The Rosewater Insurrection

What a ride. The second installment in the Wormwood Trilogy certainly packed a punch, dialing up the story, the action, and the POVs. Seriously, I was shocked in the last quarter of the book, we were introduced to a brand new POV. For the majority of this book, I was worried it was going to be a 'second book slump' of the series due to the seemingly endless vignettes from the 5+ POVs that felt like they were leading nowhere. I was concerned that this book was only going to serve as an introduction to the finale, however the last third of the book really connected the narratives together into a very interesting overarching story.

While the pacing of this book was lacking, I found the characters to be interesting. I wouldn't necessarily say the characters had a lot of growth or were especially dynamic, but I found them to be realistic, consistent, and fun. I do hope that I get to see a bit more character development in the next book though.

The moral dilemma in this book was very compelling and I hope it will be fleshed out further. The story took an interesting political/philosophical turn which I wasn't expecting. I was surprised with how quickly and 'nicely' this book wrapped up with the final 20 or so pages feeling like they rushed to a nice conclusion. But given how nicely the story ended, there are a few interesting avenues the final book can go down, which I'll be interested to see.

I'm excited to finally pick up the last book and see where this all goes!

Esta segunda parte la he disfrutado más, tiene más ritmo que la anterior, y una desarrollo de la trama más habitual.. dentro de los estándares del escritor

Porque no sé qué más decir de la imaginación de Tade! Me parece un gran equilibrista, que no deja de añadir más y más elementos fantásticos al libro, sin que se caiga ninguno, como si fuera una partida de "Tozudo" en la que consigue añadir capas sin que nada se caiga, al principio abruma y puede parecer algo barroco, pero lo curioso es que consigue una cierta coherencia!

En fin, a esperar a la siguiente parte, ya que una vez metido en el universo Rosalera va a ser muy difícil salir, aunque el libro cierre bastante bien.

Por último, destacar la labor de traducción de Raúl García Campos, que seguro que no ha sido fácil con un vocabulario tan extenso.

Por cierto lo siento pero me siguen sin gustar nada las portadas

Rosewater is a bustling city and its mayor, Jack Jaques, wants to declare independence from Nigeria. Whilst Kaaro is retired, Aminat still works for S45 who are trying to find ways to separate the xenoforms from the people. But something's going on with the dome, Anthony is ailing and a mysterious plant has arrived in town.

I was so excited to revisit Rosewater and this second book doesn't disappoint! There are some new characters thrown into the mix as well as familiar faces. Alyssa wakes up one morning with no memory of who she is, her husband or daughter. She could almost be another person entirely. It's not hard to come to the conclusion that the aliens have started the next phase of their invasion.

Eric is a sensitive who managed to avoid the cull, and now he's been sent to kill the mayor of Rosewater before he causes too much trouble. Kaaro plays a much smaller part in this book but is still around. Everyone's better informed about the aliens now, so he can't just pop into the xenosphere for everything. He finds ways though.

The mayor's wife is campaigning for rights for the reanimates... or differently animated. Jack has bigger things to worry about, like a possible war with Nigeria over their status. Plus the alien dome looks sickly and people aren't healing so well. What does Rosewater have to offer if not the health benefits of the dome?

I wasn't so keen on the chapters from Walter, the author. Some of them are "extracts" from his novels set in Rosewater and others are his account of events as he was hired to do. I'm not sure this added that much to the narrative or world-building and it took me away from the action.

S45 still wants to rid the world of the alien presence and save humankind... But maybe there's a different solution? One beneficial for all. Tade Thompson does a great job of balancing the position of the aliens versus humans. At first they are benevolent, helping cure people. Then at the end of Rosewater, it's revealed they're in the midst of a slow invasion, which continues here. Yet the alien plant suddenly seems like more of a threat. Maybe it's the choice of host the plant chooses, a thoroughly unlikable character.