Lament for the Fallen

by Gavin Chait

'Father, tell me a story?' asks Isaiah, moments before a strange craft falls from the sky and smashes into the jungle near his isolated West African community. Inside the ruined vessel the villagers find the shattered body of a man. His name is Samara and he is a man unlike any the villagers have seen before - a man who is perhaps something more than human.

With his city home of Achenia hiding in the rubble left by a devastating war, Samara has fallen 35,000 km to earth in order to escape the automated hell of an orbiting prison called Tartarus. As he struggles to heal himself, he helps transform the lives of those who rescued him but in so doing attracts the attention of the brutal warlord who rules over this benighted, ravaged post-21st century land. He is not a man to be crossed, and now he threatens the very existence of the villagers themselves and the one, slim chance Samara has of finding his way home and to the woman - and the world - he loves.

And all the while - in the darkness above - waits the simmering fury that lies at the heart of Tartarus . . .

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Africa, Nigeria, Unfinished, Science Fiction Fantasy

384 pages, Hardcover

First published July 28, 2016

About the author

Born in Cape Town in 1974, Gavin Chait emigrated to the UK nearly ten years ago. He has degrees in Microbiology & Biochemistry, and Electrical Engineering. He is an economic development strategist and data scientist, and has travelled extensively in Africa, Latin America, Europe and Asia and is now based in Oxford. His first novel, Lament for the Fallen, was critically acclaimed (Eric Brown in the Guardian called it ‘a compulsively readable, life affirming tale’). Our Memory Like Dust is his second.

Follow Gavin on Twitter @GavinChait, or at https://gavinchait.com

Reviews

[Stevie Kincade · Rating 2 out of 5]

Welcome to the Africa of the future! A land of self-sustaining villages, cellulosic printers and metal fabricators. A land still governed by warlords and teeming with refugees.

I was drawn to this book by the synopsis which promised a new take on a “first contact” story and the beautiful cover art. It started strong, the first 50 pages were spectacular.

Author Gavin Chait painted a realistic vision of what Africa might be like a few hundred years from now. We get to know our villagers and their world. Then…A “sky person” comes crashing down into the desert. Not an “extra-terrestrial” but an evolved human from one of the orbital cities. The orbital humans have developed a symbiotic relationship with synthetic intelligences. They have evolved far in advance of their earthly counterparts. The villagers hide the evidence of the crash landing from the militias and help “Samara” their visitor to heal.

This early part of the book that focused on world building and the developing relationship between Samara and the villagers was very interesting. “Samara” also means “story” or “parable” and ultimately this is a book about storytelling. When Samara tells his err…"Samaras" they are written as enclosed chapters in a different font. The problem with these stories is that they all seemed more or less pointless. There was no “parable” element, they weren’t weird or incomprehensible, they were just a big bowl of bla.

The middle part of the book got totally bogged down in “Samaras” and a never-ending shopping trip to collect materials. This brought the story to a screeching halt and kept us away from what was interesting: Samara’s backstory and his relationship with the villagers.

In the last third of the book as Chait tried to expand the world, he started giving us Chapters from the Warlord’s perspective (don’t care), Government officials (don’t care) and other Sky people (slightly care?). Ultimately the book failed to deliver on its initial premise because it got too distracted with parts of the story that were just not very interesting.

The other odd feature of the book was the prose. It was very simple and minimalist, which is fine. However it clashed with the dialogue of the villagers who all spoke in near-poetry and sounded like “the wisest old man on earth”. Having read so many amazing books from first time authors this year the writing in “Lament for the Fallen” was bland at times and didn't hold up to that standard.

Mileage may vary and others may enjoy this more then I did.

[Tracey the Lizard Queen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally posted here: http://thequeenofblades.blogspot.co.u...

This is a difficult one to rate. On the one hand I enjoyed it, on the other hand the writing put me off a little.

Lets start with the good: I really loved the whole idea of a future where cities orbit the Earth. The tech too, was very well done. The setting was awesome. No it's not an orbiting city. It's a tiny little village in Nigeria. A tiny oasis surrounded by wasteland ruled by warlords. An oasis that has survived, until now, by staying under the radar. Too small to bother with, just enough for them to live. Not worth a second look. So when a man falls out the sky and lands in their jungle, some unwanted attention is attracted.

Some more of the good: the cultural importance of stories, especially in an isolated community like Ewuru. That is how information is shared and passed down, generation after generation. But it's the future! Isn't their any internet? Is all data not just a few clicks away? Well, yes. But in the case of this village, they are completely cut off, on purpose. The world is pretty much fucked, so they want nothing to do with it. Can't say I blame them.

