Book: The Fist of Memory by Wole Talabi
Reviewed by Andareadstoomuch
Rating: 3/5
Thank you to DAW for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own and freely given.
This is another one I wanted to love but struggled to connect with. Told in multiple POVs we see the moment in which something moving faster than our own capacity in space is spotted in a direct trajectory for Earth. This is a book that weaves together the concept of faith across cultures and the moment of a possible first contact. All of which is taking place in Nigeria. I loved seeing the technological future of Nigeria here, and found that to be the most compelling part of the novel for me. It was nice to see something other than a Euro-centric focus when it comes to futuristic novels.
The premise is very solid, where I had difficulty connecting to the story was the disjointed quality of the characters. The pacing made it difficult to stay in the story, and they switched out so frequently it began to feel like several short stories woven together. This felt like it focused far too heavily on faith within a near future, and not enough of the science-fiction component to truly hold me. I felt like this could have been short stories told in full for each character with an overarching theme better than the current format. Ultimately, I couldn’t make it past the first half and stay engaged. This one ultimately ended up in a DNF for me.