Goliath is not your average science fiction novel. Onyebuchi jumps through first, second, and third POV, from a traditional Western narrative structure to documentary footage to nonfiction journalism articles. Time is nonlinear here, with some stories happening in the past, others in the characters’ presents, and others in their futures. It is somehow simultaneously epic yet intimate in scope, with a large cast of characters spreading across several states and many years, most of whom are connected to each other by one man ... Goliath reminds me of Angela Mi Young Hur’s devastatingly good 2021 speculative novel Folklorn. Content-wise, the books couldn’t be more different, but in terms of the way they made me feel, both while reading and afterward, they are very much alike. The two books are dense in plot and background and play with time, space, and knowledge in frighteningly clever ways. They’re emotionally heavy and intellectually layered to the point where multiple reads are required for full understanding. Neither are easy weekend reads by any means, and you’ll probably feel more like you just ran a marathon when you turn that last page rather than feel peaceful satisfaction ... Whatever Goliath is, however you interpret and experience it, it’s clear that Tochi Onyebuchi is one hell of a writer. This is a visceral and bracing text, as layered as an archaeological dig.

It’s an ingenious premise: Onyebuchi suburbanizes outer space and makes battered, almost uninhabitable provincial America the frontier ... In its scale and ambition, Goliath has the feel of a Tom Wolfe novel, but there isn’t really any central action or plot that forces the different characters, up and down the class ladder, into contact and conflict with one another. The story jumps between points of view and moves backward and forward in time ... How all this hangs together matters less in the end than the picture of a broken America these stories present ... Characters with different back stories wander onstage and reveal themselves. This puts a lot of pressure on each scene to deliver meaningful revelations ... In a strange way, though, the stakes remain low, if only because there’s so little hope that their lives will ever get better ... Inevitably, tensions between the two communities reach a climax, and the result is a tragedy you don’t need to be a science-fiction writer to imagine. But the speculative machinery offers a nuance here, too.

With deep emotional resonance, a strong biblical theme and tautly written speculative mechanics, Goliath is a real powerhouse of a novel. However, I’d be remiss not to mention its celebration of Blackness: the high-stakes tension of a game of spades, the pure poetry of the lyrics of Pusha T and Kendrick Lamar, the abundant energy of an 'Atlanta-ass' story. Too often these elements are cast off as 'urban' fiction or, if they find their way into (predominantly white) literary fiction at all, praised for 'elevating' the culture (as if it arises from a place so low as to require elevation). But Onyebuchi, with his generous, intellectually layered prose, celebrates all of these details and more, making them near-heroic qualities, signifiers of resistance in a world hell-bent on stomping out culture. Visceral, urgent and terrifyingly clever, Goliath is a prophecy in and of itself. Onyebuchi will change the way you think about systemic oppression and the need for resistance. Whether it is with this novel or his next brilliant work, he is sure to leave a lasting mark on the literary world.

More than being about plot, the novel is about wandering lives trying to make their brief time on earth worthwhile, to find companionship in the face of extreme loss of family and identity; Goliath explores an abstract idea of home as a placeholder in the search for meaning. It is a fruitless search, just like their lives, for these people live with the keen awareness that none of the people they grow to love, care for, or somehow save, have any chance of long-time survival. The lack of hope is stark, both in the novel and in its characters; yet, none comment on it ... Onyebuchi does not hold our hands through it. He flings us right into the middle of this dystopia—a dystopia which is really just a plausible follow-up to the reality we come across daily, through social media if not our lived experience ... Goliath offers prophetic vignettes highlighting the circular motion of history, leaving the reader piecing together the timelines of the story leading up to the present. Hence, a substantial portion of the novel is devoted to catching up the reader on the world that the characters inhabit, which may feel tedious, but it is essential to understand the roots of the ways of the world.

A fascinating combination of parable and prophecy. Told in both prose vignettes and epistolary passages, through newspaper articles and diary entries and life experience, the novel weaves together stories of a ruined Earth in the 2050s ... This bleak setting has moments of humor and surprise. The stackers in particular create a strong sense of family and love, even when they’re teasing each other or running from danger. And their discovery of horses in the middle of the wasteland gives the book a sense of wonder. Recommended for fans of postapocalyptic literature.

A desolated Earth is the vivid backdrop for this harrowing, visionary sci-fi novel ... Onyebuchi’s biblically inspired cautionary tale offers a hauntingly beautiful portrait of the decaying planet, though the mosaic structure and blurring timelines can sometimes take readers out of the narrative as they work to piece events together. Still, the emotions are raw and real, and Onyebuchi doesn’t shy away from the more heart-wrenching moments. It’s urgent, gorgeous work.