Oraine Johnson’s Lucid This is an incredibly ambitious urban fantasy, painting a compelling, superhero-tinged story across the bleak landscape of a future Birmingham. While perhaps a little unfocused at times, this first novel is a striking exploration of a world where the real and the imagined blur. A must-read for those who enjoy British urban fantasy, dark superhero stories, and supernatural thrillers.Lucid Provides a distinctive and layered way to engage with the text.
Johnson's most impressive quality is his strong connection to location. The book expertly constructs a vision of Birmingham in the future, rendering it simultaneously recognisable and disturbingly altered. The city, rife with corruption and simmering gang warfare, offers a welcome change from the usual London-focused British novels. Johnson effectively uses the city's cultural identity to anchor the narrative, crafting a setting that is as vital to the story as its inhabitants.
The characters themselves are exceptionally well-realised. Johnson creates authentic portrayals of young adulthood, using Brummie slang to give each voice a unique and realistic feel. We follow Joseph Jacobs, an ordinary teenager who goes to university, skateboards and tries to stay out of trouble. But when he skates past a crime scene that eerily matches a dream he can’t forget, his world starts to unravel. As his dreams grow into darker and more realistic nightmares, he is pulled into a hidden world where the lines between sleeping and waking become increasingly fuzzy. His journey properly begins, however, when a mysterious ‘black ghost’ delivers justice in a brutal massacre at ‘The Loop’, a notorious gang hideout. This event sets off a chain of supernatural occurrences: a serial killer on the loose, victims drowned in unexplained water, and humans with strange white eyes.
Lucid features a high-concept magic system that users can wield to blur the lines between dreams and reality. While its introduction is perhaps deliberately confused, it soon becomes a compelling force to drive the plot forward; with parallels to Marvel’s Moon Knight.
Weaving his own kind of magic, Johnson’s background in artistry is evident throughout the book, as he uses unconventional formatting with changes in font and fading words to help immerse the reader directly into the character’s mindset.
That very ambition is also, to some extent, where the novel falls short.Lucid struggles with its own intricate design. Its use of split narrative and multiple POVs feels disjointed. Lacking clear transitions, the flow is often disrupted, with characters’ voices blurring together. Combined with uncontrolled pacing, the early chapters struggle to maintain engagement. While commendable for the immersive use of language, this authenticity builds barriers before you can get to the meat of the story.
The final third is really where the story truly finds its stride. The narrative stitches itself back together with a powerful, if hurried, conclusion, the unravelling mysteries coalescing to reveal the story’s potential.
Oraine Johnson's bold and distinctive first book is a work of true artistry and imaginative flair. Although a few editorial oddities might try the reader's patience, the well-developed world and rounded characters ought to still draw in anyone looking for a novel spin on urban fantasy.
Lucid is OUT NOW from Orion Publishing Co
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