The Rosewater Insurrection

Lore & Background

The plot spans multiple timelines. In 2055, an S45 sensitive named Eric is assigned to assassinate Jack Jacques but fails. In 2067, Aminat works for S45 seeking a cure for xenoforms, which are slowly replacing human cells. Anthony, the human avatar of the alien Wormwood, learns from Home that Homians exist only as digitized copies and plan to upload into xenoform-replaced life forms. Alyssa Sutcliffe awakens with no memories and begins experiencing Homian consciousness. Jack Jacques, now mayor of Rosewater, declares the city an independent city-state after a Nigerian assassination attempt. Riots erupt. With help from Kaaro, Aminat, and Alyssa, Wormwood is saved when Alyssa becomes its new host, removing the dome and driving away the Nigerian army. The Homians agree to occupy reanimate bodies instead of living humans.

Reader's Guide

The Rosewater Insurrection explores themes of colonialism and alien invasion. In a review for Los Angeles Review of Books, Jessica FitzPatrick notes that imperialist nations like Great Britain and the United States were destroyed or isolated, while Nigeria, having survived British invasion, adapted. The secession of Rosewater evokes the Biafran War, with Jacques's assistant giving him a copy of the Ahiara Declaration. Writing for Strange Horizons, Gautam Bhatia states the novel is about conflict—between humans and Homians and among human factions. Bhatia compares the Homians' view of humans to that of meat animals, but notes that Alyssa combines both perspectives on nearly equal terms. Gary K. Wolfe notes the novel evokes works by John Wyndham (the Beynon plant), Frank Herbert (wormlike aliens), Stephen King, and Oscar Wilde. The novel is told through four viewpoint characters: Aminat, Alyssa, Anthony, and Jacques, with Kaaro mostly offstage. Reception was positive: Kirkus called it 'complexly layered and action-packed'; Bhatia praised it as 'one of the more sensitive, nuanced, and moving accounts of a human/alien relationship'; Liz Bourke admired its craft but found characters difficult to like.

Did You Know?

• The Beynon plant is named for John Wyndham, creator of triffids, one of whose middle names was Beynon.
• The novel's secession of Rosewater from Nigeria is intended to evoke memories of the Biafran War.
• The Homians are a digitized species that require a host; Wormwood is a footholder, a sentient but lesser species.
• Alyssa Sutcliffe becomes the new host for Wormwood after Anthony dies.