NOVEMBER 2018 - AudioFile
This first installment of Thompson’s science fiction Wormwood Trilogy, set in 2066, follows antihero Kaaro, a Nigerian “Sensitive” who is capable of extracting information from people’s minds. Rosewater’s mysterious dome draws West African residents who are seeking healing and suspicious officials demanding answers. Narrator Bayo Gbadamosi creates a distinct sense of place as he ably characterizes Nigerians with competing motivations. As the story alternates between past and present, Gbadamosi’s tone builds connections between Kaaro’s felonious youth and other parts of the story. Despite an interesting premise featuring an enigmatic extraterrestrial lifeform and surrounding government intrigue, this production lacks a compelling sense of urgency with respect to Kaaro’s personal life and unfolding events. Disparate narrative threads sometimes get lost in the mix of other story elements. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 10/03/2016
In this futuristic thriller set in the middle of the 21st century, a Nigerian psychic goes up against aliens, criminals, and bizarre phenomena while coping with an increasingly weird world. Kaaro, once a thief capable of finding anything or anyone, now works for the ultra-secret Section 45 as a telepathic interrogator and investigator. When his fellow psychics start dying off, his attempts to discover the cause lead him to the alien-created biodome in the center of the city of Rosewater. As Kaaro’s past, including his previous experiences with the biodome, unspools in this nonlinear adventure, he learns the disturbing secret of the aliens who have settled on Earth. Thompson (Making Wolf) cleverly lays out a compellingly strange yet accessible setting, with an underlying mystery to drive the fast-paced narrative. The story bounces over multiple decades, laying out Kaaro’s sordid past and assorted sins, but it never loses sight of the big picture, in which the machinations of aliens (whom the reader will find both understandable and frightening) and psychics are just the backdrop for a character-driven, morally gray tale of hope and potential redemption. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
"Mesmerising. There are echoes of Neuromancer and Arrival in here, but this astonishing debut is beholden to no one."—M. R. Carey
"Smart. Gripping. Fabulous!"—Ann Leckie
"Nothing short of brilliant.... A captivating, cerebral work of science fiction that may very well signal a new definitive voice in the genre."—Kirkus
"A magnificent tour de force, skillfully written and full of original and disturbing ideas."—Adrian Tchaikovsky
"Thompson's genius in displacing his tale of successive xenobiological attacks from the West onto the developing world is matched by his breathtakingly smart prose.... Deeply engrossing."—The Seattle Review of Books
"One of the most thoughtful and inventive alien contact tales of recent decades."—Locus
"A sharply satirical, ingenious thriller about an alien invasion that's disturbing familiar. Tade Thompson has built a fascinating world that will suck you in and keep you guessing. This book will eat you alive, and you'll like it."—Annalee Newitz
"Compellingly strange yet accessible... a character-driven, morally grey tale of hope and potential redemption."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Intriguing Afrofuturistic tale [that] features an incredible mashup of alien contact and human-centered power, delivering a stark and gritty story that will keep readers engaged."—Library Journal
"Deeply imagined characters and vibrant, startling imagery... An author to watch."—B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog
"A strange and unsettling story of psychics, conspiracy, and alien invasion unlike anything I've read before. Masterfully constructed, brimming with ideas and slowly unfolding mystery, Rosewater hurt my brain in the best of ways."—Fonda Lee
"Crammed with ideas and told in precise, controlled prose, Thompson's debut soars. Set in Nigeria, it tells of a slow, insidious alien invasion from the viewpoint of a flawed protagonist with psychic powers. The plot is a mosaic of mysteries, shot through with neat Afrofuturist flourishes."—Financial Times
"Perfect for fans of William Gibson's Neuromancer, this twisty, captivating page-turner explores the fragility of the mind and how memory constructs identity."—BookPage
"Inventive aliens and realistic-feeling invasion... keen observations of how easily people ignore and accept what should be terrifying... intriguing characters (many of them women) who have lives of their own beyond the pages... fascinating."—Strange Horizons
"This thrilling, ambitious novel offers a deftly woven and incisive blend of science fiction, psychology, action, and mystery. Highly recommended."—Kate Elliott
"One of the most imaginative alien invasion scenarios I have come across."—Aliette de Bodard, Nebula and BSFA award-winning author
"A fiercely weird, breathtaking biopunk tale of alien invasion, Rosewater is ambitious and smart and very, very cool."—Tasha Suri
"Quite simply one of best books I have read for quite some time."—SFCrowsnest
"As strange, vivid and intricate as the alien biosphere at its heart, Rosewater is a fabulous book and Tade Thompson is a writer of enormous heart and talent. Just brilliant."—Dave Hutchinson
"A masterclass in worldbuilding.... Rosewater is a brilliant read.... I've never read a sci-fi book like this, and I doubt I will again."—The Fantasy Inn
"Inventive and creepy... revolutionary."—Ozy
"Original, entertaining, and food for thought. Tade Thompson is an exciting new voice in our field and I can't wait to read more of his work."—Pat Cadigan
"Part thriller, part mystery and part phantasmagoric journey across a strange yet not-too-distant future, and reminiscent at times of both Roger Zelazny and Nnedi Okorafor, Rosewater is the hardboiled, Nigerian alien invasion story you always wanted."—Lavie Tidhar
NOVEMBER 2018 - AudioFile
This first installment of Thompson’s science fiction Wormwood Trilogy, set in 2066, follows antihero Kaaro, a Nigerian “Sensitive” who is capable of extracting information from people’s minds. Rosewater’s mysterious dome draws West African residents who are seeking healing and suspicious officials demanding answers. Narrator Bayo Gbadamosi creates a distinct sense of place as he ably characterizes Nigerians with competing motivations. As the story alternates between past and present, Gbadamosi’s tone builds connections between Kaaro’s felonious youth and other parts of the story. Despite an interesting premise featuring an enigmatic extraterrestrial lifeform and surrounding government intrigue, this production lacks a compelling sense of urgency with respect to Kaaro’s personal life and unfolding events. Disparate narrative threads sometimes get lost in the mix of other story elements. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2018-09-02
When a detective with psychic powers begins to investigate a mysterious sickness plaguing those like him, he uncovers sinister truths that may very well call into question the survival of the human race.
It's 2066, and in Nigeria, the town of Rosewater has grown up around a strange dome that heals whomever stands beneath it. Kaaro, a government security officer who was a criminal before becoming a soldier, is a "sensitive," a rare breed of human endowed with psychic powers. Just as Kaaro meets a woman who could possibly make him happy, sensitives like him begin to get sick and die. As Kaaro digs deeper and deeper into the source of the sensitives' illness, his troubled past and riveting present come together to paint the picture of a horrifying future. Thompson's debut novel brims with inventive and seamless worldbuilding, eloquent prose, a strong cast of powerful black characters, and cutting social commentary on the current geopolitical shift toward authoritarianism and post-colonial trauma. Thompson's rendering of the "xenosphere," a theoretical dimension into which psychic characters can project their consciousnesses, is nothing short of brilliant. Perhaps Thompson's most impressive feat is his use of Kaaro's psychic powers to assert unprovable facts. For instance, when Kaaro senses a suicide bomber in a nearby crowd, he thinks: "I hate suicide bombers. Their heads are always full of mushy rhetoric, faulty logic and grim fucking resolve. Just after they activate the detonator there is some regret, but still." Though the novel feels slightly overlong and the way the chapters rigidly alternate between past and present feels forced at times, it never fails to intrigue and entertain.
A captivating, cerebral work of science fiction that may very well signal a new definitive voice in the genre.
