An Africanfuturist novel set in a near-contemporary Lagos where aliens arrive and make contact. The aliens first come to the ocean, and are seen by people at the beach. They are able to give creatures special powers, first a swordfish, then human characters. The three main protagonistsĀ Adaora, a marine biologist; Agu, a Nigerian soldier; and Anthony, a Ghanaian hip-hop artist, meet the aliens' ambassador, Ayodele, and discover they have innate powers which are perhaps strengthened by the aliens. The novel intertwines traditional African folklore and beliefs with contemporary Lagos and the alien arrival. For instance, the spider tricksterĀ Udide Okwanka is a character, and a stretch of theĀ Lagos-Benin highway is sentient and thinks of itself as Bone Catcher, a creature that captures and consumes humans.Ā
There is little machine vision in the novel, however the episode towards the end of the novel where the President's speech is broadcast to all screens in the country, whether or not they are turned on or online or should be able to show the speech, seems relevant.Ā