Rosewater

First contact story set in Nigeria, primarily in Lagos and the fictional city of Rosewater. Protagonist Kaaro has psychic capabilities – he can quickly explore the minds of others, reveal their past, and gain an understanding of their lives. A group of people with these psychic capabilities have evolved. Kaaro is also able to infiltrate a place known as the Xenosphere, in his avatar form which includes the ability to fly. The city of Rosewater has been built around an alien biodome. The biodome is opened annually, which enables illnesses to be cured by the alien entity. Kaaro has two jobs – he works for a bank and also reluctantly employs his unusual psychic skills in service of the government. His relationship with a woman and her show more brother is woven into the narrative.

This is not a plot that can be easily summarized, but the world-building is very well done. It contains an ambiance of extrasensory perception, which comes across vividly. There are many characters that come and go, and they are well-drawn. The storyline alternates between the present timeline in 2066 and the past, which supplies the backstory of how these circumstances came to exist. The author employs our recent world history, so it feels like a speculative version of future events. The United States has become isolated to the point where its actions are unknown to the rest of the world. It contains a lot of darkness and violence, including murders, immolations, and executions.

It is fast paced story – never a dull moment. It is also an intelligently constructed complex story that requires the reader’s close attention. I loved the creativity in this book. It is not your run-of-the-mill first contact story. The book is the first in a trilogy. It inspires the reader’s curiosity for what comes next but also feels like a complete story in itself. show less

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of novels either set in Africa or Nigeria in specific, ranging from complicated crime tales or wild fantasies or hardcore SF.

This one is more hardcore than most. The SF branches into the Zenosphere, alien-headspaces, biopunk nightmares and symbioses and regular everyday Lagos and Nigerian, in general, misbehavior. :)

This novel is packed to the gills with great ideas, interesting storytelling structure set in two times, and a very interesting re-take on the old trope of telepathy and noir/spy fiction. To speak of the little parts as if they are the best part is to miss the point, however. As a whole, the novel flies through wild magic-realm-like excursions, flesh-eating biomorphs, bank-fraud prevention, show more and very real alien invasion stories.

Am I impressed? Intimidated? Thrilled?
Yes. All of the above.

But one thing should be made very clear: in some ways, the alien is not so much the SF elements, but Rosewater, itself. Culture is STRANGE. Be prepared for a weird ride. :) show less

Kaaro is a resident of Rosewater, a community that grew up around an alien biodome that emerged in Nigeria in 2055. Unlike most of the residents he possesses certain psychic abilities, including the ability to read people, locate things, and enter the "xenosphere" that exists because of the dome's emanations. An unwilling member of a secret government agency, he discovers that an unknown cause is killing "sensitives" such as himself. As he is drawn into a fight for his survival, he uncovers secrets that change his world and reveal the true nature of the alien presence that defines his life.

Taro Thompson's book is one that I decided to read based on the considerable praise he received, and in this instance the book lived up to the hype. show more HIs premise is an interesting one, and from it he builds a world of considerable complexity that manages to be different while still remaining plausible. Part of his success in this regard is in how he teases his information in a way that just enough is provided for the nature of the story, without all of the information dumps that too many authors clumsily resort to in books like this. Yet it's the characters who make the novel worth reading, particularly the central figure of Kaaro. who for all of his abilities proves to be just as human as anyone else. It makes for a great example of smart science fiction done right, and I'm already looking forward to reading the next book in the series. show less

took a chance on Rosewater really. The synopsis of the story looked vaguely interesting but lacked detail and it turned out to be a really good read, if a little confusing in places. The story is set in the 2060s in a world that has clearly changed considerably from where we are now, but where many things are still disappointingly the same. Aliens have come to Earth and have landed in London, the USA and Nigeria. The outcome is that the USA has gone into complete seclusion, with no news coming out and around the alien dome in Nigeria the town of Rosewater has arisen. The alien presence releases some kind of spores which enables certain sensitives to enter the xenosphere, which effectively gives them what we might call psychic powers. show more Rosewater is growing fast because once a year the dome opens a portal and releases more of the spore material material which will cure any disease, raise the dead (with unfortunate consequences) and heal injuries. The story focuses on Kaaro, a former thief, turned government agent, who is a 'finder' with the ability to track down any person or object using his powers. Originally part of a larger group of sensitives Kaaro realises that something or someone is killing off the others and that he is in deep trouble. The story is well constructed and weaves together Kaaro's response to the danger, with flashbacks to his past and how he came to be an agent and what happened when he became one of the very few to have been inside the alien dome and got to meet the alien, who goes by the name of Wormwood.
This book is the first in a trilogy (Wormwood) and I will almost certainly read the next one. show less

"Rosewater" is a startlingly original piece of Science Fiction, set in Nigeria in 2066.

It's been a long time since I've encountered a powerful new voice in Science Fiction that combines new ideas with a distinctive storytelling style.

Tade Thompson takes a fresh look at the concept of alien invasion and how people in Nigeria would react to it.

His aliens are genuinely alien in how they think and behave. The concept of an alien-generated Xenosphere that enhances the ability of some humans in an almost supernatural way is original and intriguing. The society reacting to the aliens seems to be a plausible extrapolation of modern-day Nigeria.

Reading "Rosewater" reminded me of reading William Gibson's "Neuromancer" for the first time, way back show more in the nineteen-eighties: the excitement of finding and immersing myself in something so fresh it was overwhelming, something that subtly subverted traditional science fiction views on everything from what heroes do through to how people and technology interact; something which, while being innovative and strange seemed rooted in an understanding of how the world really works on a day to day basis.

Tade Thompson's Xenosphere is as revolutionary as Gibson's Cyberspace. His hero is not a hero at, just a man trying to stay alive and make sense of his gifts. His world is venal, violent and vigorous. It's a wonderful mix.

The non-linear storytelling moves effortlessly back and forth along the timeline, carrying current events forward at a pace while slowly revealing the past that shaped the main character.

Much of the strength of the book comes from the main character, an uneducated man, with a violent past, slowly losing his taste for the fleshly pleasures that drove his younger self, he has a distinctive thinking style, at once reflective and pragmatic. Here's an example of how he describes suddenly becoming aware that he knows something:

It is a certainty, not just a conviction, the way believing in God is a conviction, but believing in gravity is a certainty .

This is a book that is packed with ideas and violence in almost equal measure. It's about realism and struggle rather than optimism and escape.

I think Tade Thompson is a talent to watch in SF in general and in the current wave of Future Africa Fiction in particular. I'll be checking out the rest of his work.

Here's an interview with him in Interview in Short Story Day Africa show less

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 show more 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. show less

I read speculative fiction in the undying hope that something will come along and surprise and make me find a new perspective on the world. It doesn't happen often, but it's electric every time. Rosewater is that book - I loved everything about this new take on alien encounters, psychics and oppressive governments. It's clear that Dr. Thompson has a firm grounding in science (he's a psychiatrist), with decently well-thought out explanations for how alien physiology works and impacts human cognition in this world. The sociology of the aliens and their motivations are...alien -- distinct from other first encounter books I've read, and I enjoyed the futuristic Nigerian setting. If I had a complaint (and I always do), I would say many of show more the sex scenes are gratuitous and a little uncomfortable, but that was a minor annoyance. I liked the time-skipping back and forth as each time jump revealed a little bit more of the global setting and Kaaro's backstory and motivations (the perspective shifting is also something I've encountered from a number of Nigerian writers show less