Now, to the not-so-good: The writing. It's not terrible, but this book could have done with a bit more editing and general "polishing". On occasion the plot lacked a direction. Characters where randomly dropped in, only to have the arcs not go anywhere. It's worth putting up with though.

Overall I liked this enough. It presents a very bleak and realistic future, meaning that nothing has really changed, except the people that have now live in space and the have-nots are stuck here on Earth. Don't worry, we'll have blown ourselves up before this actually happens!

*I received an e-copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Aggie Unsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually 3.5 Stars

I have been approached by the publisher about this book and i really liked the blurb. I'll be honest I didn't quite expect it to be this much of science fiction, so much so that there was some parts i didn't quite understand, but even tho this isn't really my thing I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

This is the story of an amazing West African community and Samara who literally falls from the sky. The people in the Village take care of him and hide all traces of his arrival. Samara escaped from Tartarus, a horrible, nightmarish prison. He is now needing to return home and for that he needs the help of the people in the village. During his stay Samara tells many stories, stories like nobody has ever heard before. But Samaras stay in the Village brings danger for all the people. Will he be able to return home?

There was a lot of almost technical details that I just couldn't follow, its not my thing and I certainly know nothing about it. But take that away and this has been a wonderful story. A story about doing the right thing and inspiring people to try something new. Samara not only wants to get home but he wants to end the horrible prison and take away the power of the people who put it there. What I enjoyed a lot is Samara showing everyone the power of a story, inspiring everyone around to tell their own.

All in all I have enjoyed this book, its different from anything else I have ever read. I have sailed through it and it has totally surprised me. Also as a big fan of covers this one is really worth mentioning, it really stands out and I absolutely love it.

Surprising, inspiring and futuristic.

Lament for the Fallen has been published on 28th July by Transworld Books, thank you Thomas for my copy.

[Richard Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm ashamed to say that this exquisite piece of Afro-futurism has been languishing for far too long in my reading list. It is a marvellous read with a perspective far too seldom seen - that of Africa - though things are beginning to change in this regard. Its world of griots, warlords and JuJu in a decaying Nigerian city is superbly realised, as is its vision of advanced technology existing alongside traditional life. (As an example one can point to how African village life has been transformed by cellphones and how some have successfully integrated solar power into their lives.) The characters are beautifully drawn and its depiction of the horrors of the US justice system ring true too.
It's a book overflowing with competing visions of what being human means and it tries, successfully I feel, to reconcile them.

[Danie Ware · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t work out whether this was absolute genius, or whether I did kind of struggle with it, and I think the answer is probably both. Rhythmic prose, very visual and evocative, cleverly blended cultures, utterly horrific in places and with real beauty in others - but trying to follow the plot flow was challenging at times (could really done with a glossary). And please can we not change font in the middle of a book?!

[Yana · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can find a copy of this review at:
https://thequidnuncblog.wordpress.com...

I got fascinated and attracted to Africa a while ago when a flatmate of mine showed me how kind and similar people from that part of the world are to my people. I was drawn to this book by the synopsis which promised a new take on a “first contact” story and the beautiful cover art. It started strong, the first 50 pages were spectacular. Besides I was hungry to read about how people imagine life to change.

The good stuff: the cultural importance of stories, especially in an isolated community like Ewuru. That is how information is shared and passed down, generation after generation. But it's the future! Isn't their any internet? Is all data not just a few clicks away? Well, yes. But in the case of this village, they are completely cut off, on purpose. The world is pretty much fucked, so they want nothing to do with it. Can't say I blame them. If I had to choose I would probably make the exact same choices, lately I feel fed up with people, social media and the over all dumbing down that takes place around me.

The book does a great job of painting the intriguing future envisioned by the author, and the story is certainly interesting. You can tell, particularly in the segments of the story dealing with the symbiotic relationship between certain humans and AI, that the author has a strong, hard-science background. Unfortunately, I was left with the conviction that the author is overly fond of certain tired plot devices and never saw a tangent he was afraid to explore, although most of this is a brief diversion. Also, since this is African Sci-Fi, there is lots of storytelling here used as parables, with not everything seeming necessary, but definitely creating an appropriate mood.

Me overall opinion is that it is a good read, and interesting point of view on the matter, but I would dare to say it was like a bird with a hurt wing: it could have blown me away if only it was left to fly and reach its full potential. It is an outstanding piece of literature, and managed to keep me engaged up until the very end. Exquisite book.

