These 3 books comprise the Forever Desert trilogy. Each takes place 500 years after the previous, and while I think they can be read independently of each other (the acknowledgements in the 2nd book imply that), I would recommend reading them in order. The novellas play around with truth and how it’s distorted by history, and by reading all 3 in order, readers will have an overview of events that the characters don’t have. It makes for an interesting reading experience. And all 3 books together makes for a somewhat bleak reading experience.
The Lies of the Ajungo
Of the three novellas, this one reads the most simply and the most like a fable. Main character Tutu sets out to find water for his city and discovers a truth about the city and its rulers. It’s the shortest of the three books and allows the least room for character development, but there was a side character I was particularly partial to, and I was invested in Tutu’s story. The book explores themes of power and how power is maintained. There are 3 mantras known in Tutu’s city: that it has no water, that it has no heroes, and that there are no friends outside of it, and it was interesting to watch how the truths related to these mantras was revealed. 4 stars.
The Truth of the Aleke
While power continues to be a significant theme in this book, the author starts to weave in more layers about truth and lies and how those in power use history, or at least a version of it, to maintain control. Tutu’s legacy has become distorted, and a Cult of Tutu is an enemy of the city in which Osi lives. Osi is a junior peacekeeper with dreams of being a hero. He was also the most frustrating main character of all 3 books. He was so impulsive and at times selfish. I was also less impressed with the writing in this one. The author used more foreshadowing (e.g., phrases such as, “He would come to regret that”) than in the other books, and it didn’t really work for me. This was at least partly because using foreshadowing more than once or twice in a book that’s only 101 pages seems unnecessary. The ending was a bit unsatisfying, though it was probably a relatively appropriate ending, and I also found the book as a whole a little confusing, thought this might have just been a “me” problem. This was the weakest book for me. 3.5 stars.
The Memory of the Ogisi
We get two main characters in this one (which is revealed in the table of contents, but I won’t say more about the 2nd one to avoid spoilers). Ethike is an ogisi, basically a historian, in a world that seems better off than in the first two books. People seem to be happy, and it generally seems to be a relatively normal, functioning society. However, the fact that most of the citizens have their ears cut off and cauterized definitely says something about how the mythology of the world continues.
I think I liked Ethike the most out of all the main characters. He’s a very trusting person with faith in the humanity of others. This book follows the pattern the others started, with a hopeful hero riding out into the Forever Desert on some kind of quest. This one also starts in a very similar way to the first book, which is much more interesting foreshadowing compared to the explicit messages in The Truth of the Aleke. In some ways this might have been the strongest book because of how everything comes together, but some of the pattern repetition and the darkness of the trilogy as a whole affected my enjoyment. 3.75 stars.