Lost Ark Dreaming is a post-apocalyptic fantasy taking place in a handful of high rise apartments located in what used to be Lagos Nigeria, which has been drowned along with most of the world in what’s referred to as a Second Deluge. Our three protagonists are an analyst named Yekini, an engineer named Touya, and a mid-level administrator in the Office of the Pinnacle Leadership named Ngozi. These three individuals are drawn into a strange quest that might save the denizens of the towers, or destroy them.
The quest is set off when Yekini and Ngozi end up in the lower levels of the apartment building, to investigate a “breach.” What could be breaking into the lower levels from underwater? Mer-people. Mer-people who really, really don’t like their human cousins all that much.
The Children of Yemoja are the descendants of slaves who were thrown overboard. The goddess Yemoja brought them back to life, transforming them into Mer-people. The previous contacts the tower dwellers of Pinnacle have had with these Children were not very friendly. (And by not friendly I mean the Children dragged the tower dwellers under water drowned them.)
When Yekini, Touya and Ngozi report that a Child might have broken into the tower, the leadership responds by trying to kill everyone on that level. (By flooding the lower levels, which does not seem like much of a stop gap measure to use against a fish-person. On the other hand, it’s made painfully clear that the leaders on the upper levels are absolutely ignorant of the way people on the lower levels live, and don’t care about them.) This leads to an attempt to escape the flood and an encounter with the Child…that very much changes their outlook.
The tone of the book rests somewhere between hopeful and haunting, with a setting that is coldly dystopic in nature. The three characters, all from similar “fought their way to the top” backgrounds, but have varying ideals and opinions that often clash with each other as they argue. The interplay of viewpoints and the way they see their current positions was very well done, and highlighted how toxic the society they were living in was.
The ending is extremely open ended, and I am not entirely sure if the end goal of what the protagonists were trying to do was successful. (I do not, generally speaking, like books that end on an open “what the heck just happened?” This may or may not be an exception, I might need to re-read before I form a final opinion.) I did like the interactions between the characters and how they slowly begin to influence each other, and come to a mutual understanding. (And that mutual understanding is that they live in a crapsack world and would like to rectify this somehow.)
This is an interesting, thought provoking book with fascinating worldbuilding. It’s a very “fast” read, and every bit of the story moved the plot forward at a very fast pace. The protagonists were all well-rounded and sympathetic, in their own way. (Ngozi. Ngozi is “in his own way.” He has an absolute gift for saying the worst possible thing without realizing that he’s just said the Worst. Possible. Thing. Even after you explain it to him. Dude. Why are you like this?)
This review is based on a galley copy received from NetGalley.
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