[Sheng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lament for the Fallen takes place in the future, where a spaceship of sorts has crash landed in the forest near the Ewuru village in Nigeria. Joshua, the leader of the village, organises a search and discover the mangled but alive Samara, a being with titanium skin and an other-worldly appearance. Despite his injuries, Samara recovers quickly and reveals his plan to return home to his space colony orbiting Earth but with his crash landing attracting the attention of the nearby militia and a lack of resources to build the craft he requires, Samara faces an uphill challenge to fly home.

When I first started reading this book, I had the impression that this was going to be the African literature version of The Man Who Fell to Earth and chronicle the journey of an alien on Earth. It turns out that this was in fact very different. Despite Samara's strange appearance and the presence of a symbiont A.I. named Symon in his head, Samara is actually human and part of populations of people who left their home countries on Earth to depart into space colonies that surround Earth. While these colonies were initially thought of as a solution to overpopulation by sending those looking for a better life into space, they soon became the frontier of scientific discovery and technological advancement, leading to conflicts between them and their national governments back on Earth as they sought independence. Destruction followed and all but a few shuttles to these colonies were shut down in order to control the movement of people from Earth into the colonies.

Samara is part of The Nine, a group of extremely powerful soldiers who guard the colony Archenia. There is a pretty complex form of government here that includes groups like The Three and The Five that I still haven't quite grasped yet either. Samara was sent down as a bodyguard of sorts to Archenia's diplomat in order to negotiate terms with President Ortega of the United States but when the diplomat goes missing, Samara's search for him results in him getting tangled up in a bar fight and sent to the space prison Tartarus where its inmates are essentially left for dead. Samara manages to build a craft to fly out but crash lands in Nigeria where he meets Joshua and the rest of the Ewuru.

Samara is a man of compassion and understanding but Symon is more of a cold and logical intelligence. When Samara's mind shuts down, Symon takes over the body and exacts brutal justice on the soldiers of the militia who have come looking for treasure at the crash landing. Symon takes out the soldiers with nightmarish efficiency as well when they try to trap Joshua and his people during their trip to a nearby village to print the materials Samara requires for his craft home before Joshua has to subdue him as Symon was about to kill soldiers who had surrendered.

The world building in this whole book is intense and much more extensive than I had expected. There are also bits and pieces of philosophy here and there too. When Joshua visits Archenia by piloting the craft Samara has built to bring him home, he learns that Samara's grandfather was a friend of Joshua's great-grandfather. While Samara's grandfather had chose to leave for the space colony in the hopes of a better life, Joshua's great-grandfather stayed behind in an attempt to fulfil his vision of creating a safe and peaceful village in their homeland. Although Samara's grandfather is still alive and enjoying the benefits of such highly impressive technology, he still insists that there was no wrong choice to be made and that Joshua's great-grandfather had stayed on to try and fulfil his dream.

My only regret for this book was not being able to finish it in one sitting. Having started a new semester in university, I had to resort to reading this book in multiple sittings, forgetting a bit of what had happened in the pages before and undoubtedly affecting my enjoyment of this book. Admittedly, I might have given a higher rating if I had the privilege of time. 3.5/5

[Paul Trembling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is novel of many layers.

The outermost layer is the story of a stranger coming, in need and apparently by chance, into a remote community, and the subsequent interactions that change them both. As such, it’s a well worn theme. The idea of a man who falls to earth has been explored in several books and films. But for all that, Chait’s treatment of it feels fresh and original. Neither the stranger nor the community are in any way clichéd and the story does not evolve in an obvious or predictable fashion.

Perhaps this is because there are deeper layers. On another level, ‘Lament for the Fallen’ can be seen as a clash of cultures. The orbiting city of Achenia, the African village of Ewuru, each in their own way represent the new world, using technology to help cast off the ignorance and cruelty of the old. But that old world is still present, still strong, still a threat. It is seen in the violence and cruelty of Calabar, an African city ruled by rival militias: it is also seen in the corruption and stagnation of the United States, where advanced technology has been used to create the orbiting prison of Tartarus – a place who’s utter inhumanity pushes this novel almost into the realms of a horror story.

You can also see this as an insight into how advancing technology will effect society, for good and for ill. Of course, this is a standard theme in all SF, but Chait gives a new slant on it. It’s not just the super-technology of the orbiting cities that will change things. What difference will 3-D printing make to remote communities? Given the right software and the raw materials, they will have a much greater degree of independence than now exists, and all sorts of possibilities spring from that.

But at its heart, it seems to me that this is a story about stories. About how stories can challenge our thinking, how they can be used to mould us into old ways or inspire us towards new ones. It begins with a child’s request for a story and stories are interspersed throughout – each one a separate work of fine craftsmanship but also forming part of the overall story. As a writer myself, and a believer in the value of stories, I was especially impressed and delighted by the way that Chait mingles stories and evokes their power.

