I started Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase sometime in early 2025. It took me until March 30, 2025 to read. Not because it was a bad book, necessarily, but because it was a dense, hard read. There were a lot of descriptions of what was happening (even if it was just trying to get out of bed, let alone the technical parts), cultural references and even the way of speaking that was not what I was used to. The idea of a future where we can “swap our consciousness” into another body was interesting, and honestly clever, but I never completely understood how it worked. By the end of the book I realized that our main character Nelah, has had at least three bodies/lives, but does not remember anything about them and that the current body has had at least four consciousnesses in it.
And that actually was the least confusing part of things. Nelah learns that the country has a lot of secrets, her husband has secrets, even she has secrets (or so she thinks, even with a microchip in the back of her neck that Sees All). This all comes together in a horror, science fiction, fantasy, Afrofurism, feminist clash. I won’t try to explain it, as it would tell you a lot of what the story is, but I will say that it is not pretty.
The idea of women in the world of men, how they are used and abused, has been done before, but this twist of science fiction, horror, fantasy and Afrofuturism makes this fresh. But there is body shaming, language, sexual situation, gore, blood, vomit, death (lots of death), graphic descriptions of what happens to bodies, a suicide, rape, serious drug and alcohol use, bullying, confinement of minds in “prisons”, forced simulations where the person is unaware of reality, miscarriages, pregnancy and a combination of what feels like a traditional religion (so called “primative female centric beliefs”) vs. a contemporary warship of power, money and influence.
I found it slow reading, but there were a lot of important points. I really disliked the characters. Even (or maybe especially) Nelah. Personally this was not my favorite, and more of a 2.75 than a 3 resting, as I did not like the horror elements, though they do fit the overall tone of things and I really disliked the drug use (but again, it shows the privilege, selfishness, lack of responsibility these people have). Plus, I do not think Nelah learns from her experiences. Though each reader will feel differently about her and the cast of characters. This is a book you cannot go to with only a few minutes to read, or in a busy place. It needs your concentration, a quiet place and a willingness to suspend belief, and knowing that the subjects hit really close to home and might not work out how you want it.