Nigerian agent Kaaro uses his psychic powers to investigate a mysterious alien dome and deaths linked to it.

In 2012, an alien named Wormwood appears in London, substantially altering the world's geopolitical landscape.

This is shown by the presence of sensitives and their ability to access the xenosphere, which parallels the inability of many modern people to disconnect from the Internet and social media.

[2] In contrast to white western cyberpunk, Rosewater's characters are connected by networks of family and friendship groups.

[3] Homosexuality is still illegal in 2060s Nigeria; Kaaro's gay foster parents are forced to disable their tracking signals despite the presence of an all-connecting xenosphere.

[2] Furthermore, the alien invasion trope is used to explore "global power structures and pervasive technologies".

It has been described as a genre mashup, including Africanfuturism, cyberpunk, biopunk, Afropunk, zombie-shocker, a love story; a reviewer for The Guardian praised Thompson's ability to "expertly [juggle] all his disparate elements".

[6] Another reviewer called it "a worthy winner" of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and stated that Thompson was one of the "leading proponents of contemporary Afrofuturism" along with authors such as N. K. Jemisin and Colson Whitehead.

[1] A reviewer for Locus wrote that it "represent[s] yet another major contribution to the small but growing number of SF works reflecting Nigerian culture.