This, friend, is the way the world always ends, has always ended since we have watched it together: with those who Have choosing demise–always demise–for everything but themselves.
page 13
Table of Contents
Why Lost Ark Dreaming?
I had previously read on of Suyi Davies Okungbowa‘s books back in 2022, the first book in The Nameless Republic series, Son of the Storm. In that very short review, I mention wanting to read more of that series. I did not in fact read the rest of the series but when Tori Morrow mentioned Lost Ark Dreaming in her best books of 2025 video, I was immediately intrigued.
I have been looking for novellas to switch things up between the longer novels I’ve been reading and I am always looking for more science fiction to read so I put this book on my to-be-read pile and activated my suspended hold for it at the end of January 2026. As such this was my first read of February 2026.
I didn’t plan my Black History Month reading as meticulously as I did last year but this book being the first one this month is a happy coincidence and I am more than willing to redo the mini-challenge from last year and read only Black authors this month. I have four more books in my up-next queue by Black authors which should last me most of the month.
Let’s get into it.
The Book
Lost Ark Dreaming is a science fiction novella, or perhaps more accurately, a speculative fiction novella. The book weaves in elements of Nigerian mythology into its story and as such has some fantastical elements that make it a unique blend of post-apocalyptic science fiction combined with fantasy elements. So, speculative fiction works as a overarching genre term for this kind of book.
The story is told from the perspective of three different characters: Yekini – a mid-level analyst, Ngozi Nwar – a egotistical bureaucrat serving the highest levels of the governance of this work, and Tuoyo Odili – an undersea mechanic who is mourning a big loss. The three different perspectives represent the three different class divisions in the society of The Pinnacle.
The Pinnacle is one of three Fingers, skyscrapers built on top of of dredged up land off the coast of Nigeria as large parts of Nigeria itself are flooded by increasing sea levels brought on by climate change. Of the Fingers, only The Pinnacle has survived the increased water levels. The uppers are the richest assholes living at the top of the tower, the middlers are literally and figuratively the middle class and the lowers are well…the poorest, ones who live in the undersea levels of the Pinnacle.
The commentary on climate change and class division is unsubtle in just the way I like. There is just enough of it throughout the story to make sure you never forget what kind of society these people live in. The story in this novella moves fairly quickly as it doesn’t have a lot of page count to work with and that’s where my primary problem with this book comes in.
This book is a little too short for its own good. It felt like just when the story was starting to get interesting and I was getting invested in the world and its characters, the story was over. The world and its characters were really interesting but we just don’t get enough time with either to make me feel a sense of connection with the story.
This was especially a problem with the Nigerian mythology aspects of the story which are left mostly unexplained and as an example I had to go look up for myself what/who Yemọja is. I think that Okungbowa assumed that his readers had a basic, working understanding of Nigerian mythology but I didn’t and it meant that for me the fantastical elements of the story were built on top of non-existent scaffolding. It was mostly me going – “who? why? what? how?” and the book did not provide any answers on the matter.
The ending itself felt vague and unsatisfying, a fade to black that might have worked okay as a sequel hook but since this is a standalone it just feels like the author didn’t quite know how to end the story. The feeling that Lost Ark Dreaming left me with was disappointment which is unfortunate because there was a lot of potential in the story’s premise, its world, and its character.
Concluding Thoughts
Between reading this book and Son of the Storm, I get the feeling that Suyi Davies Okungbowa is damn good at building interesting worlds but not necessarily at building the rest of the story out to support it. Lost Ark Dreaming was a miss for me but hey, since it was so short it was not a waste of time.
I would love more speculative fiction recommendations, especially novellas. I don’t think I have any other novellas on my TBR pile and I need to restock that category. Bonus points if you can recommend me any that make use of non-Western/European mythologies in their stories.
That’s all I’ve got. See y’all in the next one.
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