I thought I knew what Moses Ose Utomi’s The Lies of the Ajungo was about when I started it. It was going to be a quick story about a boy from a dying city who ventures into the desert to save his mother. But it’s so much more than that. It’s an epic fantasy in novella format, a story of the consequences of greed, how to process grief, and the lengths we go to to protect the people we care about.
“There is no water in the City of Lies.” No heroes either. And outside its walls are only desert and enemies. Tutu is just shy of his thirteenth birthday. On that day he’ll have his tongue cut out as part of an ancient promise. Long ago, when drought first struck the city, the inhabitants made a Faustian bargain with the Ajungo: the tongues of every adult in exchange for water. But the Ajungo gave them only enough to barely survive. As the decades ticked by, hope withered just like the plants and animals. Hordes of children ventured into the desert as heroes on a great quest to save their people. None ever returned.
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The Lies of the Ajungo
With his mother on her deathbed, Tutu seeks the aid of Oba Ijefi, the ruler of the City of Lies and the only adult with her tongue intact. She gifts him water, a weapon, a camel, and an oath to keep his mother alive. He is determined to succeed where every other child has failed. He will find water and save his city. Out he goes into the desert. What and who he discovers out there in the vast expanse will shatter everything he believed to be true. There are more lies in the City of Lies than Tutu ever could have imagined.
Tutu is not alone in the desert. The corpses of the children who came before him litter the landscape. Other heroes from other cities journey the sand dunes on quests of their own. So to do the Ajungo, trawling for victims and carting their bloodsoaked wares. Tutu grows up during his sojourn, physically and mentally. He learns the difference between how the Ajungo see relationships—as purely transactional where they reap most of the benefits and delight at the cost everyone else must pay—and the caring way his mother and the sisters he meets in the desert treat him. There may be no water, heroes, or tongues in the City of Lies, but neither is there forgiveness. Tutu’s story is not one of letting go and moving on but setting things right even if it takes bloodshed to do it.
Like the best novellas, The Lies of the Ajungo somehow manages to balance brevity with lushness. Utomi does not waste words; every sentence is carefully crafted for the greatest impact. Yet at the same time, the worldbuilding and character development are as intricate and expansive as a full length novel. Although set in a Saharan-inspired landscape, this world defies Western tropes and stereotypes of deserts. There are bandits and wanderers, those who see themselves as heroes and those who revel in being villains. But there are also people trying to do the right thing in the face of insurmountable odds.
Within the space of about six weeks, Moses Ose Utomi released two stellar stories: The Lies of the Ajungo and Daughters of Oduma. I’m excited to see where he goes next. This is the kind of storytelling that makes me remember why I love speculative fiction so much.
The Lies of the Ajungo is available from Tordotcom Publishing.
Alex Brown is a Hugo-nominated and Ignyte award-winning critic who writes about speculative fiction, librarianship, and Black history. Find them on twitter (@QueenOfRats), instagram (@bookjockeyalex), and their blog (bookjockeyalex.com).
