The Rosewater Insurrection

Whereas the first story in this series is told from the perspective of Kaaro, xenosphere sensitive and S45 agent, he takes a back seat here while Thompson tells the tale of Rosewater Insurrection from multiple perspectives. There's Aminat, S45 agent and Kaaro's girlfriend; Alyssa, a woman who can't remember who she is or any of her family; Jack Jacques, the mayor of Rosewater; and Anthony, the avatar of the alien Wormwood that is the heart of Rosewood. There are also a handful of minor characters who help move the story along: Eric the assasin, Walter the author, and Bewon the disgruntled guy.

Thompson doesn't waste much time getting to the insurrection referenced in the title. The president of Nigeria insists that Rosewood have show more elections and already has a candidate in mind. He's intent on driving Jacques out of office, but the mayor resists and declares Rosewater's independence. This pisses off the president, who calls in the military to violently put down the insurrection. Jacques is counting on Wormwood to protect the city, but something's amiss.

Anthony intuitively knows that something is making Wormwood sick, so he seeks out the cause. Meanwhile, as the bombs fall and bullets fly, Aminat is trying to find Alyssa and bring her in for study as S45 thinks there's a connection between her and the alien.

In Rosewood, we only got to see Aminat through Kaaro's eyes, but she really comes into her own here. She has to walk a fine line between her love for Kaaro and following her boss's orders to bring in Alyssa, made all the more difficult by the battle raging in the city. Alyssa is treated to her own evolution from selfish amnesiac to something more. I admit it took me a while to appreciate her as a character. And we get the mayor's backstory too. Parts of it will certainly have some readers thinking TMI, but it does help explain how he became the man he is.

The Nigeria that Thompson describes in 2066 is as complicated as it is today. Thompson doesn't sugarcoat his descriptions of the place. Suburbs and modern technology are countered by poverty and criminal gangs. The line between politicians and crime lords is a thin one. "The Tired Ones," an organization that Mayor Jacques has been involved with for decades, offers a sober perspective revealing the continent's nations are still stuck in a kind of adolescence.

Thompson also offers us a look into the homeworld of Wormwood. While it seemed in Rosewater that the aliens might've been benevolent in their colonization of Earth, Insurrection reveals that the aliens aren't on a moral high ground compared to us humans. Like us, they're not a monolithic people. All you can do is hope that the good guys win. It might be difficult to determine that though.

4.25 stars show less

The second book in the Rosewater series, and really, you can’t read and understand this without reading the first, so I really wouldn’t try. That said, should you happen upon this review in the far future, you could allow for a time gap between the books because you just need a general framework of the world. On the other side, that means if you read Rosewater and jumped right into this, the way Nataliya and I did, you will appreciate the lack of explanobabble that some series fall prey to. Thompson has a lot going on and needs to get to business. While [b:Rosewater|38362809|Rosewater (The Wormwood Trilogy, #1)|Tade show more Thompson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1534300082l/38362809._SX50_.jpg|51884865] is mostly about the sensitive Kaaro, Insurrection is about… subsequent events surrounding the reveal, so everything that follows will have indirect spoilers for the first book. Yes, I get that you may not want to keep reading. (Remember: I can only remember complicated chemo regimens because I’ve worked with them for almost two decades. You think I can remember a story about aliens in Nigeria? Actually, to be honest, there’s a possibility I will; it's that unique).

Narrative is centered around a group of four… people, with varying degrees of each viewpoint, so it can be a bit of a challenge figuring out as a reader who is central. Aminat begins the tale, followed by Jack Jacques, the ethically complicated mayor of Rosewater; Alyssa, white Rosewater woman who has lost her memory; and Anthony, the avatar/amalgam of Wormwood and humanity. Kaaro plays a more insignificant role, so if you are hoping for more of his specific character arc, prepare to let go of expectations, although I did appreciate the appearance of Yaro, his dog. An early sensitive who was brought into S45 gets a turn. Will is the last viewpoint, an author brought in to be a chronicler, but there will also be pieces of his novel scattered through the book. It’s a bit confusing, but I think Thompson is hoping to convey the chaos of both environmental and political change causing further upheaval (METAPHORALERT). In this, it is very much a book of our times.

I feel like the characters were as well-rounded as possible, given the constraints of time and narrative, and Jack will be the anti-hero you come to understand, if not appreciate. While it originally seems like Amarit will be playing an active role, she ends up being more of a tool in a political game, still deferential to S45 and the brother crutch. Unfortunately for me, I think the variety of viewpoints leads to overmuch detail in the wrong places. The early S45 character could have been left out, and Alyssa’s midstory-viewpoint minimalized. Word count could have been given instead to Anthony, for clarifying the alien world-finding philosophy, or to Amarit surviving in Rosewater, giving insight into life for the ordinary person. I tend to feel like more threads ends up in a more chaotic color weave, not necessarily a more complex one–at least here. Some people can achieve that riotous complexity. Your mileage may vary with how much you feel Thompson does.

World-building remains complicated, and in this installment, both the Nigerian-Rosewater relations and the alien complications are fleshed out, so to speak (groan). We get more insight into the local history of Rosewater, and the chaos of everyday life there. Although I’m no expert on western Africa, I can’t help feeling like Thompson is drawing more on current politics than future. It makes for a curious blend of contemporary and futuristic feel.

The plot is fast paced with a lot of action, as you might expect with such a title. There are likely some trigger-warnings here, and again this is where it feels contemporary. There is a brief mention made of a rape-camp and frequent mention of ‘necklacing’ as a punishment. Although it becomes more disturbing when you realize, hopefully, that necklacing has been a rare occurrence in any part of Africa and tends to horrify people when it occurs. So I’m not sure what Thompson is implying by bringing it back as an apparent social control.

