Fantasy Book Critic: Book review: The Fist of Memory by Wole Talabi

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: WOLE TALABI is an engineer, writer, and editor from Nigeria. He is the author of the speculative action thriller THE FIST OF MEMORY (2026) and the acclaimed fantasy novel SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON (2023) which was nominated for the Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy awards. His short fiction has appeared in Asimov’s, F&SF, Lightspeed, and other major venues and is collected in CONVERGENCE PROBLEMS (2024) and INCOMPLETE SOLUTIONS (2019). His work has won multiple awards and been a finalist for the Hugo, and the prestigious Caine Prize. His stories have been translated into a dozen languages. He has edited five anthologies including AFRICANFUTURISM (2020) and MOTHERSOUND: THE SAUÚTIVERSE ANTHOLOGY (2023). He likes scuba diving, elegant equations, and oddly shaped things. He currently lives and works in Australia. Find him at @wtalabi on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky and Tiktok.

Publisher: DAW (October 27, 2026) Page count: 416 Formats: audiobook, ebook, hc

I requested The Fist of Memory on NetGalley because the synopsis sounded exactly like my kind of sci-fi: first contact, assassins, strange technology, all set in Nigeria instead of the usual familiar locations. Glad I did, because this is a really interesting novel.

An alien spacecraft appears above Earth without communicating with anyone, which naturally sends the world into panic mode. The story focuses on an astrophysicist, a professional killer working for a mysterious witchdoctor, and another assassin completely consumed by revenge. None of them are especially likable or relatable, honestly, but that fits the tone of the novel. Everyone here feels damaged in one way or another.

What I liked most was the near-future setting. Talabi throws in loads of clever details that make the world feel slightly ahead of ours without drowning the reader in exposition. People have Neuranexuses embedded in their brains and casually perform tasks through neural commands while AI assistants quietly run their lives in the background. Money transfers, home management, communication - they all can be handled with a thought. Which sounds convenient right up until someone starts feeding people false memories and ideas directly into their heads.

At times, the book becomes heavily philosophical. The aliens themselves are interesting because they’re not really invaders in the traditional sense. They might actually be trying to help humanity, although "help" becomes a complicated word here. The novel spends a lot of time exploring connectedness, shared memory, identity, and what people could become if human consciousness stopped being so isolated. Some of those sections slowed the pacing a bit, but the ideas themselves were strong enough that I didn’t mind too much.

There’s still plenty of action too. Assassinations, betrayals, fights, political tension. The book started years ago as a revenge thriller before Talabi expanded it into something much larger, and you can still feel that DNA underneath all the sci-fi and metaphysics.

I did have some issues with the prose. Talabi’s writing is good, but some metaphors felt too noticeable for my taste. Lines about realizations crystallizing "like salt" or glass "screaming" when it shatters weren't my jam. I tend to prefer more neutral prose, so mileage will definitely vary depending on the reader. Some people will probably love that style. For me, it occasionally got in the way.

Still, once I settled into the rhythm of the novel, I ended up pretty impressed by it. Wole Talabi clearly had big ideas he wanted to explore, and for the most part he pulls it off. Thoughtful sci-fi with strong concepts, cool technology, and enough action to keep the philosophical parts from floating completely into space.