So you can read and enjoy this in many ways and at many levels. It is in addition an exciting adventure and an intriguing mystery. It does have a few weak spots, but they are the sort that only came to my mind after I had finished reading, when I was thinking it over. And this is a book that gives you much to think over! None of these issues effected the smooth and well-paced flow of words and ideas or my enjoyment while I was reading it.

There is, however, something of a paradox sitting at the heart of this SF novel.

When scientists in Achenia bring to life the first truly self-aware Artificial Intelligence, they suddenly realise the moral implications involved in creating a person to serve them – in effect, a slave.

This profound ethical issue – for they are profoundly ethical people – has not, it seems, occurred to them before. Yet – and here’s the paradox – the fact that Chait has included this problem in ‘Lament for the Fallen’ shows that the issue isn’t, in fact, difficult to predict. If Chait saw this coming, then why didn’t his characters? After all, they were smart enough to create an AI and moral enough to recognise the implications once they had.

Well, perhaps I’m over-thinking this, and blurring the boundaries between the real world and the fictional. So feel free to overlook this point – except to notice just how deep the thinking can go in this novel, and how much thought it might trigger!

[Ceri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think your enjoyment of this book will depend on what you want from it. If your looking for a ground-breaking sci-fi book, with a fast-paced, unique plot, you’re probably going to be disappointed. It has plenty of sci-fi elements, but neither them nor the plot are particularly original. The book is essentially about a man, who escapes prison and is trying to find his way back home. It’s been done before. However, if you’re not so bothered about that, this book might be more for you.

We follow Samara, who falls from the sky one day and is taken in by a small village of people. He soon befriends them by telling them stories, and they eventually agree to help him get back to his home; a kind of city currently orbiting the earth.

It’s a weird mixture; cultural Africa and space, but for me it works. The setting gives a kind of grounding to all these big ideas, and provides a nice contrast. Samara comes from a city in space, where everything is manufactured and meticulously organised, but he lands in a place where life is very simple and rather relaxed.

The stories were some of my favourite parts of this book. They were very short, and some of them very simple, but they just added another level to the novel. It also helps to show their importance. Stories help to spread ideas, to offer advice, to suggest caution, to entertain vast audiences. They can offer so much, and I think that this book really helps to reflect that.

In my opinion, this book has two standout aspects that eclipse the need for a good plot; the setting, and the characters. Or rather, the relationships between the characters; their hopes; their dreams; their visions. This book is set in a futuristic Nigeria, in a world struggling to get by, with little proper governance and many places left to be fought over by the local militia. But somewhere, in all of this, is a group of people who are managing to survive, and more than that, trying to build for a better future. They are the true stars of this book.

[Centrumlumina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Samara, an inhabitant of one of the great orbital cities around Earth, escapes from wrongful imprisonment in orbit after a diplomatic mission gone wrong. He crash-lands in the settlement of Ewuru - a small bastion of innovation and collaboration in a land overrun by warlords since the planet lost its hope for the future.

This book's greatest strength is its worldbuilding, with fascinating ideas for the cultures of orbital Achenia, burgeoning Ewuru, and even the declining days of America. In this future, the world runs on cellulosic printers which can create nearly any material, with advanced blueprints stored in super-computers called "spheres".

However, I struggled to get through this book for one reason: the characters. There were at least twice as many as I could keep track of, many of whom seemed to be part of side plots that bore little or no relation to the main story. It eventually became clear that this book was more interested in talking about societies rather than individuals, but that's an explanation not an excuse; ultimately, this was a lot of ideas without much of a hook.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm counting this as my no. 5 on Book Riot's #ReadHarder challenge 2017.

This is such a stunning novel I am genuinely struggling with where to begin. Chait is first and foremost an excellent author. He weaves discussions of social unrest and moral duty together with a wonderful imagining of human technology a few centuries from now.

At times blunt and stark, this story is hopeful above all else. The blurb does not convey what seem to me the most important aspects of this novel; the blurb makes the story seem interesting, but it goes so much further than 'interesting'.

The fact that this isn't a story about Americans In Space™ is so refreshing in and of itself, but setting this story in and around a Nigerian village trying to become self-sufficient (and restore the surrounding landscape to its condition before an enormous oil spill) is fascinating.

I will be buying the next work by Gavin Chait immediately.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was rather disappointed by this book. The reviews on the cover are so promising, and yet I found it far from "compulsively readable". The characters are dull and undeveloped, the problems they face largely irrelevant. There is occasional gratuitous extreme violence (rape, murder, sexual assault), which is presumably only there for shock value, as it certainly didn't inform me about character or plot - it left a bad taste in the mouth. The short stories ("samara") within the tale were enjoyable, much more so than the novel as a whole.

