Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

80 reviews

samanthaleereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

literarygrooves's review against another edition

Really wanted to love this book but it just wasn’t working for me. Lengthy sections of dialogue not indicating who was speaking with more than 2 characters involved. Jumping timelines that made it difficult for me to get and stay involved in the main storyline. Usually these are things that work just fine for me, but in this case were executed in such a way that left me consistently confused. That on top of what felt like consistent misogyny, graphic violence & SA - If I was more invested in the story or characters, I would’ve probably found it worth my time to push through my issues but I found myself just not caring enough to push through another 400+ pages. Please check content warnings before reading this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

a_raptor_named_arsenic's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, and Kidnapping

raybiescabies's review against another edition

The way sexuality and sexual assault are treated was just...no

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Slavery

stefievee's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I actually really wanted to like this book. I hadn't heard any of hype around it, surprisingly, but had read the description and it seemed interesting. I like setting and universe, the mythological elements, the fact that the main character has a supernatural gift - and actually I like the author's writing style quite a bit. But the graphic violence, the constant fixation on genitals and aggressive sex was just much too distracting for me. Plot-wise, I also felt like the final/biggest quest of the character ended up dragging on and on and I really struggled to finish reading the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, and Slavery

Minor: Pedophilia

5aru's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.75

I have very conflicted feelings about this book.

On the one hand, I loved the story, which weaves an impressive, multifaceted, intriguing plot. The twists are built up to but never predictable. The characters feel distant from the reader due to Tracker's wilfully detached narration, but they never once fall flat. And the worldbuilding! It builds such a perfectly wild, unpredictable, intricate world around the characters, full of myth continually intruding upon the realistic. Truly flawless work in that regard.

On the other hand, the novel is full of gore and violence, sexual and otherwise. It is ever-present and it is inescapable; definitely go over the content warnings. In particular, there is so much rape in this book, you can hardly go a chapter without a passing mention or a threat of it. Hell, you can hardly go a page without reading the word fuck. I'm not particularly squeamish about what I read, and don't mind profanity, but James' world is so defined by and constructed around senseless violence that it truly gets hard to stomach sometimes. If I hadn't been so intrigued by the plot, I would've probably stopped reading at chapter 8; even then, I find it difficult to justify. I can understand the decision to narrate violence of all kinds, but at times it really was so naturalized, so mindless, that it felt like simple shock value that added nothing to the narrative.

I cannot recommend this to everyone; it is a hard book to read even if the premise interests you. Go in with a warning — but I'd say, if able, go in anyway. It really is one of a kind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pedophilia, Slavery, and Trafficking

bremblebee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A very good read. I had to get used to the way the author wrote this book, but after a couple of chapters you get used to it. The book is very explicit and deals with some heavy themes so reader discretion is advised and check out the content warnings. The style of telling reminded me a bit of the interview with a vampire. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, and Murder

qog's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

1.5

I had to force myself to finish this book. First, it was hard to follow what was happening. The first half of the book, I had no idea what the storyline was. Eventually I was tracking and there were a lot of interesting stories, characters, worlds, etc. But what made it very challenging to read/finish the book was the overwhelming amount of extremely graphic, often sexually violent scenes, along with overly sexualized content, involving all ages. So much extreme violence, sexual violence, sex/genitalia descriptions, etc. It was too much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Murder

emvoor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism and Abandonment

kaseyd's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I really wanted to like this book, but finishing it was an absolute chore. I knew very early on I disliked it but powered through to give it a chance. The audiobook was 24 hours long and truly maybe six of those hours were actually necessary to the plot. So much of this massive novel was unconnected random stories that were gross, repetitive, and a drag. I fell asleep listening to this, didn’t go back to listen to what I’d missed, and at no point was confused because nothing in the entire hour I slept was actually important to the story. I hate when authors think that for their fantasy to be taken seriously they have to make it disgusting, crass, and disturbing to read. This book is not worth all the time it takes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, and Kidnapping

Minor: Ableism, Body horror, Confinement, Homophobia, Slavery, and Cannibalism