I had heard such good things about this book but to be honest...I hated it. I don't usually say that about books very often but this was one that I absolutely had to pull myself through internally kicking and screaming.

I'm definitely down for some sci-fi (especially a story set in Africa) but I basically had no idea what was going on the majority of this book. The timelines jumped around so much that I couldn't keep straight what was happening in the past or in the present. It was also hard for me to get a handle on a lot of the futuristic terms - I need a pretty clear framework to get my imagination on board. There didn't seem to be much point to the plot (it felt to me like the book ended in the exact same place it started), and the main character was so unlikeable that I couldn't feel connected in any way to him.

I have no idea how this book got expanded into a trilogy and I'm completely stumped by the many prizes it was awarded. Maybe it's just me, but this was a definite no-go for me.

This is one of my oldest ARCs, and I finally read and reviewed it. I deeply enjoyed it and should have read it much sooner. I shall get to the rest of the series much sooner.

This story is told back and forth in past and present timelines as we learn about Kaaro and the alien invasion in Nigeria. Other physics are dying, and he starts to investigate why. Kaaro is not the best human or necessarily likeable guy but written in such a way that is not the author making excuses for his poor behavior. Still, I would like further growth of character in future books. I loved the world building that Thompson did in Rosewater and how there are hints for more of the story to be told in the next two books.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

I liked the ideas in this novel. Alien life that slowly alters the people it comes into contact with, psychic espionage, a book set in Nigeria instead of the USA or the UK- it's different than anything else I've read.

That said, I find that I'm not eager to pick up the next book. Why? I had a hard time attaching to the main character, who really wasn't a nice guy. I also didn't love the structure of the novel. Flashbacks would take us back in time randomly in order to get more insight into the main character's past, and I thought they made the book feel choppy and weren't effective in moving the story forward. The book was a bit like a kaleidoscope, and while I've seen that done well, I'm kind of over flashbacks unless they're extremely well done.

So, I suppose I'm not averse to reading the next books in the trilogy, but they won't be rising to the top of my list.

I really liked the premise of this book, especially that it was SFF set in Nigeria. The characters were interesting, and the story itself was intriguing. Kaaro was a complex character, with his own set of issues. The author told a really good story, and I'm not surprised it's received so many accolades. There was so much going on, that I feel like I will have to reread before diving into the second and third books in this series.

I really really really wanted to love this one - I thought the premise of a town that grows up around a mysterious alien biodome that is rumored to have healing powers sounded fascinating but ultimately I found the jumping timelines extremely confusing and the pay off at the end when things finally started to come together to be too little too late.

I had decided that this will be the year I'll go through my old ARCs, and finally read and review them. This was one of the first ones on that list - and damn, I'm mad at myself for not reading this when I first received it!

Kaaro lives in a town called Rosewater in Nigera, This town contains typically people going along their typically lives... all next to an alien biodome that may or may not have healing powers. Kaaro works at a bank in which he uses his psychic abilities to ward of attacks. He also works for a government agency, though did not land that job by any sort of normal means. When Kaaro starts to learn that those with similar abilities are being killed, he begins to question his supervisors. Well, more then usual. And the answers are not always as expected.

I love the world building that Thompson did in Rosewater. Even with the alien artifacts that just happen to be there, the backstory that emerges makes sense, in an alien sorta way. Kaaro is unlikable, but in a cheeky sort of way that you can't wait to see what else he will do, or has done in his past. While I won't say if you see any growth in character, I will say that finding out about his relationship with this biodome sheds light on a few of his quirks,

While Kaaro's story is great, I believe my favorite passage is about another character. Kaaro is questioning why someone he knows did X event, and the response he gets is that this person has their own story and is not a sidekick or backup to Kaaros. A+

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review!

This was an interesting story that I have recommended to others, including to be purchased by our library. I look forward to other entries in this series.

Overall I liked this book. Kaaro is an interesting narrator and I enjoyed his story. I wish that this book remained in the present instead of going back and forth to the past.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

Loved this story! Very exciting and I love the concept. I have purchased the 2nd book and audiobok, I look forward to reading more from Tade Thompson!

