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deb_is_reading's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Positives: There were so much elements in this story that was just plain cool. The aliens, Kaaro's and other's abilities, the female characters are interesting and I wanted to see more of them.
Negative: So there were a lot of time jumps that weren't chronological. We'd jump from the 2060s to the 2040s to the 2060s again then to the 2050s and references to other time periods within those time jumps. It felt like I should have had a scrap piece of paper to keep track of things. It was a little bit of work to follow. The writing is fine and digestible though.
Sexual moments were also very jarring at times. Romantic moments between Kaaro and Aminat were fine but there were also moments of random erections and sudden moments of sex/sexual assaults. I try to give the author the benefit of the doubt but I felt that a lot of random bouts of sexuality were straight up not needed. It's so strange because our main character is a stated misogynist and we do see him grow a bit, but the random sexual bits kinda ruin it.
Further thoughts: I might be more interested by the next installment because I think we follow more perspectives.
Negative: So there were a lot of time jumps that weren't chronological. We'd jump from the 2060s to the 2040s to the 2060s again then to the 2050s and references to other time periods within those time jumps. It felt like I should have had a scrap piece of paper to keep track of things. It was a little bit of work to follow. The writing is fine and digestible though.
Sexual moments were also very jarring at times. Romantic moments between Kaaro and Aminat were fine but there were also moments of random erections and sudden moments of sex/sexual assaults. I try to give the author the benefit of the doubt but I felt that a lot of random bouts of sexuality were straight up not needed. It's so strange because our main character is a stated misogynist and we do see him grow a bit, but the random sexual bits kinda ruin it.
Further thoughts: I might be more interested by the next installment because I think we follow more perspectives.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Sexism, and Torture
edensbookshelf's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Gun violence and Sexual harassment
Minor: Homophobia and Sexism
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
2 🌟 CW: violence, murder, mob violence/lynching, sex, zombies, descriptions of blood and corpses, medical/body horror, ethnic cleansing mention, cannibalism mention, grotesque descriptions of mutated bodies, torture
I Initially bought Rosewater by Tade Thompson, because it's a scifi novel by a Nigerian author, but upon reading I was very disappointed.
We follow Kaaro, a Yoruba man in Nigeria in 2066, who works for a secret government agency called S45 (reminds me of Section 31 in Star Trek.) Kaara lives in Rosewater, a town that didn't exist until 11 years ago when extraterrestrial life crashed to earth and released viruses called Xenoforms. The xenoforms that were released by the alien had different effects on people. In Kaaro's case he became a psychic they call a Sensitive. It sort of reminded me of the show Sense8, but instead of a specific cohort, you can read all people.
I did not enjoy this book. I struggled to get through and seriously thought about dnfing it several times, but powered through anyway. I found the MC to be a misogynistic asshole, and didn't really have any redeeming qualities. I thought the going back and forth in time was a weird choice, since the flashbacks were all out of order, which made it a bit hard to follow.
I felt like the author didn't know which plot points to follow, so he just threw them all at you. There was even a zombie plot at one point. I wasn't quite sure what the point of Oyin Da's character was since it didn't seem to really go anywhere. There was also a weird sex thing happening that I thought was unnecessary.
This was very high concept scifi, and the author is clearly very smart and a talented writer, this story just wasn't for me. I will not be reading the rest of the Wormwood trilogy.
I Initially bought Rosewater by Tade Thompson, because it's a scifi novel by a Nigerian author, but upon reading I was very disappointed.
We follow Kaaro, a Yoruba man in Nigeria in 2066, who works for a secret government agency called S45 (reminds me of Section 31 in Star Trek.) Kaara lives in Rosewater, a town that didn't exist until 11 years ago when extraterrestrial life crashed to earth and released viruses called Xenoforms. The xenoforms that were released by the alien had different effects on people. In Kaaro's case he became a psychic they call a Sensitive. It sort of reminded me of the show Sense8, but instead of a specific cohort, you can read all people.
I did not enjoy this book. I struggled to get through and seriously thought about dnfing it several times, but powered through anyway. I found the MC to be a misogynistic asshole, and didn't really have any redeeming qualities. I thought the going back and forth in time was a weird choice, since the flashbacks were all out of order, which made it a bit hard to follow.
I felt like the author didn't know which plot points to follow, so he just threw them all at you. There was even a zombie plot at one point. I wasn't quite sure what the point of Oyin Da's character was since it didn't seem to really go anywhere. There was also a weird sex thing happening that I thought was unnecessary.
This was very high concept scifi, and the author is clearly very smart and a talented writer, this story just wasn't for me. I will not be reading the rest of the Wormwood trilogy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, and Murder
Minor: Genocide and Cannibalism
violent, but consensual (although questionable) sexual situations, grotesque descriptions of mutated bodiesjenny_d's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
kylieqrada's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I'm waffling between a 3.5 and a 4 ⭐s on this one. It is a fascinating and wholly original start to a sci-fi series set in Nigeria and following a biological alien lifeform that changes the makeup of Earth itself???? And then there's like people with telepathic powers???? And spy stuff???? And government conspiracies???? And I loved it???? The writing style was definitely different, it took a bit for me to get used to it. Also our MC is not the most likeable of bros. But overall, I enjoyed this immensely and will be continuing the series and reading more from Tade Thompson.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder
v171's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was an incredibly engaging, interesting read from start to finish. I have been on a New Weird kick recently, and I think Rosewater has set the standard. Everything about this book's construction was spot on. The writing was accessible, but not bland. The characters all felt distinctly human. The aliens felt "appropriately" alien. The setting across real world African locations and fictional areas was interesting to follow. If I had only one critique, it was that the story was a bit touch and go, but with how engaging it was, I didn't mind at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Homophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Medical trauma
Minor: Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, and Death of parent