Rose/House is a science fiction novella from Arkady Martine about a sentient house and all it contains.
I loved Arkady Martine's previous works, so I was excited to read this novella, but this story is more experimental in language and structure than I prefer.

The story begins with Dr. Selene Gisil, the current owner of Rose House and its artificial intelligence. Selene is the estranged protégé of the house's inventor and receives a call from the local police about a murder on the property.

Detective Maritza Smith, the police officer who called Selene, is part of the tiny police force for this hole-in-the-wall town in the desert who's only claim to fame is Rose House.

As the two women meet and investigate the murder, the prose disintegrates, mirroring the interference of Rose House and the women's altered perceptions. In the end, I had little grasp on what really happened other than to be wary of the emergence of ChatGPT and other pseudo-AI programs as computers rarely act in the best interests of humans.

Thanks to NetGalley and Subterranean Press for access to an advanced e-copy of this novella for review.

Thank you NetGalley and Subterranean Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Basit Deniau's houses are haunted, but Rose House is maybe the most haunted of them all. Rose House is a house in the Mojave Desert that is also an artificial intelligence, and since Basit Deniau died, it's been locked up tight with only one person allowed in one week out of every year. Now, there's a dead body in Rose House when it should have been impossible for that to happen.

This is my first from Martine, and her prose is absolutely scintillating. I loved how easily she crafted the world in this novella, and how she dropped nuggets of information that were able to inform what the larger world looks like without distracting from the story, which is "who was murdered in Rose House, and who did the murdering?" I loved how Rose House had a personality and also remained firmly unfeeling AI, and I thought this was an interesting take on a creepy house and also what constitutes personhood/individuality. Still, while I loved this, the conclusion felt a bit weak compared to the rest of the novella, and while there's a lot of interesting things to ruminate on, I wish it just had a little more length to it.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

4/5 stars!

This is the second book I've read from Arkady Martine; in many ways, this novella is much different than A Memory Called Empire. Yet, similarly to A Memory Called Empire, the world that Martine builds feels *so* real. In this novella, a man is found dead in an empty house run by an AI. Except maybe the house *is* the AI and maybe the AI is the house.

Rose House belonged at one time and was built by a famous architect. After his death, he leaves the house and its archives to a student of his. For only seven days a year, Rose House will let her inside to look at the archives. But aside from her, no one is allowed inside the house. So when the local police precinct gets a call from Rose House itself saying that there is a dead man inside, everyone is confused how that's possible. Understandably. So unfolds a past-paced and short murder mystery novel centering around 2 dead men, one detective, a rather odd archivist, and Rose House--who is probably in love with its dead maker.

Even though this book was short, I read it (quickly) in small chunks. I wanted to savor the world and the mystery of what had happened. On the surface, it's a fairly standard "someone is found dead in a room with no windows or doors" mystery but with a twist. I really appreciated Martine's commentary on AI and emotion/intelligence. Now having read two of her books, I can confidently say that Martine's world-building is stunning. I would probably rank her in the top 3 for contemporary world-builders in the SF/F genre. The only reason that I didn't rate this a 5 star is because the ending left a *teeny* bit to be desired for. While interesting, the revelation of what happened and then the action after its revealed was too fast to have as much impact as it could have. But such is the way with novellas sometimes.

I would definitely recommend this book and this author.

The narrative was a bit confusing. I think Ms Martine is a fantastic writer, but the story seemed disjointed and difficult to follow. I liked the idea of Rose House - a unique AI that developed its own sinister personality - but much of the prose was too flowery and took away from the story itself.

A cool think about Arkady Martine's writing is that you can always tell what she's excited about. In the Teixcalaan books, she's excited about language, which worked great for me because so am I. In Rose/House, she's excited about architecture; this was a little harder for me to connect with because I have no personal knowledge of or interest in architecture, and although the main POV character is not an academic, the academic vibe permeates the story. I don't object to this and generally enjoyed the vibe, but it sometimes made it a little detached and hard to connect with for the layperson reader (me!).

I really enjoyed Rose/House in general - it's a clever little near-future mystery with a neat setup and surreal vibe. I was very interested in everything, right up until the end. So many things get set up, and, in my opinion (and perhaps I'm missing some of the point - I wouldn't be surprised!), very few of them fully pay off. Some key questions that I have as a reader (Who is the dead man? Who actually killed him? Who is Alana Ott?) aren't answered; it's clearly deliberate, but ultimately a little unsatisfying. This novella is definitely more about the vibes than the plot, and in that aspect, it's a success, highly cerebral and atmospheric. If you like the experience of reading a story, it won't disappoint. However, if, like me, you want a little more information revealed so you can see at least the shape of the whole story by the end of it, you might leave slightly unsatisfied.

All that said, I do think Arkady Martine is an excellent writer, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading this novella, despite some things that kept it from being quite as good as I wanted it to be. I certainly think that every choice made was very intentional, and anything that didn't fully satisfy me is not a failing on the writer's part, just a mismatch between her style in this novella and my personal desires.

Like the architecture of Rose House itself, this novella spirals inwards, layers folding in like the petals of a rose. The structure of the story slips back and forth between past, present, and future. While I'm not usually one for overly-worked writing, Martine's elegant prose is captivating, drawing the reader in before hooking them fully with the mysterious plot. Themes of identity, autonomy, personhood, and morality permeate this novella. I'm not sure if this story would be for everyone, but it was certainly for me.

I find short stories and novellas a tease. No sooner do you get to know and care about the characters, the story is over. But, I was so impressed by Martine's Teixcalaan books that she's on my "read anything by this author" list, and this short book did not disappoint. Told primarily through the viewpoint of a likeable small town detective described by her partner as having a twisty mind, this is a murder investigation and also an encounter with a sentient house. Architecture is a prominent theme, and a big part of the story is in imagining the venue, along with the idea that a will could be enforced by a dangerous building. Highly interesting, and of course I wish it were longer.

Arkday Martine guides the haunted house story into the 21st century with the beautiful Rose/House. I see a lot of people saying they aren’t smart enough for this one and don’t worry darling, that’s a lie. Just let this book wash over you with its cool, AI-vibes. You don’t need to see into every shadowed corner to get the heart of this story—a house that isn’t right and the awful things that happen inside it. It’s scarier if you only glimpse the horrors, right? If you love Shirley Jackson, this is a story for you. If you love Borges, this is the story for you. If you loved Martine’s Teixcalaan novels, this is a story for you. A brilliant, haunted mystery/house.

Thank you Netgalley and SubPress for the early peek.

This is definitely a weird one, in mostly good ways. As others have said, this really isn't a mystery/whodunit, when it boils down to it, though a lot of the first 2/3 of the book does pretend like it's driven by that plot engine. But really, this is a fever dream about bodily autonomy, sentience, and obsession.

A brilliant and complex story about authority, personhood, integrity, and how manipulators can continue to reach beyond the grave - plus a sentient house that Doesn't Like You.

This gripping sci-fi novela centers around an AI-controlled house created by a visionary architect Basit Deniau who is now dead and has locked away all his papers and much sought-after future designs in the house’s vault. Rose House sits in the desert and has been sealed off to the world, protected by the defenses of his uber-smart, sentient AI. Only one person can gain entry for a week a year based on Basit’s will: Dr. Selene Gisil, a former Basit mentee, who had denounced both him and his work as too dark.

One night, Rose House’s AI calls into the local police station to report a dead body in the house, based on mandatory AI reporting laws. But the AI refuses to open its door to the Detective Maritza Smith who’s investigating. Smith summons Selene back from Turkey where she’s been living to help open up the Rose House and to be questioned.

Selene enters Rose House and convinces the AI to allow Smith to come along – not as a person but as representing the police precinct as a thing (as no other persons can enter). Thus unfurls the dark mysteries of the house and it’s nanobots, told within a dream-like, labyrinth narrative that has you both questioning reality and haunted about how the dead body came to be in the house.

Thanks to Subterranean Press and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

In Rose/House, Arkady Martine places her pieces on the chessboard and challenges the reader right from the start.

In this post-modern mystery we follow Maritza Smith, Oliver Torres, Selene Gisil, and of course Rose House. Rose House is an artificially intelligent...house, designed and built by the late Basit Deniau. Dr. Selene Gisil, one of Deniau’s former protégé, is the only person permitted to come into Rose House. With the architect long dead, and the only person to be allowed to enter Rose House half way across the world, how did a murder take place inside the walls of Rose House?

In a very quick and brief review, this novella reminded me of the movie Smart House.

In a slightly more detailed review, this novella makes you think of a future that may not be far. Of AI so advances that its scary to interact with and as Detective Torres likes to say, "haunted". Rose House is a speculative story of what if AI was able to think for itself, weave in and out of the loop holes left in its code. The chess game between Detective Smith and Rose House was awesome to read. Did Rose House know all along that Maritza was not the embodiment of the China Lake Precinct and let her in just to have some entertainment? What would someone else do with the technology Deniau created? Use it for good to automate a city? Use it for power and greed? Martine allows for your imagination to be endless about aspects of the story, while at the same time giving a somewhat solid whodoneit ending.

