Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor has previously suggested that Nigerian storytelling requires no separation of the mystical and the mundane, perhaps explaining the potent blend of sci-fi, fable and social commentary here. In the troubled lagoon that is Lagos, aliens arrive with a sonic boom and the waters inexplicably rise, at one point reaching out to snatch a chosen three – Adaora, Agu, Anthony – for purposes unknown. Either way, Lagos burns.

Okorafor is fearless in tackling taboos – corruption and sexuality two of many – but while these issues would exist deep within subtext for the sadly silent genre greats Bradbury and Matheson (RIP), Okorafor brings them into sharp focus. Their forefront position imposes such function on characters that it detracts from their fluidity. The book's flaws exist as side effects of the author’s great strength – a hugely fertile imagination – which overloads the narrative with more theme and technique than it can hold. Changes in format and tense overlap at times in an unruly Rashomon effect, and while designed to add texture and insight they eventually disjoint. This still leaves a vibrant, magical tale, never less than enjoyable and not once dull; its targets are neither weak nor easy – government and religion take heavy body blows. Lagoon is a love letter to a city and a society still bearing the scars of colonialism and civil war, here confronting the very relevant fears of alien otherness and the beast within themselves. [Alan Bett]