A review by cjblandford
Rosewater by Tade Thompson

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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.