Reading as a Writer: Lost Arc Dreaming and The Morningside

While revising Predacide, of course I read as much apocalyptic fiction as I could get my hands on. I plucked Suyi Davies Okungbowa's Lost Ark Dreaming and Téa Obreht's The Morningside off the library shelves on the same trip. While both books center on communities residing in huge apartment complexes in a world where flooding has washed the memory of cities away, the books were very different. 

Lost Ark Dreaming was pitched as "Snowpiercer meets Rivers Solomon’s The Deep." I've enjoyed every Rivers Solomon book I've read, so picking this off the shelf was a no-brainer for me. The book fits neatly into a pure sci-fi space, with much of the narrative focusing on the technology and the othered-threat that lurks outside the building, and relies on surly mechanics to keep the monsters at bay. Just like in Solomon's books, the protagonist's path to understanding the true nature of the monster, and thus of themselves and their history, is key to the story's resolution. Shortly after reading Lost Ark Dreaming, I read another book set in Lagos, and really enjoyed the overlap between the two books, and learning more about a city I don't know a lot about. 

The Morningside has a much more literary tone than Lost Ark Dreaming. The focus of the narrative was less about the world and its threats than about a family mystery, and a young girl's quest to understand how she fit into her family, within the narrow space of a changed world. I enjoyed reading this book and the thoughtful, dreamy tone of the narrative, however I didn't love the ending. There was so much contained in this book in terms of theme and reflections on our current world, that the ending felt like it shoe-horned a new theme that I hadn't been tracking through the rest of the book. Despite that, I still really liked this and will definitely read more from this author.