Synopsis
They say there is no water in the City of Lies. They say there are no heroes in the City of Lies. They say there are no friends beyond the City of Lies. But would you believe what they say in the City of Lies?
In the City of Lies, they cut out your tongue when you turn thirteen, to appease the terrifying Ajungo Empire and make sure it continues sending water. Tutu will be thirteen in three days, but his parched mother won’t last that long. So Tutu goes to his oba and makes a deal: she provides water for his mother, and in exchange he will travel out into the desert and bring back water for the city. Thus begins Tutu’s quest for the salvation of his mother, his city, and himself.
The Lies of the Ajungo opens the curtains on a tremendous world, and begins the epic fable of the Forever Desert. With every word, Moses Ose Utomi weaves magic.
Review
“In exchange for water, the Ajungo demanded the tongues of every citizen of the City of Lies. It was a twofold price, a price of blood and a price of history: an untongued people cannot tell their story.”
I have been reading but it has been a while since I wrote book reviews. Usually the reason for it is that I’m lazy but this time I am being buried with work projects, however I couldn’t let this one pass. Because oh my god, what a book!
Basically, the short pitch for it is ‘like The Fifth Season but shorter.’ It deals with a lot of themes discussed in the Broken Earth series like oppression, segregation, power, subjugation, discrimination, culture and does it in a fraction of the pages. Books that touch upon these themes are emotional and cathartic reads for me and I almost always end up adoring them.
“Evil in one place is evil in every place.”
As seen from the blurb, the protagonist undertakes a quest to bring water to his mother and the city. This seems like a simple, straightforward narrative and yet the twists and turns elevate the story into a whole new level. The true beauty however lies in the balancing act. With this plot and the themes it discusses, the expectation might be that it will be a slow, character driven story but it’s not. It’s fast-paced, plot-driven (+character driven) and yet not rushed.
The way the author has layered the story is marvelous. It hits every beat and I mean every beat: introducing the status quo of the main character, have an inciting incident, explore the setting of the world and talk about the predicament the MC is thrust into, garner emotional connect with the reader and hook them, new twists and challenges in main quest, introducing new side characters one wants more of, their subplots that tie into the main plot, turning point and climax. Absolute 10/10 and I haven’t even gotten around to the different cultures explored, witty dialogues, fight sequences, magic with the cost, <<some bittersweet stuff that will be spoilery to mention>> This book is actually 15/10.
“You must learn. Only by learning can you free us.”
Coming to the climax, the author nails the ending. Both the MC’s internal and external journeys come to such satisfying conclusions. There is literally an earth-shattering fight scene and a full circle conviction rebuild after MC’s ingrained biases were destroyed. What’s magic is, the author does all of this and more in under a 100 pages.
Please check for content warnings if you have triggers as the story gets really dark really fast.
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