familial loss. When there is a critical event on the lower floors, these three must unite to save themselves, the tower, and everyone who resides within. They encounter countless barriers as they try to locate a sea-dwelling creature (monster?) who may have entered the tower, but readers witness the internal struggles of each character as they grow through their traumas. In the end, we see a dissolution of barriers like class, gender, and ego to save the future of humanity.

I will absolutely read anything by Okungbowa moving forward, as I’m always impressed by novellas that pack a punch with themes and well-rounded storytelling/character arcs. One of my favorite parts of this book was how he chose to enrich the reader’s understanding of this Earth and its history by sprinkling in historical records and memos, and including alternate chapters that share the history and knowledge of the Children.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book, releasing May 21st!

Haven't read anything by Okungbowa before but really liked this one, a climate-crisis story set in the near future just off the coast of Nigeria-the story also deals with ideas of cultural identity and class divisions. Novellas can be tricky because they often fall between feeling like a short story that got dragged out too long or a short version of what should be a full-length novel, but this story worked really well as a stand-alone at this length. We got enough time with our three main characters and the pace of the book moved along briskly. I plan to check out Okungbowa's longer works after this one, which I happily recommend!

4/5 stars.

Lost Ark Dreaming is an African-inspired eco-sci-fi from Okungbowa. I really enjoyed reading through this. His prose and voice was incredible throughout. I was worried introducing 3 POV characters with such a short page count but Okungbowa gave each such a unique and valuable voice. There were many quotable passages throughout and I think the theme was incredible. Highly recommend this!

At first I was worried that this would go over my head, as some dystopian sci fi short novels tend to. But this was a really great examination of a flooded future and what kinds of problems they might face and solve. I really enjoyed reading it and found myself contemplating the social and class divides this future world is living. It was a thoughtful but very engaging and readable sci-fi novella.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa is a Africanfuturism climate fiction novella with three POV characters, interludes, poetry, and a report on the Nigeria-Biafra war and genocide. Yekini, Tuoyo, and Ngozi all live in the last tower left in Lagos after the other towers collapsed and took thousands of people with it. When Yekini is assigned to the underwater part of the tower, the Children start to rise.

Africanfuturism is one of my favorite subgenres and this was another instant favorite in the subgenre. The use of cli-fi elements to discuss the current situation of Lagos, a city that is at risk of flooding if global warming continues, helped bring forth how Nigeria is expected to take the trash of the rest of the world as other countries pump out dangerous chemicals and gasses. It also discusses our potential future if we don’t start getting a handle on what we put into the Earth.

The novella flips through the three POVs and the various styles of interlude to provide rich worldbuilding and a layered story by drawing on the past, present, and what could come to be. Yekini’s parents died when the towers started falling and Ngozi’s sister passed when refugees from those towers were killed. Yekini and Ngozi both come from similar situations, but their unique perspectives put them in very different places when the story starts. Tuoyo works hard to keep the tower running but the higher-ups who rely on her don’t care enough to even know her name.

Along with discussing climate change, we also get an exploration of classism. The upper classes live on the higher floors and the lower classes, called Lowers, live on the lower floors. Yekini’s family used to be Lowers before her parents worked to change their family’s fortune. Ngozi has moved up a lot of levels and seems to have forgotten to show solidarity with his fellow former Lower, Yekini, and even steals credit for other people’s work, hinting at sexism in the workplace.

I would recommend this to readers looking for cli-fi set in Africa, fans of explorations of the part towers might play in our future, and those looking for more experimental novellas.

Lost Ark Dreaming is a sci fi novella about a future where water has taken over the world. A skyscraper stands in the ocean and it is a tale of the haves vs the have nots. The have nots live on the bottom levels of the building dealing with water issues and structural problems. The haves live above and are managers, pencil pushers and society goers. This book really reminds me of a non moving Snowpiercer. Our main characters are sent below to the water levels to investigate an issue that may have been cause by a mysterious rave of water dwellers known as The Children.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the opportunity to read and review this book which I am giving three stars. This book started out well and had me hooked for the first 50%, but once the characters actually encounter one the The Children it started to go downhill. There were pacing issues and while I was fine with the ultimate resolution I had lost interest getting there.

