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quietnyx's review against another edition
I almost always give books 100 pages to hook me, but I couldn't stomach any more than 60. Almost every page, of what I read, mentioned the rape of men, women, children, or animals and I couldn't do it. I also wasn't prepared for it; a lot of the positive reviews about this book seem to skim over this aspect and I'm not sure why. It is also incredibly slow and made me feel like I was reading the first draft ramblings of a man who wants you to think he's smarter than you. Every piece of dialogue was a riddle that felt like it was only written to be quoted in some literary circle jerk about all the ways you can describe genitals and gore. I'm sure his writing style is for someone, but it's not for me.
I thought the premise was interesting, but it's lost in the long-winded, tedious prose that would have really benefitted from a good editor.
I thought the premise was interesting, but it's lost in the long-winded, tedious prose that would have really benefitted from a good editor.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Animal cruelty, Sexism, and Torture
jialianyang's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Wow. A mind-bending page turner with lush, fantastical, vivid descriptions and plot twists and turns. This is a book about friendship, lovers, war, kingdoms and queendoms, myth, adventure, and family that focuses on what or whom is worth fighting for. This is a book that you should not put down because each read will plunge you deep into this world of magical and fantastical characters and events. The story spins beautiful and horrific and awesome tales of loyalty and treachery, of kindness and cruelty, all wrapped up in cultural references to myth and religion. There are worlds within worlds here. Do not pick up this book if you're not ready to get lost.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Cursing, Death, Grief, and Rape
Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, Abandonment, and Adult/minor relationship
devilsreject__'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
What a wild ride this was. Truth to be told it took me more than half of the book to get properly invested in the story and characters, and if not for this being a buddy read, I would have probably dnfed it. I am glad I didn't. I ended caring about certain characters way more than I though I will and at the end I did not want to leave this world no matter how fucked up it was. (Which means I will be picking up the sequel).
There are a lot of trigger warnings for this book, and some messed up stuff felt meaningless, and maybe that was done on purpose for the sake of worldbuilding, however, it took away from some scenes were messed up stuff should have had more of an impact emotionally, especially in the middle of the story. Otherwise, Tracker's self discovery journey, if you could call it that, still moved me and the events that transpired involving him and the gang had an emotional impact on me at the end. I ended up absolutely loving Mossi and the Leopard, and how both of them were not afraid to challenge Tracker's questionable views and his hypocricy, but still loved him and stood by him. Legends. The banter between characters was one of the best parts of the book.
Also, before I picked it up I did not notice anyone mentioning that this was LGBTQA+ and man that was a pleasant surprise. I feel like I'm rambling now, and this is my first review ever, so excuse me for not being equivalent enough.
One more thing that grinded my gears a little bit, is that while the book has strong women in it, none of them felt like fully fleshed out characters and I hope the sequel will fix that. And please, less nipple and breast comments, there were one too many of those.
There are a lot of trigger warnings for this book, and some messed up stuff felt meaningless, and maybe that was done on purpose for the sake of worldbuilding, however, it took away from some scenes were messed up stuff should have had more of an impact emotionally, especially in the middle of the story. Otherwise, Tracker's self discovery journey, if you could call it that, still moved me and the events that transpired involving him and the gang had an emotional impact on me at the end. I ended up absolutely loving Mossi and the Leopard, and how both of them were not afraid to challenge Tracker's questionable views and his hypocricy, but still loved him and stood by him. Legends. The banter between characters was one of the best parts of the book.
Also, before I picked it up I did not notice anyone mentioning that this was LGBTQA+ and man that was a pleasant surprise. I feel like I'm rambling now, and this is my first review ever, so excuse me for not being equivalent enough.
One more thing that grinded my gears a little bit, is that while the book has strong women in it, none of them felt like fully fleshed out characters and I hope the sequel will fix that. And please, less nipple and breast comments, there were one too many of those.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Torture, and Sexual assault
goddessssssssss's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
One of the weirdest books I've ever read, but one of the best. Based in a pre-colonial Africa, the story draws on native myths and legends to create a colourful and terrifying world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Rape, Misogyny, Gore, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Sexual violence
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Child death, and Child abuse
Moderate: Homophobia and Misogyny
justinlife's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A love a pretty cover and this one is gorge. That’s the main reason I bought it. The book is really good. It’s also a black queer writer writing a black queer fantasy, which I didn’t know going in and LOVED!
It’s an epic, it’s mythology (and all the fuckery that entails), it’s fantasy, it’s a mystery novel, and it combines these genres nicely.
I see comparisons to Game of Thrones, but I didn’t read those nor watch many of the episodes. Maybe the cruelness and the casualness of abuse and violence is similar. It was a bit rough to get through but overall it’s a really good book with a complicated story and complex characters. And also YAY BLACK QUEER STORIES!
It’s an epic, it’s mythology (and all the fuckery that entails), it’s fantasy, it’s a mystery novel, and it combines these genres nicely.
I see comparisons to Game of Thrones, but I didn’t read those nor watch many of the episodes. Maybe the cruelness and the casualness of abuse and violence is similar. It was a bit rough to get through but overall it’s a really good book with a complicated story and complex characters. And also YAY BLACK QUEER STORIES!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Rape, Death, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture
Moderate: Incest, Cannibalism, and Infidelity
vstarks_film's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Murder, Rape, and Violence
its_kievan's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
My copy of this book has rave reviews from, among others, the New York Times, the Guardian, Lousie Erdrich, and Salman Rushdie, describing it as "gripping", "extraordinary", and "a miracle". I think if they had asked me instead I would have described Black Leopard, Red Wolf as "boring", "shit", and "weirdly obsessed with incest". I might have explained that reading this book was a frustrating slog, that the supposedly artistic prose just made everything impossible to understand, or that between this and Tade Thompson's Rosewater I'm starting to wonder where all this "award-winning African SFF" is getting its awards from. But hey, nobody asked me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Minor: Drug use and Alcoholism
catsforlenny's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I have such mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, the pacing is very slow so it's quite hard to get through, especially the first 200 pages. Also it has very graphic depictions of violence and rape and it's very dark overall. On the other hand, the writing style is very beautiful and I grew to love the characters.
Overall I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone, and I won't be reading the next ones in the series but I did enjoy some parts of it.
Overall I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone, and I won't be reading the next ones in the series but I did enjoy some parts of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death, Gore, and Incest
annabelreading's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Excrement, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture