Synopsis
LAGOS WILL NOT BE DESTROYED
The gods have fallen to earth in their thousands, and chaos reigns.
Though broken and leaderless, the city endures.
David Mogo, demigod and godhunter, has one task: capture two of the most powerful gods in the city and deliver them to the wizard gangster Lukmon Ajala.
No problem, right?
Review
I came into this novel with a determination to read something very different from my normal fair. I have a love of fantasy and scifi, with only a passing experience of urban fantasy. To that end, David Mogo Godhunter appealed because it has that broad hint of the urban and the fantasy, while the Nigerian setting, written by a Nigerian writer, would hopefully provide an insight into a pantheon of gods that will be fresh and new to me.
I was not disappointed.
Now there are lots of opinions on this book out there. So, I’ll strike mine in iron and fire before I continue. I loved it. Perfect? No. But damn, I enjoyed the ride, and a rollercoaster it certainly was.
This starts out in the vein of a noir-based, first person POV in the clearly self-deprecating world of David Mogo as he tries to make a living trapping godlings in a run-down and shattered Lagos. His step-parent is a wizard, and they live in a run-down house in what starts off as a quieter part of the city after the gods come crashing down. They, you see, have been expelled from their own realm and chose Lagos as their residence.
And this is where the book runs into the odd issue. It reads very much like a book in three parts as Mogo’s true family history is revealed and he evolves into something much more … powerful. But that I will leave there. The action comes thick and fast, and as is the way with urban fantasy, hope teeters on many a ledge and is often pushed back to safety by the side characters who deeply believe in Mogo.
I also enjoyed the structure of the human magic in the book, the way wizards had such varying powers and abilities, from the sham to the powerful, and the deep mistrust between them all. And ultimately, the very human characters that support Mogo on his fraught and painful journey towards the final confrontation. In the last third, the gods come quick and fast. Some good, some not ‒ but all are powerful.
Give it a read. Stick with it.
Loved it.
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