Petals of Blood was officially launched by the Kenyan government in July 1977, in a show of the Kenyatta government's commitment to the principles of free speech. However, it was clear that the ruling elite and many members of the upper classes in Kenya were disturbed by Ngugi's harsh criticism of the established social and economic order. In reaction to the novel as well as to his play I Will Marry When I Want, after his release from detention in 1978 Ngugi was not reinstated in his job at Nairobi University, was arrested on trivial charges on several occasions, and received death threats.

Despite its status as a controversial work, the novel was received warmly by most readers and critics. An anonymous early review in Kenya's Weekly Review entitled "Ngugi's Bombshell" said that the Kenyan reader might feel as though Ngugi had been "walking all over your soul...