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A few weeks ago, I went to a workshop run by Tade Thompson and bought his first book, Rosewater. The workshop was excellent and Tade was lovely so I was looking forward to reading the book and hopeful of enjoying it.
To begin with, I really did. It has an intriguing setup - an alien organism creates a dome in Nigeria and opens it once a year to heal all those within a certian radius. And I liked the protagonist enough to be invested in what happened to him. The writing is good - pacy, exciting, but does not ignore inner conflict.
It took an odd turn about two thirds of the way through, though, and entered much ickier territory, also introducing a series of very weird aspects that weren't presaged by earlier content at all. It lost me a bit towards the end, and the fragmentary nature of the structure did get a bit confusing.
I don't think I'm going to carry on with the series, but I also don't think Rosewater is a bad book. More hardcore sci-fi fans may well get on better with it than I did, and I do think it's well-written.
To begin with, I really did. It has an intriguing setup - an alien organism creates a dome in Nigeria and opens it once a year to heal all those within a certian radius. And I liked the protagonist enough to be invested in what happened to him. The writing is good - pacy, exciting, but does not ignore inner conflict.
It took an odd turn about two thirds of the way through, though, and entered much ickier territory, also introducing a series of very weird aspects that weren't presaged by earlier content at all. It lost me a bit towards the end, and the fragmentary nature of the structure did get a bit confusing.
I don't think I'm going to carry on with the series, but I also don't think Rosewater is a bad book. More hardcore sci-fi fans may well get on better with it than I did, and I do think it's well-written.