Overall, I found it a fascinating read that provided a lot of fodder for thought and discussion. It feels a little like one of those nicely done big-budget sci-fi films that maybe lacks detail and finesse on scrutiny, but holds up fine on first go-through, and absolutely works as great after-movie conversation.

Many, many thanks to Nataliya for waiting for me and participating in a buddy read. I sincerely enjoyed our conversations about this book! show less

Pleasingly, the sequel to [b:Rosewater|38362809|Rosewater|Tade Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1534300082s/38362809.jpg|51884865] shifts focus from Kaaro to Aminat, his girlfriend. Although I found Kaaro an excellent protagonist, so is Aminat and it’s always nice when female characters get to be centre stage. The plot is perhaps slightly looser than in the prequel, revolving around the mayor of Rosewater declaring independence and the aliens being threatened by a plant-like entity. The world-building is once again excellent, vivid, and distinctive. Making the mayor a point of view character allows the the politics of an alien-centric Nigerian city to play out in a very interesting fashion. Human conflicts run parallel to show more alien conflicts, while the human-alien conflict remains implicit in the background. Thompson juggles narrators very deftly to give a wide view of events. Various plot developments also defy expectations in amusing and powerful ways. I particularly liked the mayor’s willingness to surrender when all seemed lost. This level of realism is unusual in fictional male leaders. The reader knows that something is likely to come along and save the situation, but there’s no reason for him to think so! I also liked that his wife considered the reanimated so important, and her compassion later paid off. Aminat and Alyssa’s adventures are really exciting, with some spectacular action sequences. There are also some excellent incidences of body horror or just bodily weirdness, providing literal manifestations of how alien exposure is changing humanity. Even a few moments of hilarity. Walter is another great narrator, strategically deployed, while Femi remains a frustrating enigma to all around her. Not making her a narrator was likewise a sensible choice.

I’m really enjoying this series so far. I have a particular fondness for fiction in which a city has sufficient presence to be the main character, which is definitely the case here. The human and alien characters are involving and varied in this case including a delightful embodied AI called Lora. The cultural and social world-building weaves history, technology, and alien influence together beautifully. The plot is complex and thoughtful, while periodically making space for dramatic and exciting violence. In the Rosewater novels, Thompson explores questions of how how humans can co-exist with one another, let alone with aliens. They feature strange mindscapes, alien pests, new religions, dangerous weapons, and a range of well-developed interpersonal relationships. Both the details and the broad themes are equally effective. The ensemble casts are balanced so well that the city itself has a clear and fascinating identity. When reading about Rosewater, you start to understand why residents would fight for its independence. show less

While the wonderful first book in the Wormwood Trilogy had a slightly more interesting and convoluted storytelling structure befitting a mystery novel with explosively weird fantasy and SF elements, the second book tones that down and gives a much more straightforward tale.

This isn't a bad thing, considering what is being accomplished. Some mystery is here, of course, and the worldbuilding is phenomenal. This little Nigerian town was turned into a hub of spore aliens slowing taking over not just humanity but all life, but most of us frail humans LIKE THE GIFT of being cured of diseases, so there's a steady stream of immigrants. And curiosity seekers. And people who just like to invite tentacular horrors into their bodies for private show more use, like the telepathy, godlike transformative abilities, or whatnot. :)

This book leads us to human rebellion not against the aliens, but against the greater Nigerian government. Independence? Well, it's not always a popular move. But this is also very strange modern politics.

I really, really enjoyed the big action when it came underway. Very imaginative, wild, and fun. In some ways, this was a superior book to the first. :) show less

I had a mixed reaction to the first book in this series, a combination of being irritated with the anti-hero figure of Kaaro (who while believable became tedious after awhile), the overuse of flashback structuring (which killed immediacy for me), and a certain suspicion that all I had just read was simply "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" moved to a future Nigeria (though this has a certain value in and of itself as a commentary).

Still, I respected Thompson's achievement enough to give the second book in the trilogy a try and I'm glad I did. I can see why there are folks who find this work less compelling because of a more conventional structure but when you're playing with the stuff of thrillers, and all the choices are bad, I expect to show more be swept along on the tide of events. Also, it may simply come down to that we spend less time with Kaaro and more time with Aminat (a secondary character from the first book); not to mention a woman named Alyssa Sutcliffe who wakes up one morning and finds that she is not herself anymore. It's Alyssa's story that really pulls this work together for me. show less

This series continues to be one of the most unique series I've read. This book picks up almost immediately after the events of the first book, and in some instances, concurrently with events from the first book. But while the first book is predominantly from one character's perspective, here we see events from many different points of view, and it really broadens the impact of the events from book 1. I like how the author doesn't take time to explain much of what happened in the first book, but I imagine that if I hadn't read this immediately after book 1, I may have been a bit lost. A few of the new characters fell a little flat for me, most notably Eric, his storyline didn't seem to have much impact on the events, but maybe it was show more just set-up for book 3. The aliens continue to be very fascinating and come across as truly alien, which I appreciate. But mostly, this book is just very weird, kind of sprawling, even though its still a smallish setting, but it wasn't as tight of a novel due to all of the different POVs. It didn't keep my focus as much as book 1, but I'm still looking forward to finishing this series. show less

Book 1 of this series had such a range of interesting world building that I was just expecting a more in depth exploration of idea brought up there in book 2. I was pleasantly surprised -- a lot more of so much of what is going on in Rosewater, including the history, the politics, and a whole raft of information about the alien.

Still absolutely enamoured with this series.