This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Fist of Memory will be released on October 27, 2026.

I’ve been enjoying Wole Talabi’s short fiction for several years now, and though his (award-winning) debut novel wasn’t really my style (it was a heist story), The Fist of Memory promised a first contact plot that immediately grabbed my attention and sent this skyrocketing up my list of anticipated books. 

The Fist of Memory is set predominantly in Nigeria, with small segments in South Africa and outer space, and it features three main storylines that ultimately converge around the arrival of alien visitors. One of those storylines, unsurprisingly, is the appearance of a strange object on a collision course with Earth and following a trajectory that makes a mockery of even the most cutting-edge understandings of physics. Less obviously connected are the pair of assassins, a young woman called upon to kill a major political figure and an older man seeking revenge for the death of his family. But before the story is out, both will be irrevocably changed by the object charging toward Earth. 

One of my favorite recurring themes in Talabi’s short fiction is ancestral memory, and it will come as no surprise that it plays a significant role in the story here. But despite so often focusing on big fantastical concepts and the way they shape the people on the ground, he’s clearly also a fan of the thrilling action sequences, and those are on full display here as well. For all that the first contact plot is obviously the biggest shaper of the narrative’s ultimate direction, it’s the story of the assassins that keeps the tale pumping forward while the wider world holds its breath. 

As I’ve said many times, thrillers are far from my preferred style of story, but the quality of the writing keeps The Fist of Memory engaging from the opening chapters. Both assassins receive enough backstory to generate emotional investment, and both have massive questions about their next jobs that keep the stakes high on more than one axis—it’s not just how they’ll survive, but how the jobs will change them and their circumstances. Even as a reader who often finds attention wandering during action sequences, those in The Fist of Memory are gripping. 

But the thriller elements are not so much a buttress to the first contact plot as they are the meat of a tale that would’ve otherwise been unacceptably thin. The action is good, but it has to be good, because the alien elements are so thoroughly foreshadowed that there’s precious little uncertainty about how they’ll play out. That doesn’t mean there isn’t enough tension to make for a satisfying conclusion, but it’s a first-contact tale that feels more like a motivating idea than a driving plot. It’s vital to the story, but it isn’t the thing generating most of the narrative tension. The marriage of first contact and action-thriller works, but it works in a way that will appeal more towards fans of thriller structures than first-contact ones. 

Similarly, the ultimate conclusion is narratively satisfying and has a lot to say about humanity, but it hews closely to the sort of conclusion that genre fans have seen before—albeit with very different cultural influences. That makes for a story that’s well-served by the climax but that doesn’t see the climax raise its overall level. The Fist of Memory is very much a tale about the journey more so than the destination. 

On the whole, The Fist of Memory demonstrates a lot more ambition than Talabi’s debut, and it pays off that ambition with a thrilling tale that has a lot to say. The balance between thriller and first contact plot leans heavily toward the former, but it’s well-executed and worth the read. 

Recommended if you like: action-heavy sci-fi with thematic ambition.

Can I use it for Bingo? It’s hard mode for Author of Color, and one of the cast is an Older Protagonist. It’s also a First Contact story that’s Published in 2026 and features Politics.

Overall rating: 15 of Tar Vol’s 20. Four stars on Goodreads.