The Memory of the Ogisi - Review

I received the digital copy from Tordotcom via NetGalley. All reviews are my own.

We have come to the end of an age again, and this time it's Moses Ose Utomi's Forever Desert series. I. Loved. This. Series. Down. and refer back to it whenever I feel the need to study a deeper perspective in life. In The Lies of the Ajungo, we learned that power and action can overshadow the truth. In The Truth of the Aleke, we question whether what we do is for the good or if we're just puppets on a string. We're finally at the end of the series, and another lesson should be learned, but I fear that in The Memory of the Ogisi, this one flew over my head.

"Even deserts have a beginning. Even gardens have an end. Even water has a story.

One thousand years after Tutu and five hundred years after Osi the City of a Thousand Stories stands resolute on the edge of the Forever Desert. A teeming oasis, water flows into every mouth that thirsts and knowledge sprouts in every mind that hungers for it.

Ethike is an Ogisi, one of the City's many historians, who has devoted his life to studying a little-known figure named Osi. Unfortunately, the city has never approved any of his research papers and if he doesn’t find Osi’s story soon he will be stripped of his position.

Desperate to keep himself and his family from losing everything, Ethike ventures into the Forever Desert in search of the Lost Tomb of Osi. If he can find it, he will finally be able to prove his worth to the City’s elders and, more importantly, cement Osi’s role in history. But history is a tale told by those with power. What Ethike uncovers beneath the sand is far beyond anything he could have expected….and it is extremely angry."

TMOTO was my least favorite in the series. I didn't like it at all. And it mainly comes down to me not understanding it. With the other two books, I can break down all the elements of the writing, write dissertations, analyze, and go above and beyond to immortalize the critical thinking and underlying messages Utomi had to offer. But with this book, I couldn't understand the moth and its fascination with the flame.

In Forever Desert fashion, the story takes place hundreds of years after the events of The Truth of the Aleke. Of course, the history eventually gets lost in translation and is reinvented into something that was furthest from actual events. In TMOTO, we have a two-part story: one dealing with Ethike, a historian trying to solidify Osi's timeline, and the other is the vengeful entity that came from curiosity in the sands. Ethike needs solid proof of Osi's life and role before he becomes flat-out broke, so he decides to travel through the Forever Desert to search for Osi's missing tomb. Not only does he find it, but he also finds a boy, Agba, who is hell bent on setting history and the truth back right.

One thing I did get out of this story is that the powerful will stay powerful by keeping the truth hidden. Another, propaganda is a mind-bending tool. In each story, we see these patterns at the forefront of the lessons, and TMOTO is no different. The obvious lesson in this book is that if one is not careful, history is sure to repeat itself. But there is more to it, and I'm having the hardest time figuring out which plot of dirt I'm supposed to be digging in.

Overall, I'm still having trouble rating this book. I don't know what I was looking for in this story, but it left me confusingly empty. I'm thinking, but I don't know what to think about. I still believe this is one of the most critical series to dissect, because you learn something a little bit more each time. TMOTO may not be the perfect end to a trilogy for me, but I still appreciate and respect the effort that went into it. I rate the entire series 4-stars.

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