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magehydrate's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Marlon James is clearly a talented writer, and also seemed to have done a lot of research into African (I believe specifically west african? could be wrong) legends and myths, but still this book was at times nearly impassable. Every type of extreme sexual violence is written about in great detail, including pedophelia, beastiality, sexual torture. The list goes on—I’ve actually seen a list going around of all the “triggers” in this book. The main characters are all foul people, even in the depths of their love or flaws, they reek. Tracker, the teller of the tale, may to be blame for that, for he is a man overcome with anger and nothingness and everything is through his eyes. Even when a violent act is not being done, the characters never have kind things to say, and often their dialogue is a threat, typically sexual in nature. Aside from the sheer amount of violence, James tries too hard to make the plot complex, and loses the thread for most of the book. What could have been a cool search party journey turns into something at times totally illegible because he’s trying so hard? The dialogue is almost exclusively nonsensical riddles, which at first is sort of engaging and requires close reading, but eventually one realizes that the riddles are not opening doors to greater meaning, but rather putting off meaning entirely. (Which might actually be on purpose? So much of the book is about stories and lies, the absence and construction of truth and story. What would a character who is without any meaning at all think of meaning?)Somehow, despite all that…I read the whole thing and was drawn into the world which was huge and imaginative. The monsters are interesting, and so are the enchantments and magics, though they’re all cruel and disgusting (but shouldn’t magic be kind of unpleasant??)and I did find myself invested. It is hard to say what kind of development happens for the characters—for instance , Tracker hates women and that is brought to his attention almost 80% of the way thru the book, but the resolution is two vague sentences about finally seeing his mom again and crying at her feet. In fact it makes one wonder if James himself hates women, because he does address how little choice and mobility women have, even in this fictional non western fantasy realm, but there isn’t a single woman in the book who isn’t conniving, selfish and evil… But again, Tracker sort of admits at the beginning of the book that he might be lying, and we are reminded that this entire tale is through his lens. Man. this is a crazy book. There is so much to say about it and I know I will be thinking about it for a long time. Not sure if I will read the others in this series. Might write another review after some time, when I’ve had more time to think about it.
Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Rape, Trafficking, Transphobia, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Excrement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture
nrhilmer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Violence, Abandonment, Body horror, Cannibalism, Cursing, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Child death, Death, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Infidelity, Transphobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Incest, Sexism, Rape, War, and Xenophobia
malimaan's review against another edition
every time I thought about opening the book i started to feel dread because it just made me so uncomfortable.
the writing itself is really complicated and often poetic, which I appreciated. in the end, however, neither the promising story nor the writing style was entirely to keep me interested enough to finish.
i feel like this book is a good book for some people but the graphic details were just too much to make it enjoyable for me.
Graphic: Sexual assault, Incest, Cannibalism, Rape, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Excrement, Gore, Sexual assault, War, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Confinement, Slavery, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Trafficking, and Torture
there is a scene in which the MC is gang raped by hyenas. additionally there are several instances of bestiality.lochnessmaddy's review against another edition
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, War, Child abuse, Excrement, Child death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, and Slavery
christina_ro's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
If you have any concerns about trigger warnings around any kind of violence, I’d google the warnings for this book. The graphic violence of this book was probably the hardest part for me. There are certain scenes where the violence and detailed descriptions add weight and emotion, but there are a number of times where I didn’t feel it added anything to the story. I’m not typically one for gratuitous violence or gore, but it caught me off guard and since I was reading it for my book club, I pushed through.
Overall, I’m glad that I finished this book, and James is certainly a talented author, but I’m not sure I would read more from the author if his other books are this graphic.
Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Grief, Excrement, Violence, Blood, War, Animal death, Child death, Torture, Slavery, Rape, Pedophilia, Incest, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Homophobia
trippalli's review against another edition
1.0
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Kidnapping, Racism, Violence, Bullying, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Infertility, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Animal death, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Rape, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Confinement, Grief, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence
betamagnificus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, War, Torture, Violence, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Murder, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Sexual content
thenymphsvoice's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
However that’s not a bad thing. BLRW is a wild ride, I found the characters compelling, funny, sad, rage inducing.
This story was not afraid to deal with harsh realities even if this is a fantasy.
Trackers life is disjointed and many times dehumanizing. They struggle to understand themselves and their world, as it often changes with the snap of a finger around them.
They adapt they hurt, they grow or don’t in the perfectly imperfect way people do.
What I would say to anyone going into reading this is, prepare yourself to not always understand what is happening. That is a reflection of the characters confusion of events and the way their life has been broken by the traumas they have and do endure. (At least that’s how it read to me.)
The mystery and journey is second to me to the journey that Tracker is on in their own head. Invest in Trackers experience.
Also… if you can think of it Trigger/Content Warning. It’s in this book. Be prepared.
Graphic: Abandonment, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Grief, Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Cursing, Drug abuse, Gore, Murder, Torture, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Violence, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, and War
Just like all the things, this book is not for the faint of heart or easily triggered.natalie1227's review against another edition
Graphic: Sexual violence, Misogyny, Incest, Sexual content, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault
vedpears's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Abundant run on sentences took some getting used to, but I managed to navigate that just fine.
I enjoyed how the story was written in such a way that it was like viewing a large photo by zooming in, then zooming out a bit, zooming in somewhere nearby, zooming out again until the whole picture is revealed.
What I did not enjoy was the overwhelming number of elements that would warrant trigger warnings: sex, rape, child abuse, pedophilia, slavery, bodily harm, mutilation, murder, combinations of all of those at once with a gratuitous serving of explicit language.
The overarching story is intriguing. The characters and concepts borrowed from African history and mythology were woven in very well. If this were written to be less corrosive on the psyche, I would have rated it higher.
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Cursing, Gore, Misogyny, Vomit, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Ableism, Addiction, Slavery, Stalking, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Excrement, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, and Xenophobia
It basically has all the trigger warnings, including infanticide.