I really enjoyed this compelling and strange sci-fi adventure. Although it has echoes of [b:Chaga|666817|Chaga|Ian McDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1176932558s/666817.jpg|269905] and [b:Annihilation|17934530|Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)|Jeff VanderMeer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403941587s/17934530.jpg|24946895], I found it distinctive in a very interesting way. The idea is that several alien meteors have landed on Earth, in America, England, and Nigeria. Decades later, the latter is surrounded by a city named Rosewater, which depends upon the alien dome in its centre for power. The alien presence is mysterious and almost unknowable, but still impacts upon its surroundings in both obvious and subtle ways. The narrator, Kaaro, is a psychic with a complicated history. Tade Thompson tells his story in non-linear style, darting between then and now adeptly. This structure reminded me of [a:Jon Courtney Grimwood]’s Arabesk series. One thing that was notably unusual, though, was my sympathy for the protagonist. Sci-fi's leading men can be, frankly, a real drag. Not in this case, though. Kaaro is a thief with somewhat dubious morals, an overworked freelancer, a powerful mind-reader, an irreverent flirt, a man who often claims to be worse than he is. He’s no one-dimensional grimdark anti-hero and does not have any dead mothers or wives. He delights in subverting the reader’s expectations, at times to the point of meta comedy. He is mysterious enough to be fascinating, while retaining plausibility. The largely female supporting cast are also very appealing. Even his romance plotline felt involving rather than stale.

Perhaps these comments go to show that my expectations of sci-fi are relatively low when it comes to characterisation. I expect more from the world-building side, and ‘Rosewater’ does this really well too. The alien incursion is suitably weird and insidious, beautifully integrated into a striking portrait of future Nigeria. As the book proceeds, understanding of the aliens creeps up on the reader in a very satisfying way. The idea that humans are being converted into alien hybrids through healing is a neat one. I loved the revelation that the alien beings who arrived on the meteor aren’t all of the same kind and don’t all have the same agenda. As one of them comments, it isn’t as if all humans speak the same language! The mental world of the psychics is likewise depicted vividly and memorably.

By moving between times, the narrative avoids getting bogged down in explanations and keeps up a quick pace. The combination of adroit storytelling, great characters, memorable details, distinctive atmosphere, and careful deployment of allegorical commentary makes for an excellent read. I loved ‘Rosewater’ and definitely want to read the next book in the Wormwood trilogy. ( )

I really enjoyed this one. The somewhat clinical, almost simplistic narration style of the main character Kaaro, almost belies the reader into thinking it is a simple story, but it is not. It is a rich, layered story, with much symbolism that will take another reading to unpack. This story is not told linearly, and there are multiple storylines being told concurrently, and I usually hate that, but the reason I hate it is that it feels lazy or like a cheap trick to pad a story, but here it is done masterfully. I think one problem readers may have with this book is that the main character and narrator, Kaaro, is not all that likable, he's a but unreliable, and he can be sexist. I found it interesting that the author chose to present the first part of this story from Kaaro's perspective, with all of his faults. But it works for the story, as an introduction to the main conflict, from a source who is a bit detached from it. He wants to take an outsider's approach, and isn't motivated by higher ideals. In his youth, Kaaro was a thief, and as he develops abilities, his thievery transforms from the physical, to the mental, where he can steal a person's privacy by reading their minds and inner thoughts. He finds missing things, but doesn't fully understand how his abilities work, or know what he's capable of if he applied himself.

The near-future Nigerian setting is very interesting and worked very well for the story. The overarching story took a bit of time to reveal itself, but all of the tidbits and details in the lead-up were enough to keep me interested. I would read this again and I will continue the series because despite Kaaro not being a "save-the-world" type of person, I want to see how this conflict is going to play out. ( )

This book spends way too much time on world building and not enough time on plot. While the audiobook narrator was wonderful, the book spent so much time on details that it was hard to stay interested. ( )

Sometimes you pick up a book and just know it's going to be good, which is the feeling I got reading the first few pages of Rosewater. It's set in Nigeria, with a mysterious alien dome occupying the centre of the city. The main character's memories and present experiences converge over the course of the book effectively, as we learn more and more about him and his life. And we learn he's not exactly a model citizen - the book pulls off an unreliable narrator very well.

There are some lofty concepts in there, such as the pseudo-internet that psychic characters can tap into, and they're introduced very gradually, never feeling like the author is dumping info on you, but developing into lucid dreamscapes before very long.

Good writing. Can't wait till the next one. ( )

I was quickly drawn in to this first-contact story set in Nigeria The storytelling is fast and the characters are interesting. I did have some trouble as the book went on, with juggling the present-time story and the flashbacks, even though the chapter headings are helpfully marked "now" and "then."

However, the concepts of the nature of the invasion are so complex and interesting that I can't wait to read the following books. I might want to re-read this one though, before sending it back to the library. ( )