I wouldn’t call myself an arc reader because I rarely get to them in time, but I have two arcs I will have read and reviewed before they release! It’s the small wins in life that bring me joy these days. This first ARC is from Tor Books and is slated to be published on May 27, 2025. Harmattan Season by Tochi Onyebuchi is an exceptional postcolonial fantasy noir that follows a down-on-luck, biracial veteran determined to suss out the secrets of his segregated city while figuring out his identity and reconciling with his past actions.
Blurb:
Award-winning author Tochi Onyebuchi’s new standalone novel is hard-boiled fantasy noir: Raymond Chandler meets P. Djèlí Clark in a postcolonial West Africa.
Fortune always left whatever room I walked into, which is why I don’t leave my place much these days…
Veteran and private eye Boubacar doesn’t need much—least of all trouble—but trouble always seems to find him. Work has dried up, and he’d rather be left alone to deal with his bills as the Harmattan rolls in to coat the city in dust, but Bouba is a down on his luck deux fois, suspended between two cultures and two worlds.
When a bleeding woman stumbles onto his doorway, only to vanish just as quickly, Bouba reluctantly finds himself enmeshed in the secrets of a city boiling on the brink of violence. The French occupiers are keen to keep the peace at any cost, and the indigenous dugulen have long been shattered into restless factions vying for a chance to reclaim their lost heritage and abilities. As each hard-won clue reveals horrifying new truths, Bouba may have to carve out parts of himself he’s long kept hidden, and decide what he’s willing to offer next.
From the visionary author of Riot Baby and Goliath, Harmattan Season is a gripping fantasy noir in the tradition of Chandler, Hammond, and Christie that will have you by the throat—both dryly funny and unforgettably evocative.
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
(Blurb by Tor Publishing Group)
This book is excellent in most ways but left a few frustratingly unanswered questions. It does a fantastic job detailing the nuanced power dynamics between the colonized and the colonizer. There were people on both sides of this postcolonial angst taking advantage of the oppressed (the colonizer obviously doing more systemic damage). At the same time, the dugulenw gained the courage to fight for their liberation and recognition of their traumas. There were so many parts of this book where it felt like the colonizer could have been anyone in this particular book. The French played the role of the occupier this time around. Still, honestly, you could have subbed in any two groups with unbalanced power dynamics and get the same or similar story (i.e., US/Israel and Palestine, United States and Indigenous folx, The United States and Black folx, the West and everyone else minding their business). This story allowed me to create historical and emotional connections that had me INVESTED in the dugulenw. You can feel the newly invigorated hope of the oppressed dugulenw radiating off the page, a motivator much needed in our current reality.
The author also injects a good amount of humor throughout the book while discussing these heavy concepts and oppressive systems. There were a number of hilarious interactions, especially with the main character, Boubacar, and the urchin, the young boy who receives help from. Chapter 8 has only one sentence that received a loud guff from me. It’s one of the few times a comp was accurate. They said it was in the vein of P. Djeli Clark, and it did not disappoint.
Onyebuchi sticks close to female noir character archetypes but does it in a way that doesn’t feel misogynistic. Our femme fatale, Aissata, is seductive, dangerous, and mysterious, but she doesn’t lead our main character, Boubacar, to his doom, nor does she ever receive punishment, unintentionally or otherwise. Her seduction isn’t for Boubacar, nor is it for the reader. It’s strictly for her own gains, and I love that for her. Harmattan Season has a “victim” (Hawa), but she is not a naive innocent as her last actions were with murderous intent, seeking to kill Boubacar. Once again, I love that for her. And there is no redeemer for Boubacar. His love interest, Kadiatou, is an activist who works with the Dugulenw community leader, Murutilen. She’s a reasonably round character who does argue with Boubacar while being patient in his journey. I deeply appreciate this more progressive take on archetypes that have toxic historical origins.
The author uses one of my favorite technical writing devices in Harmattan Season. Chapter 30 is strictly dialogue that focuses on Boubacar unpacking his feelings surrounding his identity and politics with Murutilen. I love that this writing device strips the story away from everything else, almost like in a cartoon where the background animation goes out. It’s just this white screen and these characters talking to one another in an empty void. This technique allows the reader to focus solely on what is being said and the emotion/reasoning behind it. It very much felt like the author wanted to stop everything to have a genuine conversation about the concept of identity and diasporic Blackness, not only between these two characters but with us, the readers.
The ending confused me because of an unanswered question. The chapters aren’t labeled, so I read the first couple of paragraphs twice to realize who was actually talking in the last chapter. While it was interesting to see that *REDACTED* POV, one of my biggest questions surrounding Boubacar wasn’t answered, making that revelation in later chapters seem irrelevant to the storyline.
As always, let’s ensure the publishers understand how much we value stories like Harmattan Season by Tochi Onyebuchi. Please, if you can, buy this wonderfully dark story in any format you can. You can also request this book from your local library and write a review about it online! Let’s ensure the publishing industry recognizes our need for speculative stories written by Black and Brown folx!!
If you are still interested in speculative noir written by Black and Brown writers, check out these stories as well!!
You can buy Harmattan Season by Tochi Onyebuchi (Tor books) on:
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