This book does get three stars because I did like the beginning, but I will not be posting about this book on my social media.

I have to give it to Netgalley because without them I would most likely NEVER have known about this author, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, nor be exposed to any of his writings. With that being said, this sci-fi, dystopian, post apocalyptic novella by Suyi was a great and quick read. The story involves three main characters who live and work within different levels of towers and hierarchy, and they quickly realize that their status means nothing when their superiors ultimately think little of their lives. The three unlikely characters work together to save their nation living in towers, and they need to draw upon the buried unknown past.

This short novella is a complete story that fully engulfs you into the world created by Suyi Davies Okungowa. He did an excellent job creating a great flow, and built a world and it's history/mythology. The ending made me frustrated, but I will admit, I found myself invested into the characters in the short time it took to read this novella.

Thank you to Netgalley, Tor Publishing and Suyi Davies Okungowa for allowing me to read this ARC for a review.

I will posting to Goodreads, Storygraph and Instagram - may post to retail sites after publishing date.

Lost Ark Dreaming is a little novella that punches far above its weight class. It’s set in a near future, flooded Lagos, where most of the population lives in a huge skyscraper amidst the flooded city. Through archival documents, flashbacks, and tantalizing hints, Okungbowa builds out a grounded believable dystopia. The world building and character work are the strongest parts of this novella, both of which defy the easy genre expectations, and move in surprising, but well justified ways.

I was especially impressed with how Okunbowa threaded the dystopian needle. Too over the top and the world doesn’t read as believable, too little, and it’s not horrifying. This world (and the people who lived in it) were close enough to real human behavior to ring true in the most upsetting ways.

I wish I were the kind of person who enjoyed poetry more (this says far more about me than it does about the book) but the poetic interludes did not work particularly well for me. I also found some of the plotting weaker than the stage on which it was taking place, but in a novella that is far less important than getting the atmosphere and characters correct. I am very glad to have gotten a chance to review this excellent new addition to the afrofuturism and clifi subgenres.

I received an advance review copy in exchange for this honest review.

To post on goodreads, personal website, and instagram after 5/7/2024

I received a free e-arc from NetGalley for this one and I honestly almost didn't request it, because of it being sci-fi (cli-fi, technically) and also a novella. Two things that aren't often my cup of tea. But: Suyi Davies Okungowa. An author that I tend to enjoy. And the premise sounded intriguing, for sure!

However, I should have trusted my gut instinct that it wouldn't be my cup of tea.

I absolutely think a LOT of people will really enjoy this or truly love it. But for me it was a little too technical-leaning and too abridged feeling. Also the writing style in this was different from Okunbgowa's typical writing style, in my opinion. Much more cryptic and hand-waving, which makes sense I suppose due to this story leaning more heavily on mythology and folklore. But it's not a style of storytelling that does much for me as a reader.

I am also not someone who loves severely open-ended endings that leave A LOT of questions unanswered.

So, I didn't have a terrible time with this, and I truly do see there being a large audience of people who will connect with this story and enjoy it more... but it ended up just being "fine" for me personally.

I found this book to be engaging and very well-written. The premise is set around a dystopian future after a climate change event and an unlikely group working together to uncover a conspiracy. Though the book is short, it's a novella, the world-building is rich and deep and the characters are realistic with interesting backstories. The way this story unfolds is very satisfying and I immediately wanted to read more from Suyi Davies Okungbowa after finishing.

One Sentence Review: A well-constructed and engaging climate fiction novella that attempts to blend science and mythology but falls into the trap of privileging one over the other in advocating for a posthuman vision of the future.

