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A review by dubsington
Rosewater by Tade Thompson
4.0
It’s a rare book for me personally, that can grab me and hold my attention when things are light on plot movement. To me, that’s a key area where Rosewater really separates itself from other books.
Rosewater is a city that was built around a huge, organic alien dome that hit the earth one day. Along with it came a variety of things including the healing of all ailments once a year, a organic encompassing network called the xenoverse, and ‘Sensitives,” humans who can connect to this xenoverse and use it to impact the real word in different ways.
Our main character, Kaaro, is one such sensitive who by day works at the bank, using his mind with other sensitives to keep out intruders within the xenoverse, and by night works with a clandestine government group, putting his ‘powers’ to work in all manner of ways.
Much of Rosewater is worldbuilding through the telling of one man’s story and it is at least a third or more into the book before our central mystery is revealed. This kind of waiting is usually something that drives me away from the story, but in Rosewater’s case the world and the nature of Kaaro’s ability are slowly unveiled within stories that are tightly paced and give the reader a clear and strong understanding of what is possible in this world.
That Kaaro is not a faultless character helps here as well. Most readers will recognize some character flaws early on with Kaaro that pronounce more and more as the story progresses.
Anyone looking for a sci-if that feels unique, tense, emotional and grounded should look into Rosewater.
Rosewater is a city that was built around a huge, organic alien dome that hit the earth one day. Along with it came a variety of things including the healing of all ailments once a year, a organic encompassing network called the xenoverse, and ‘Sensitives,” humans who can connect to this xenoverse and use it to impact the real word in different ways.
Our main character, Kaaro, is one such sensitive who by day works at the bank, using his mind with other sensitives to keep out intruders within the xenoverse, and by night works with a clandestine government group, putting his ‘powers’ to work in all manner of ways.
Much of Rosewater is worldbuilding through the telling of one man’s story and it is at least a third or more into the book before our central mystery is revealed. This kind of waiting is usually something that drives me away from the story, but in Rosewater’s case the world and the nature of Kaaro’s ability are slowly unveiled within stories that are tightly paced and give the reader a clear and strong understanding of what is possible in this world.
That Kaaro is not a faultless character helps here as well. Most readers will recognize some character flaws early on with Kaaro that pronounce more and more as the story progresses.
Anyone looking for a sci-if that feels unique, tense, emotional and grounded should look into Rosewater.