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A review by ielerol
The Rosewater Insurrection by Tade Thompson
3.0
I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as the first. I'd been looking forward to more point-of-view characters than just Kaaro, but this book switches between so many characters that I didn't quite get a good feel for any of them. It's very much a plot-focused story, with a lot happening, but I am a character-centric reader and I just never felt like a I had a good grasp on what everyone's deal was. I like Aminat, but spending time in her head didn't help me understand what she sees in Kaaro any more than seeing it from his perspective in the first book. I mean, not that I dislike him, but even when Aminat is thinking about him, her inner monologue is basically "here's all the things that suck about him, but I just love him so much anyway!" I mean, sure, that happens in the real world plenty, it's just not very narratively satisfying.
The character I think we spend the most time really getting into the mindset and inner life is Alyssa, who is necessarily a difficult person to relate to and understand. I would have liked more time with her and less short flashes of time with Walter or Eric (or the excerpts from Walter's novel? Which in basic writing style felt exactly like Rosewater Insurrection and I'm not sure I get what they were supposed to add) that ultimately felt like distractions, or that asshole whose name I have already forgotten who turned into the plant. I get that we might need to see a scene of the plant-person's origins, but he was gross and I just don't know why we spent as much time as we did learning about this random asshole whose asshole perspective didn't matter to anything.
Still, middle books of trilogies are difficult, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all resolves.
The character I think we spend the most time really getting into the mindset and inner life is Alyssa, who is necessarily a difficult person to relate to and understand. I would have liked more time with her and less short flashes of time with Walter or Eric (or the excerpts from Walter's novel? Which in basic writing style felt exactly like Rosewater Insurrection and I'm not sure I get what they were supposed to add) that ultimately felt like distractions, or that asshole whose name I have already forgotten who turned into the plant. I get that we might need to see a scene of the plant-person's origins, but he was gross and I just don't know why we spent as much time as we did learning about this random asshole whose asshole perspective didn't matter to anything.
Still, middle books of trilogies are difficult, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all resolves.