Yekini has a problem. She is a midder, working and living on the middle levels of the Pinnacle, the last of the Fingers, the last of an ark/arcology built off of the Nigerian coast. She has by luck and dint of effort escaped her lower class origins. Or so she has thought, until an assignment sends her with the higher class administrator Ngozi down undersea, to the levels of the Pinnacle underneath the waves. There Ngozi and Yekini will confront a threat to the Pinnacle itself, a threat from outside the tower, in the deep waters that surround this last bastion of humanity. Something called the Children...
So one finds the narrative in Suyi Davies Okungbowa’s Lost Ark Dreaming.
Let me start, atypically, with a place I don’t normally focus first, but for this novella, I will. Let’s look at the language and the writing. The story is a mixture of three points of view from our main characters, interspersed with other material, including pieces that are clearly myth and allegory as well as “press releases” and news showing, in flashes a bit of the world before the world of the Pinnacle. Not only are the allegorical pieces well written and evocative, the entire novella rests on the strength of the line by line writing of the author, especially in these sections, short and sharp. Okungbowa is particularly good at making us feel, be it the apprehension of investigating the undersea levels, the conflicts and relationships between our protagonists, divided and yet united by being an Upper, a Midder and a Lower Level denizen. The novella’s voices and its shifting of tense and mood from section to section, from point of view to point of view to the interludes, is as smooth as a well honed manual transmission in an automobile.
I am no stranger to his work, and like the previous efforts I’ve read, reading the first two novels of the Nameless Republic [review here at Skiffy and Fanty]. Those two novels were very definitely a critique of imperial power and the structures of power, blending in myth and magic along with that criticism. So it is here, too. The author is very much criticizing unjust power structures, and the structures that maintain that power and what that does to people and to society as a whole.
Here, however, the author is starting with a arcology/ark science fictional setting rather than high epic fantasy, but the themes and resonances are familiar. The result of starting with a science fictional setting and weaving in allegory, myth and magic, is that the novella has a feel similar to books like Nnedi Okorafor’s Lagoon (which is also set in the same region), or for those who like their science fiction in a cinema mode, Snowpiercer.
Snowpiercer works particularly well, because of the stratification. Like Snowpiercer, we have a constricted, and restricted space for, seemingly, the last of humanity. To wit, there is not even the hint of anyone existing outside of the ark, if they do, they’re not reachable and they are not coming. Plus the “second deluge” maps to the great freeze in Snowpiercer being a grand disaster, isolating the remnants of humanity to one structure. In addition, the world of the Pinnacle is literally stratified. The higher you live and work in the tower, the better off you invariably are. Those who live at the top rule and control everything. Those who live in the submerged levels, live in a world where they never see the sun or the sky. In between are the midders, the ones like Yekini who actually keep the Pinnacle functioning and working. Even the midders are under a lot of restrictions and problems. The opening of the novel is Yekini rushing to work hoping she will not be late, and later in the novel, we get notes about the midders not being really allowed to wander outside of commuting to work. So the political and social allegory is definitely strong and resonant, and part of the point of the novel.
Like Snowpiercer, the setting is evocative and memorable even if it probably does not hold up to strong “hard science fiction” scrutiny as a viable and complete ecosystem. A remnant of humanity stuck in a single building poking out of the ocean? The logistical problems of keeping this population alive are as insurmountable as the ones in Snowpiercer, but the novella successfully manages to deflect the reader thinking about that until well after the novella is done. And, honestly, a rigorous setting would be in the end be beside the point. This is not a novella about the realpolitik logistics of how an ark like this would work, it is about story, and people in that arcology and the story of these three characters and their pivotal roles in that story.
The author keeps the novella ticking along with a variety of the aforementioned interludes interspersed with the action of Yekini, Ngozi and Tuoyo (a lower level head of safety that joins the two and thus gives us a point of view character from each section of the Pinnacle). Some of these interludes are press releases from the time before the Deluges, describing the dreams and ambitions of the constructors, and their callousness in their construction of the Fingers. Other interludes show us some more items from the archives show an upper-level point of view of the history of episodes of the Pinnacle.
And then there’s something else, and here we fully go into allegory and myth. The pieces are written like fragments of story, or sometimes poetry, or song. Who and where they are coming from, and how they are being transmitted to the reader is something that is not completely clear, but it’s a parallel conversation that the text is having with the reader.
Ultimately, this is where the novella comes to its full flower. The story of Yekini,Tuoyo and Ngozi is in the end a conversation with the other residents of the tower, a conversation with the reader, an engagement and an offer of engagement with the reader. It’s a novella about *communication* and the power of communication between the human and the...well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it? There is a lot to the plotting that I would dare not spoil and it does forestall discussing some details of the novella in specific without giving them away. But there is definite intimacy to this story, like if a grandparent were telling you this story as a legend or a myth. It is a novella that again and again reinforces the power and centrality of story as something that helps define who and what you are.
In a real way, then, treading very carefully so as not to spoil the revelation for a reader, Lost Ark Dreaming is the story of how the Pinnacle learned to incorporate new stories within itself, to help change and redefine what it is. The ending is very open ended and unclear, it is best imagined rather than set down explicitly. The author gives you the world and the story, and it is for the reader to ultimately decide what it means and what will become of this new story. It’s an intimate and powerful trust that the author places in the reader, here, in the novella.