In a near-future Nigeria, a town has grown around a bio-dome that contains an alien entity with healing powers - crowds gather every year when the dome opens and anyone who is within the vicinity is cured of any ailment although there have been a few...mishaps. Kaaro is a finder, a sensitive who can read people's thoughts to know what valuables they have and where they're kept. Not surprisingly he had become a thief, a rather poor choice given that thieves tend to be killed in terrible ways. After just barely escaping with his life, he is recruited by S45, a Nigerian secret government agency whose purpose is mainly to find Wormwood, the alien presence thought to be behind the dome. When sensitives like Kaaro start dying, he is tasked with finding out why.

Rosewater is the first in the Wormwood Trilogy by Tade Thompson and to say it is, at the same time, very familiar and like nothing I've ever read before is, I know, confusing but I don't know how else to describe it. It is a kind of alien invasion murder mystery hybrid although the alien invasion has been well on the way for years and the possible victim among many is Kaaro. It would be hard not to make comparisons to Matrix and writers like Neil Stephenson and even Simon R Green and Stephen King but, at the same time, there is something so unique about it that it seems more an homage to than a rip-off of these other familiar tropes and artists which is something I can get behind since I love them all.

The story is told through different time periods and interludes and, if you don't pay attention to the chapter titles, it would be easy to get lost. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the sequel. A definite recommendation from me.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

I was very excited for this book! It sounded right up my alley and it was. I was just a little frustrated with the actual structure of the chapters and the way that it evolved because of that.

Published in small press edition in 2016; published by Orbit on September 18, 2018

An alien blob landed in London in 2012, wiping out part of the city and releasing a bunch of microorganisms into the biosphere. The government decided to call the blob Wormwood. The British attacked Wormwood because humans always attack what they don’t understand. They succeeded only in driving Wormwood underground, where it tunneled itself around the planet.

Eventually, a biodome grew out of the ground in Nigeria. A donut-shaped city developed around the biodome. The dome opens once a year, emitting microbes that cure bystanders of diseases, disabilities, and some mental impairments. Sometimes the cure takes; other times it causes problems down the road. Some people seem to be rebuilt in grotesque ways. The microbes also raise the dead, but the aliens apparently don’t appreciate, or don’t care, that animated corpses are zombies and not really welcomed by the living. Fortunately, Rosewater is not a zombie novel.

The planet has been laced with something like a fungus that allows some humans, dubbed sensitives, to tap into a psychic link comprised of fungal filaments and neurotransmitters. The tiny filaments attach to nerve endings and are constantly transmitting information to a worldmind. Sensitives can access the worldmind, also known as the xenosphere, which exists in the realm of quantum physics. Which means it is cool but too complicated to understand.

So that’s the background. The story jumps around in time as it follows Kaaro. Kaaro is a sensitive. He used to be a thief because he could sense where people hid their valuables. That career did not go well after his mother kicked him out of her house and a mob tried to set him on fire. Later he was trained by a government agency called S45 and developed the ability to probe minds. Now he uses his abilities to augment a firewall, protecting customers who conduct banking transactions from black hat sensitives who try to pluck identifying information from their thoughts. His second job is for S45, which uses his talents to pry into the minds of prisoners.

Working with or against Kaaro, depending on the year, are two women: Femi, who runs S45, and Oyin Da (a/k/a Bicycle Girl), who knows how to enter different dimensions in time and space. Another woman in Kaaro’s life is Aminat, his girlfriend in 2066. It is too simplistic to say that he is transformed by love, but Aminat at least forces him to look at himself, to deal with his guilt (or to examine why he does not feel more guilt), and to confront his demons.

The chapters shift between 2055 (then), 2066 (now), and some interludes between then and now. In 2055, Kaaro is looking into a village that vanished, attributed by some to tribal genocide, a theory that does not explain the absence of bodies.

