Title:	Rosewater
Author:	Tade Thompson
Category:	Fantasy / Science Fiction
Rating:
Date Reviewed:	March 27, 2026

osewater is a first person narrative told by Kaaro, who possesses special telepathic powers that make him a "Finder". Kaaro tells his story in two timelines - the "Then" timeline is set in the 2040s. The "Now" timeline is set in 2066. The chapters in the book alternate between the Then and the Now. There are also extra "Interlude" chapters, which are scattered through the novel, set in the 2050s. The Interlude chapters are also told in first person by Kaaro. The interleaving of these different story arcs, all featuring the same character speaking in the same voice, resulted major confusion on my part.

I have read other books with dual timelines - the author will start two story arcs, and as the novel progresses, what happens in one timeline illuminates the plot of the other arc. But in Rosewater, I never developed any sense of an overriding plot. The problem is that Kaaro has no agency - he simply reacts to events around him. Kaaro does not have a goal, he isn't learning, he is not solving any problem, he isn't combatting a foe. Kaaro simply responds to various actions of other characters. Unfortunately, Kaaro's doesn't exhibit any noble characteristics to make me like him - no sign of Kaaro helping friends, battling injustice or fighting for the greater good. When Kaaro declares that he is in love with Aminat, it rings false, because the reader never sees any signs of tenderness or affection for her.

Although Kaaro is the best "Finder" in Nigeria, he seems to have a much broader range of psychic abilities. He can read the thoughts of those around him. At times he can implant images into the brains of people nearby. Sometimes Kaaro inhabits a mental-verse called the xenoscape where he appears as a giant gryphon. Other "sensitives" have different avatars. There is a giant butterfly called Molara that appears, but it is unexplained who that is (an alien?) or why she was important.

Kaaro officially workers for a Nigerian government organization called S45. Despite the fact that Kaaro is a "Finder", they mostly seem to use his psychic abilities for interrogating suspects. Given his abilities, I would have expected Kaaro to make a lucrative career finding lost people and items. Instead, he uses Finder skills to steal money. Which turned out to be completely unnecessary because at the end of the book we are told that his father is one of the richest people in Nigeria; he owns a chain of Supermarkets.

It was not clear to me when Kaaro received his Finder skills. Was it when the alien biodome suddenly appeared? The biodome remains in the background for most of the story. Despite the bizarre appearance, and the strange healing skills emanating from the biodome, most of the novel just focuses on Kaaro and with whatever problem he is dealing with at the moment. Only at the very end is there a giant info-dump from Wormwood explaining what the aliens are up to.

Rosewater is confusing and unfocused. The characters are not likeable or interesting (Kaaro is the only character that is fully fleshed out, and seems to be just an impulsive, unmotivated individual). The alien biodome could have been a fascinating idea, but for most of the novel it just sits at the periphery of the plot. Kaaro does not spend much time thinking about what the aliens mean, despite the fact they are presumably the source of his special abilities. This is book one of the Wormwood Trilogy, but I did not like Rosewater enough to go out looking for book two. Maybe if the novel had been told in linear fashion, the plot would have made more sense rather than coming across as just a confusing jumble of incidents.