The Rosewater Redemption

Book 3 of the Wormwood Trilogy

by Tade Thompson

paperback, 400 pages

Published Oct. 24, 2019 by Orbit.

ISBN:: 978-0-356-51139-9

(13 reviews)

The Rosewater Redemption concludes the award-winning, cutting edge Wormwood trilogy, set in Nigeria, by one of science fiction’s most engaging new voices.

Life in the newly independent city-state of Rosewater isn’t everything its citizens were expecting.

The Mayor finds that debts incurred during the insurrection are coming back to haunt him. Nigeria isn’t willing to let Rosewater go without a fight. And the city’s alien inhabitants are threatening mass murder for their own sinister ends...

Operating across spacetime, the xenosphere, and international borders, it is up to a small group of hackers and criminals to prevent the extra-terrestrial advance. The fugitive known as Bicycle Girl, Kaaro, and his former handler Femi may be humanity’s last line of defense.

2 editions

V171 reviewed The Rosewater Redemption by Tade Thompson (The Wormwood Trilogy, #3)

Review of 'The Rosewater Redemption' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Fantastic end to a fantastic series. I really loved the trajectory of this whole story, and I feel as if this book really took all of the interesting parts of the first two and combined them into a great, fast paced conclusion. While I felt the character work was a bit better in the first two, I did appreciate getting to know more about the expanded cast of characters that became more important here. The story went in an intriguing, albeit predictable direction. But the unique story beats and sub plots made the 'humans vs. aliens' theme anything but boring. I was impressed with how well everything tidied up without making it feel like a "happily ever after." If you love sci-fi with a fungal twist, pick up this whole series.

patchworkbunny reviewed The Rosewater Redemption by Tade Thompson (The Wormwood Trilogy, #3)

Review of 'The Rosewater Redemption' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Mayor Jack is handing over the dead of Rosewater to the Homians, allowing them to supplant their consciousnesses in physical forms. The Mayor's wife is on a mission to prove that the reanimates are not truly gone, going up against Rosewater's policy, which was put in place to keep them safe. But it will only last so long, eventually humans will be replaced on Earth unless someone can find an alternative.

Part of this instalment is told in first person from the point of view of Oyin Da, otherwise known as Bicycle Girl. This reveals her back-story and her part to play. I'll admit I wasn't in a great headspace whilst reading this and there's a lot happening, so I'm not sure I absorbed it all. I didn't completely understand what was going on with Bicycle Girl. Was it the xenosphere giving her the ability to time travel or was she not even time travelling?

Kaaro's keeping his head low whilst Aminat works for what's left of the authorities. The Synners are Homians taking things into their own hands, suicide bombers of sorts, speeding up the transfer process by taking more lives. Aminat wants something to be done, a punishment to those who get away with it, given a new body without consequences.

Rosewater, now independent from Nigeria, makes the choice to decriminalise homosexuality and the endgame plays out against their first, yet very small, Pride march. This was a nice touch. However for such an innovative alien invasion, I felt the solution was a bit cliched. Overall I enjoyed the trilogy but I think the other books were stronger in plot and pacing.

SharonC reviewed The Rosewater Redemption by Tade Thompson (The Wormwood Trilogy, #3)

Review of 'The Rosewater Redemption' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

The ending felt a little rushed. All in all, the story was a fresh and different take on an alien invasion story--told with the lens of Africa's experience of colonization. "But we kept the trains" as an idea, could Africa benefit from the alien colonizers?

I resented the CIA guy a bit. Wish that Americans hadn't been involved at all in the solution to the problem.

The robot's attempt to build affordable housing was a brief aside, but part of a handful of things that gave this series its own point of view.