The time jumps impose a burden on the reader to keep track of the story’s pieces and reorder them chronologically so that they make sense. Some of the shifts are so abrupt and untethered that they breed momentary confusion. There’s nothing wrong with burdening a reader and Rosewater isn’t nearly as complex as The Sound and the Fury (chapter headings and dates give the Rosewater reader some help), but readers who have poor memories might want to opt for a digital version so they can quickly jump back and refresh their understanding of what happened in each time frame.

Rosewater has a good bit of intellectual appeal but it falls short on emotional appeal. I like the concept and the background detail, but the character of Kaaro failed to resonate with me. I had little interest in whether he lived or died, succeeded or failed, had success with his love interests or fell on his face. The plot is intriguing and, as the opening novel of a trilogy, Rosewater offered enough substance to whet my interest in the next installment.

RECOMMENDED

Great book! Engaging, novel story line with intricate plot that jumps back and forth in its time line but keeps the reader clear on when the events occur. Good character development. This is the first of a trilogy, I'll definitely be reading the remaining books.

I’m not usually a sci-fi reader, but I really enjoyed this book- lived the setting in Africa, and it’s got everything- aliens, gritty backdrop, crime, mystery. Something for everyone.

An impressive near-future thriller set in Africa, after an alien artifact landed there. The main character is gifted (let's say telepath, though it's not quite that simple) and sometimes works for a secret government agency. The novel has several plot-lines, which run in different times, but the author handles it well, balancing all the time-streams so as not to confuse the readers and not to lose their interest.
The world is well-realised and interesting, as are the characters.
Will definitely read the next novel in the series.

Tade Thompson's novel Rosewater is named after a city that has grown up around an alien edifice somewhere in Nigeria. Scenes before the edifice grew are intermingled with scenes that come after. The viewpoint character, Kaaro, is an interesting sort of antihero. Maybe I should say he's straight-up aheroic. He dislikes violence and avoids carrying a gun, but he is also inclined to shirk responsibility in small and large ways. His stealing in the earlier timeline seems like the kind of awful teenage choice people I care about have made. Some of the choices Kaaro makes in the alien-mediated psychic realm were harder for me to handle. This isn't a book that minds making readers ill-at-ease, though. If you weren't ever disconcerted, maybe it would have failed you.

The later-timeline Kaaro struck me as deeply, quietly depressed. I wondered for a long time whether he would align with the aliens, or with one of the groups trying to exploit or control them. In the end, Kaaro doesn't choose either option. He simply decides that he wants to be alive, and to be engaged with the world. This is mediated mostly through the woman he's in love with, and it's hard to say whether this resolve will stick once the new-relationship glow wears off. Maybe? They have compatible levels of weird secrets.

All of the women in Rosewater are intense, strong-minded, ambitious people. They know what they want, in a way that Kaaro often doesn't. I liked them very much; I particularly enjoyed a conversation Kaaro has with the brilliant engineer Oyin Da about what fraction of her has become alien and what fraction of her has turned into a robot. I wondered about the pattern, though, where the man gets to be feckless and uncertain, while the women are all strong. I've noticed it often before in comic novels--Pratchett in particular tends this way--and though I like all the tough complicated interesting women as individuals, in aggregate I sometimes wonder what this authorial choice says about who gets to be ordinary. It's a trickier pattern to criticize because fecklessness does have different costs, depending on who you are. That's why Kaaro's relentless refusal to play the hero matters, in the first place.

A truly unique science fiction experience set in Nigeria and exploring large questions about what it means to be human / alien / and what it means to feel and love.

Generally, straight science fiction is not my thing, but this was so well written and entertaining that I am excited to continue on in the series. The story opens with a cool, "Ready Player One-ish" start with the protagonist being a worker in an IT department of a bank. Evan that was interesting. Then the whole region goes to participate in the "Opening", an annual celebration (sort of) event that occurs and is thought to offer healing to those who have ailments of all sorts. There are pros and cons of this event and the fun starts there.
I would highly recommend this book and am looking forward to book #2 (already out) and then book #3 is out this fall.

#Rosewater #NetGalley

I especially liked this book because of its 2 points of view, set in 2 different times. Set in the future, the healing abilities of the alien biodome may have also given humans different powers. This is exceptional science fiction, highly readable, and recommended.