Lost Ark Dreaming is sent in the Pinnacle, the tallest and only remaining tower from The Fingers, a five-tower complex built off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria, on an artificially constructed island in the closing days of Earth’s ability to sustain our current way of life. Built to withstand inevitable flooding, people from Lagos flee to The Fingers, but each of the other four towers is abandoned as they become uninhabitable. Many people are left to die in the waters, and our main characters are haunted by this very recent history. The tower itself is divided into a fairly strict class hierarchy—literally. The richest and most privileged lived at the top of the tower (with the founder’s descendent, the nominal ruler of the tower, living at the very top), and each level decreased in status, wealth, and power. Our main characters are Ngozi, a fairly high-level bureaucrat, Tuoyo, a mid-level analyst, and Yekini, a low-level foreman. Ngozi and Tuoyo are summoned to Yekini’s level to deal with a breach, a situation that could prove catastrophic. Ngozi strongly and obviously does not want to be there and comes burdened with stereotypes, privilege, and ego; Tuoyo has significantly more mixed feelings but quickly sides with Yekini against Ngozi’s arrogant attitude. The first half of the novella focuses on figuring out what caused the breach, and the second half focuses on the secrets the tower leadership is keeping and their disregard for the lower levels/classes.

In the one-sentence review, I mentioned the inclusion of mythology in this book, and I can’t get more into how mythology enters the book without giving away the twist so just trust me that it is there in the rest of the discussion. A lot of climate fiction has the technofix problem, i.e., if we find the right technology, then all our problems will be solved, and we won’t have to give up too much of our accustomed way of life. I call this a problem because (at least in my opinion) this is a fairly delusional way of thinking as it allows the reader to escape any critical examination of our contemporary behavior. Lost Ark Dreaming does not fully fall into the technofix trap: the world has dramatically changed from what we recognize in some ways, but it still heavily relies on the idea that our salvation will come through the timely appearance of some quasi-magic invention. The only people who are saved are the ones who are able to get to The Pinnacle somehow.
The intrusion into the book of the mythological elements presents a counterpoint to the above observation about the technological elements. And I mean that very literally. It is not just a philosophical difference (although it is that) but one of direct conflict. This is what makes this not a solarpunk novel. Instead of thinking through the implication of intertwining traditional beliefs with the necessity of lifestyle and civilization change separates this from that tradition. The book does end with a gesture to a better future that could embrace the posthuman and confront problematic past choices, but nothing is done with that promise.

The strongest aspect of this novella is the characters. All three of the central characters are narrators with POV chapters that cycle through each person. Each character expresses a lot of their interiority, so the readers get a good look into how each character’s perspectives and beliefs shift through the book as they encounter new information. The plot is well-paced with information reveals given at the right time for character development.The world building did take some shortcuts in the form of relying on the reader already agreeing with the author on some element (i.e., those in power inherently bad) without giving the reader too much information about why. There is no main villain besides a vague power that be. This made the excellent character construction and development of the protagonists fall a little flat at the end.

I love a found documents book and while this isn’t directly a found documents book, there are interstitial chapters which are found documents and this was definitely a personal highlight to get some of the world building and history of this world. I love this kind of
This has nothing to do with the book because the author doesn’t write their own blurbs, but: I think the blurb for this book does it a huge disservice. It is described as being “high-octane” and also implies that all five of the towers are still intact and occupied. The blurb seems to have been written from a synopsis of the book not the actual book.

If you are interested in climate fiction either as an already established connoisseur or someone who is looking to get into the genre, I would recommend this book. I don’t think it is the strongest entry in the genre, but it does present many of the core conflicts and tensions of the genre. The African setting is a welcome breath of fresh air in the American publishing scene as well.

I loved this little book that packs a big punch! I have not read Okungbowa's adult fantasy novels yet, though they have been on my TBR for a while, and I will DEFINITELY be seeking out more of his work.

One great thing about this novella is Okungbowa's ability to cram a lot of characterization and world building into such a few pages. These characters were absolutely fantastic. Yekini, Ngozi, and Tuoyo are complex, flawed, and compelling characters. I love when short fiction is still able to get me hooked on characters, and this one definitely did. I was rooting for them, and I felt real fear for their safety.

The story is such a seamless blend of mythology and climate disaster fiction. I loved how Okungbowa wove Yoruba culture into the story. He also turns his lense on generational trauma, class division, and entitlement in a way that is both poignant AND entertaining. I am telling you - this little book is doing the most with its 192 pages.

Highly recommend.