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psocopteraRosewater, Tade Thompson. This book has been on my to-read list at second-high priority since 2017, so I would like to thank the Hugo Series ballot for making me finally get around to reading it. My short and not-spoilery review is that I now plan to read the other two books in the trilogy, ideally before voting closes if time permits. Longer thoughts behind a spoiler cut.
So, I was really into this for most of the book. A smart take on telepathy! The fungal explanation was so clever! Interesting alien invasion/alien colonization stuff! (Like Turnbull's The Lesson, exploring how people who had suffered under white colonialism might deal with new colonizers...) And then, I don't know, I didn't feel like it quite all came together at the end. Part of it was that I think I got mixed up about the timeline and thought we were in more different timeframes than we were, or that the flashbacks were less linear than they were, or something, so I was a little confused about the order of events and what led to what. Part of it was that I was thrown by the way Kaaro seemed to characterize his turning-point choices as choices between women he was attracted to - I had been reading this as a book where the viewpoint character is sexist but the author isn't, but I hadn't gotten the impression there was attraction between Kaaro and Oyin Da, and then suddenly later he "might not be completely over her"? And he apparently didn't join the dome people because of attraction to Femi? It was unsatisfying. I have the impression that in the other two books we get out of Kaaro's limited perspective and get some other viewpoint characters, which sounds like a good move, let's see this world from some other angles. I definitely do want to read them, though, this is pretty great stuff even with some problems. Oh, and content notes for violence, intimate partner violence, body horror, animal harm.
So, I was really into this for most of the book. A smart take on telepathy! The fungal explanation was so clever! Interesting alien invasion/alien colonization stuff! (Like Turnbull's The Lesson, exploring how people who had suffered under white colonialism might deal with new colonizers...) And then, I don't know, I didn't feel like it quite all came together at the end. Part of it was that I think I got mixed up about the timeline and thought we were in more different timeframes than we were, or that the flashbacks were less linear than they were, or something, so I was a little confused about the order of events and what led to what. Part of it was that I was thrown by the way Kaaro seemed to characterize his turning-point choices as choices between women he was attracted to - I had been reading this as a book where the viewpoint character is sexist but the author isn't, but I hadn't gotten the impression there was attraction between Kaaro and Oyin Da, and then suddenly later he "might not be completely over her"? And he apparently didn't join the dome people because of attraction to Femi? It was unsatisfying. I have the impression that in the other two books we get out of Kaaro's limited perspective and get some other viewpoint characters, which sounds like a good move, let's see this world from some other angles. I definitely do want to read them, though, this is pretty great stuff even with some problems. Oh, and content notes for violence, intimate partner violence, body horror, animal harm.