In the end, Lost Ark Dreaming is a potent and heady mixture of science fiction, myth, allegory and the power of story and communication, in a short and intense novella format.
So one finds the narrative in Suyi Davies Okungbowa’s Lost Ark Dreaming.
Let me start, atypically, with a place I don’t normally focus first, but for this novella, I will. Let’s look at the language and the writing. The story is a mixture of three points of view from our main characters, interspersed with other material, including pieces that are clearly myth and allegory as well as “press releases” and news showing, in flashes a bit of the world before the world of the Pinnacle. Not only are the allegorical pieces well written and evocative, the entire novella rests on the strength of the line by line writing of the author, especially in these sections, short and sharp. Okungbowa is particularly good at making us feel, be it the apprehension of investigating the undersea levels, the conflicts and relationships between our protagonists, divided and yet united by being an Upper, a Midder and a Lower Level denizen. The novella’s voices and its shifting of tense and mood from section to section, from point of view to point of view to the interludes, is as smooth as a well honed manual transmission in an automobile.
I am no stranger to his work, and like the previous efforts I’ve read, reading the first two novels of the Nameless Republic [review here at Skiffy and Fanty]. Those two novels were very definitely a critique of imperial power and the structures of power, blending in myth and magic along with that criticism. So it is here, too. The author is very much criticizing unjust power structures, and the structures that maintain that power and what that does to people and to society as a whole.
Here, however, the author is starting with a arcology/ark science fictional setting rather than high epic fantasy, but the themes and resonances are familiar. The result of starting with a science fictional setting and weaving in allegory, myth and magic, is that the novella has a feel similar to books like Nnedi Okorafor’s Lagoon (which is also set in the same region), or for those who like their science fiction in a cinema mode, Snowpiercer.
Snowpiercer works particularly well, because of the stratification. Like Snowpiercer, we have a constricted, and restricted space for, seemingly, the last of humanity. To wit, there is not even the hint of anyone existing outside of the ark, if they do, they’re not reachable and they are not coming. Plus the “second deluge” maps to the great freeze in Snowpiercer being a grand disaster, isolating the remnants of humanity to one structure. In addition, the world of the Pinnacle is literally stratified. The higher you live and work in the tower, the better off you invariably are. Those who live at the top rule and control everything. Those who live in the submerged levels, live in a world where they never see the sun or the sky. In between are the midders, the ones like Yekini who actually keep the Pinnacle functioning and working. Even the midders are under a lot of restrictions and problems. The opening of the novel is Yekini rushing to work hoping she will not be late, and later in the novel, we get notes about the midders not being really allowed to wander outside of commuting to work. So the political and social allegory is definitely strong and resonant, and part of the point of the novel.
Like Snowpiercer, the setting is evocative and memorable even if it probably does not hold up to strong “hard science fiction” scrutiny as a viable and complete ecosystem. A remnant of humanity stuck in a single building poking out of the ocean? The logistical problems of keeping this population alive are as insurmountable as the ones in Snowpiercer, but the novella successfully manages to deflect the reader thinking about that until well after the novella is done. And, honestly, a rigorous setting would be in the end be beside the point. This is not a novella about the realpolitik logistics of how an ark like this would work, it is about story, and people in that arcology and the story of these three characters and their pivotal roles in that story.
The author keeps the novella ticking along with a variety of the aforementioned interludes interspersed with the action of Yekini, Ngozi and Tuoyo (a lower level head of safety that joins the two and thus gives us a point of view character from each section of the Pinnacle). Some of these interludes are press releases from the time before the Deluges, describing the dreams and ambitions of the constructors, and their callousness in their construction of the Fingers. Other interludes show us some more items from the archives show an upper-level point of view of the history of episodes of the Pinnacle.
And then there’s something else, and here we fully go into allegory and myth. The pieces are written like fragments of story, or sometimes poetry, or song. Who and where they are coming from, and how they are being transmitted to the reader is something that is not completely clear, but it’s a parallel conversation that the text is having with the reader.
Ultimately, this is where the novella comes to its full flower. The story of Yekini,Tuoyo and Ngozi is in the end a conversation with the other residents of the tower, a conversation with the reader, an engagement and an offer of engagement with the reader. It’s a novella about *communication* and the power of communication between the human and the...well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it? There is a lot to the plotting that I would dare not spoil and it does forestall discussing some details of the novella in specific without giving them away. But there is definite intimacy to this story, like if a grandparent were telling you this story as a legend or a myth. It is a novella that again and again reinforces the power and centrality of story as something that helps define who and what you are.
In a real way, then, treading very carefully so as not to spoil the revelation for a reader, Lost Ark Dreaming is the story of how the Pinnacle learned to incorporate new stories within itself, to help change and redefine what it is. The ending is very open ended and unclear, it is best imagined rather than set down explicitly. The author gives you the world and the story, and it is for the reader to ultimately decide what it means and what will become of this new story. It’s an intimate and powerful trust that the author places in the reader, here, in the novella.
In the end, Lost Ark Dreaming is a potent and heady mixture of science fiction, myth, allegory and the power of story and communication, in a short and intense novella format.
--
Highlights:
Strong and evocative use of language
Powerful allegory and use of myth and story
Well evoked setting
Reference: Okungbowa, Suyi Davies Lost Ark Dreaming [Tordotcom, 2024]
POSTED BY: Paul Weimer. Ubiquitous in Shadow, but I’m just this guy, you know? @princejvstin.