The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi, a story that makes you think, and then tries to pull the rug out from under you. Are you paying attention?

There is no water in the City of Lies.

Many, many years of drought have plagued the city, and the people have been beholden to the Ajungo Empire for the meager reserves of water they do receive -- for a very steep price. After many attempts over the years by other children to leave the city and seek out water, never to return, 13-year-oldTutu has a heartbreaking decision to make: stay in the city, make his sacrifice, and watch his mother die of blood drought -- or leave the city to find water that might save her.

This powerful new myth, wrapped in a deceptively simple novella, offers a tale of one young man's determination to help his people, uncover the truth, and stand up to the oppressors. Tutu believes in his mother's advice that only learning will free them, and he embarks on his quest like a hero of old, facing multiple challenges and learning to treat kindly with strangers. Only by listening to others and helping them meet their needs does Tutu find the way forward for his own people.

And while the novella reads like a story told by a griot around a campfire, or a cautionary fairy tale, it also holds a deeper message for the reader. The dystopian world of the story offers a glimpse of our own future, marred by catastrophic climate change and the polarization of society, and it shows that we need to look beneath the lies we are told in order to save our communities -- and that we need the clear-sightedness of our youth to show us the way.

Absolutely unputdownable. 5 stars, and I look forward to what Moses Ose Utomi writes next.

Read this if you love: an unlikely and unassuming hero, quests to save the community, exploring fantasy worlds with a North African vibe, political intrigue, power to the people

Thank you, Tor.com and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

This was like the desert meets the novel The Water Knife, where water is a precious resource that needs to be cherished and honored. A touching story.

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read (if I qualify)