It feels like the author knew what he wanted to write, but sadly has failed to communicate that idea effectively. For a reader to invest in a story there has to be a reason to care about the characters, and I struggled to do so, despite my best efforts.

[Andy – And The Plot Thickens · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the distant future, a man from outer space crash lands near a small, independent Nigerian village. He's hurt and though he looks strange, the community decides to shelter him and help him heal. The man's name is Samara and he's from an orbital city, Achenia. He's been falsely imprisoned by the Americans and managed to escape. Now he needs the villagers' help to return to his home.

As he heals and gets to know the community, he leaves indelible marks on them, causing them to reflect on their lives. With a local and cruel warlord threatening them, will Samara make it back to his people?

The book is divided into three parts and the first two are interesting and engaging. However, I felt the third part lagged and felt overly sentimental. I feel like most of the last third could have been cut quite significantly and this is the reason I'm giving this a lower rating.

[Beau · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t want to put down what was a good story, but man this was messy. I felt like the story jumped with no context or explanation in parts and this really confused what was already a complex text. Parts didn’t really gel with each other and I felt the whole thing lacked cohesion and polish because it abruptly changed and there was so little communication about this.

However, the story was good and I really enjoyed the juxtaposition between the insane, nightmare world of Tartarus as opposed to the dangerous beauty of Africa.

TLDR - a good, complex story that is let down by trying to be too ambitious and left me feeling a bit confused. A bit messy but overall a nice read.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The setting and imagery was evocative and imaginative. Although at times I thought it would go a certain way, the plot wasn’t predictable and the ending was pretty satisfying. There was moderate violence, which was described but not glorified or dwelled on. Some of the time I wasn’t sure what was going on or who was talking, but that was usually resolved in short order. Definitely worth reading because it’s a well-written sci-fi from an African perspective.

[Edwain Steenkamp · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the book is definitely interesting, especially because it's a science fiction novel set mostly in Africa, there were times I felt that it was all too much for one novel. By the end, I felt I had read an entire series of books that were condensed into one, which admittedly left me feeling a bit disappointed - and tired. The story is ambitious, but unfortunately the writing just wasn't up to scratch to do it justice. That being said, there were many parts that had me really intrigued.

[Alistair · Rating 2 out of 5]

Firstly it has a very good cover/illustration.
The story had "too many, and too much" to be a cohesive whole.
And the writing was variable, all the way through I was swinging between good (3*)
and at best OK (2*) sometimes it nudged "really good" but didn't maintain it and slipped into "disappointing too often.
The attempt at a "happy ending" was the final straw 2* SPOILER!

[Nathika Gouws · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story overall was average for me. As a active reader of fantasy, i only enjoyed less thena handful of characters. The book was so cliche and overall didn't meet my exceptations. However, the book i will highly recommend. The cover is beautiful and Gavin has a way of writing that is very peaceful.

[Giggle B0t · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrative tends to wander aimlessly at times, but despite all the little faults one may find, it's ultimately a very humane story, filled with so much hope. It filled my heart with warmth and love, and that is what literature is all about.

[Ed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting world building, but the plot is cheesy, rehashed and predictable. The cohesiveness of the story seems to evaporate in the final third as well. The action scenes towards the end in particular I skipped through most of, completely uninteresting.

[Mika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Myths and scifi go well together as Frank Herbert has shown in Dune and other works. Gavin Chait presents us with a more modern turn of myths and storytelling combined with a science fiction novel. While the story is naive and straightforward, the characters themselves feel deep and interesting.

[Nicola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tried to be more than it was really... gripped me at parts ... bored me at others.

[Sofie · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me this story seemed be all over the place and I didn't feel much interest for many of the offshooting storylines and characters.

[Chris Passingham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay. I enjoyed the beginning about Africa in the future. The middle and end made the book seem just like another sci fi story and the author couldn't seem to end the book.

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

not quite what I expected. some interesting ideas, really great setting and nicely written. but it didn't spark a fire in me or demand my attention very much.

[Vanessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thort this book hade to many people in it and some of the story I didn't get this book was not for me.

[David Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, original, great settings in Africa and Space, made very real (I feltt there!).

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super duper enjoyed this, seeped in originality. Really good male characters who are brave, kind hearted, and masculine without falling prey to hyper-testosteronized stereotypes.

[Marlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s good, in a weird way. The prose is a bit old fashioned and convoluted, but the world and the science is awesome.

[Anthony Filomena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable take on the middle future. Very full characters, and a great story.