Arkady Martine launched herself onto my auto-read list as soon as I finished her stunning debut duology. She has once again knocked it out of the park with ROSE/HOUSE, a strange and unsettling novella about AI, architecture, personhood, and hauntings (among other themes too numerous and complex to fully list in a review!)

This was an absolutely fascinating, utterly gripping book; very much one which I had a hard time putting down once I had picked it up. Martine’s writing is gorgeous here, as ever, and she does a really stellar job of deftly balancing a large number of POVs in this story, and writing an extremely well-constructed mystery. (I caught a hint in the earlier chapters of the book, and was extremely proud of myself.) The characters shine even in the short period of time we spend with them, and their different takes on the situation (as glimpses in their separate POVs) are each very compelling.

This novella packs a lot of intellectual punch in a very short space, and occasionally I felt like parts of it were going over my head — so I certainly plan on a reread, and I recommend taking your time with it (or planning similarly!).

4.5 stars, rounded up; most certainly recommended, and my enormous thanks to Subterranean Press and Netgalley for the early review copy!

Rose House is an AI built into a house that is the pinnacle of architectural design. When Basit Deniau dies he leaves only one person is allowed into Rose House for a period of one week a year. Rose House contains all his files and uncompleted design plans. Dr Selene Gisil didn’t want this honor since they had a falling out but she does go a few days every year to speak to Rose House. One night Rose House calls the police to say there is a dead body in the house that has been there for 24 hours, a call it was required by law to make but only after that time period. The police have asked Dr Gisil to come back t the house so they can find out what happened.

The way the deceased got into the house is interesting and the motivation makes sense. Rose House is an active character in the story and this has very much a haunted house feel to the story.

This murder mystery was very intriguing. Blended gothic elements with the additional twist of an AI haunted house. Rose House is bound by her programming and is acutely aware of her parameters, however after the death of her maker, no one else really does. Told in a short novella, the exploration of a murder at the home reads like a murder mystery fever dream. The ending left me wanting, and I never felt an aha moment of satisfaction to the murder mystery. In fact, by the end, it seemed deemed irrelevant to the rest of the words on the pages.

I adored Arkady Martine's Teixcalaan duology, so I was incredibly excited to get my hands on this ARC, and I was NOT disappointed. Martine 0nce again shows herself to be a master of world-building despite the constraints of this being a novella and not a sprawling space opera. I felt fully present in the world, which felt very real and plausible for a 22nd century New Mexico. And while the plot was simple enough, I was invested through the entirety.

Strongly, strongly recommend if you're looking for a very well-crafted and enveloping spec fic novella.

3.5 Rounded up. I had a hard time getting into this novella because at times the language used seems unnecessarily dense or vague, but once I did I loved the atmosphere and themes. I loved the cover and the descriptions of the house fit perfectly with the way it. is depicted. While the most basic plot is about a police officer trying to solve a potential crime after a dead body is found inside an AI run house, there is so much more to it than that. This book is more about themes I feel. It tackles architecture and art, relationships, ownership, morality, and more. This is a story that will make you think. Also, if you need your stories to be clear or end neatly I'd avoid this one.

This is a novella that makes you think. It's not a straightforward murder mystery plot.. It's using beautiful prose to make you wonder what it's like to be locked in a house that's smarter than you. I had a hard time following it, but I liked the ideas presented.

Rose/House is one of those weird trippy novellas that leave you going, I read that, but what did I read, in the best way possible. Ostensibly a murder-mystery novella, Rose/House covers. themes of identity and self in the face of seemingly-sentient AI, When a dead body is reported by the house AI of a building that allows no one, the local detectives of a backwater location find themselves in a progressively bizarre situation. This is certainly one of those books you want to go in with as little information as possible, because the confusion is part of the journey. Martine’s writing is so beautiful, dense and mazelike, with so many false clues and misdirecting details for the reader to mistakenly fixate on. The characters all have hidden secrets, little unexplainable fixations with the infamous Rose/House. I found this novella a mastery of atmosphere, fitting for a story set largely in a haunted house that stands as both graveyard and masterpiece to its late creator. Overall. I rate this novella a 4/5.

Review will go live on my blog 30 March 2023

“She was alone. Alone except for the dead, and the haunt, and whoever else was still inside the house. Which wasn’t very alone at all.”

I'm REELING. This was incredible, and such an intriguing read. I almost want to pick it right back up and read it from start to finish again just to try and re-live it.

Rose/House is set to be published on March 31, 2023. Thank you to Subterranean Press, NetGalley and the author for the digital advanced readers copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.