Jenna's Reviews > The Truth of the Aleke

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group | Tordotcom for the e-ARC. All opinions are honest and my own.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars, rounded up

Rep: Black boy protagonist, Black characters, desert setting, disabled characters

TW: classim, violence (resulting in loss of limbs), war, death, brutalization of children, child soldiers, corruption

Although this review will not contain any spoilers forThe Truth of the Aleke I would advise not reading this, if you do not wish to be spoiled for any of the events of book one,The Lies of the Ajungo .

My sincere apologies for not posting my written review sooner. I excitedly gobbled this book up, posted some video reviews and then procrastinated writing this one. I hope you can forgive me. /j

This review is actually a bit difficult to write, the The Truth of the Aleke is the sequel to The Lies of the Ajungo . There is not a ton I can say that will not spoil the book, because yet again, Utomi has shown us that he has a crafty mind. I’ll backtrack for a bit and say that I read The Lies of the Ajungo in either August or September of 2023 and I truly loved it. For such a small book, it packed an immense punch, the sequel is still rather short, but does slightly exceed one hundred pages. Initially, I was not as enamored with our protagonist, Osi, the same way I was with Tutu. It’s not that he was unlikeable, he was simply a different character, more stubborn, a bit arrogant, very steadfast, which contrasted with Tutu’s resilience, innocence, and sheer determination to help his Ma, his people. They did serve as parallels, sometimes even mirrors, during this story which was imperative.

The book picks up 500 years after the events of The Lies of the Ajungo , but everything we read previously holds relevance. I did have some separation between reading the books as I read my e-ARC in late January of this year. That did provide a reading experience that was conducive to this story, because much like the people of the land I was navigating truths from lies, truths from half-truths and crafty omissions. I definitely do not recommend reading this if you remember nothing from the first book, but some time between is fine and also you can always read them back to back for the most refreshed reading experience. Honestly, I do not want to say much more except pay attention and enjoy the story.

The last piece I will leave you with is to ensure you do not skip the acknowledgements when you read this one. The first page or so really serves as more of an Author’s Note, a very rewarding one to boot, once you have finished. I’m very excited and mildly anxious to read the third and final installment, hopefully in 2025 (I have no idea about the pub date).