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f18's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Incest, Suicide, and Vomit
Minor: Body horror, Confinement, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Cannibalism, and Death of parent
misandry fgm/circumcision bestialityannemaries_shelves's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.0
tldr; incredibly violent with intensely misogynistic characters (especially the main character/narrator who has severe parent issues) but a super compelling story/atmosphere with incredible worldbuilding you're just thrown into. Also Sogolon is amazing, and knowing what her breasts look like doesn't change that fact.
Because this was a buddy read I didn't give up in the first 50 pages. Despite having read and loved A Brief History of Seven Killings, I had a harder time reconciling/handling the extreme violence and sexual, graphic nature of James's writing this time. However, it really took a turn 150 pages in and I was sucked in (like many reviews suggested would happen). The violence and the references to women's breasts never ceased, but the writing and worldbuilding and plot really compelled me to continue reading a chapter a day. James really doesn't hold his readers' hands through the novel, he expects you to keep up - something I found refreshing this time around. The ten and nine doors, which are introduced halfway through the novel, are such an inventive twist on magical doors/portals, and I loved every paragraph dedicated to them. I hope they show up again because there's so much about their existence - how they work, how long they've been around, etc. - that we don't know.
I will say that a lot of the rape, sexual assault, and violence doesn't have a strong emotional component. There's so little emotional reflection and trauma processing from every incident, including the non-consensual bestiality with hyena women shapeshifters , that it was only the shock value that stuck with me. When I compare and contrast with female authors writing similar violence, there's such a stark difference in how the emotional aspects are handled. Part of it is due to the unreliable, intentionally unemotional (except anger) main character whose perspective we're in throughout the text, and part of it is due to James's writing choices. Since he did (or rather didn't) have a similar approach in A Brief History, I'm inclined to think it's just a (largely negative, to me) aspect of his writing.
My other main critique is the pacing is a little off. He will spend so much time having his characters travel, and explore the world and their pasts, and then build-up to a key action sequence or information reveal. And then it's over in 2-5 pages. And we're on to the next scene. For example, the Darklands are hailed as big and scary and fucked up (think Mirkwood or Fangorn Forest of LOTR but wayyyyy worse) and then it was a short chapter. I was constantly disappointed that we didn't spend a lot of time in key action scenes, or seeing the fallout of the characters actions.Like in Dolingo, there's a slave revolt after it's revealed that the city uses slaves in the walls and interiors to mechanically manipulate the city. And we're thrown in the middle of the action with very little pages dedicated to it. I'm hoping that some of it's intentional as the sequels are intended to explore the same events through different perspectives. Like Sogolon's.
Speaking of Sogolon - she's one of my favourite characters. For all that James can't seem to ignore women's breasts in his writing, he sure knows how to write (mostly tough) female characters that exist wholly in and of themselves, and are constantly pointing out the inequities and problems women face in this world. All the female characters had great insights into both Tracker (our MC) and the world's attitudes and actions towards women.
There's also a lot of queerness throughout the book. This world both accepts and villifies homosexuality and it's talked about in a lot of violent, less than nice ways. Yet, throughout the novel, Tracker, and other gay characters, come to terms with their identities - however, this is NOT a novel about exploring your sexual identity and becoming comfortable with who you are. That's very much tertiary, almost subtext, element.That said, I was rooting for Mossi and Tracker so hard, since Leopard kinda ditched for middle of the book.
In addition to the queer elements, there's a fair amount of discussion (really mostly through dialogue) of gender roles, women as witches, slavery, skin colour, and tribal/political conflicts. James really packed a lot into his fantasy mythology novel!
Finally, I will say that the final section felt disjointed. The main portion of the story finishes in Section 4, with Section 5 as an interlude of 4 years in verse. Section 6 then rushes through the second tracking of the child (which is mentioned at the beginning of the book) with unsatisfactory explanations of what's happening and lots of missing information. Again, I can only hope that it's explored in the sequels because as an ending to what was up until that point a relatively standalone novel, it was a bit of a letdown. We very much ended in the middle of the grand, mythological, story.
Overall, for those who can handle (or want to handle) *really* dark, violent, sexist/misogynistic (from characters, not the author himself) fantasy, I recommend giving Black Leopard, Red Wolf a try. It's a long read, and there's a bit of work on your end (maps and character lists are provided) but a worthwhile story if you jive with it.
Because this was a buddy read I didn't give up in the first 50 pages. Despite having read and loved A Brief History of Seven Killings, I had a harder time reconciling/handling the extreme violence and sexual, graphic nature of James's writing this time. However, it really took a turn 150 pages in and I was sucked in (like many reviews suggested would happen). The violence and the references to women's breasts never ceased, but the writing and worldbuilding and plot really compelled me to continue reading a chapter a day. James really doesn't hold his readers' hands through the novel, he expects you to keep up - something I found refreshing this time around. The ten and nine doors, which are introduced halfway through the novel, are such an inventive twist on magical doors/portals, and I loved every paragraph dedicated to them. I hope they show up again because there's so much about their existence - how they work, how long they've been around, etc. - that we don't know.
I will say that a lot of the rape, sexual assault, and violence doesn't have a strong emotional component. There's so little emotional reflection and trauma processing from every incident,
My other main critique is the pacing is a little off. He will spend so much time having his characters travel, and explore the world and their pasts, and then build-up to a key action sequence or information reveal. And then it's over in 2-5 pages. And we're on to the next scene. For example, the Darklands are hailed as big and scary and fucked up (think Mirkwood or Fangorn Forest of LOTR but wayyyyy worse) and then it was a short chapter. I was constantly disappointed that we didn't spend a lot of time in key action scenes, or seeing the fallout of the characters actions.
Speaking of Sogolon - she's one of my favourite characters. For all that James can't seem to ignore women's breasts in his writing, he sure knows how to write (mostly tough) female characters that exist wholly in and of themselves, and are constantly pointing out the inequities and problems women face in this world. All the female characters had great insights into both Tracker (our MC) and the world's attitudes and actions towards women.
There's also a lot of queerness throughout the book. This world both accepts and villifies homosexuality and it's talked about in a lot of violent, less than nice ways. Yet, throughout the novel, Tracker, and other gay characters, come to terms with their identities - however, this is NOT a novel about exploring your sexual identity and becoming comfortable with who you are. That's very much tertiary, almost subtext, element.
In addition to the queer elements, there's a fair amount of discussion (really mostly through dialogue) of gender roles, women as witches, slavery, skin colour, and tribal/political conflicts. James really packed a lot into his fantasy mythology novel!
Finally, I will say that the final section felt disjointed. The main portion of the story finishes in Section 4, with Section 5 as an interlude of 4 years in verse. Section 6 then rushes through the second tracking of the child (which is mentioned at the beginning of the book) with unsatisfactory explanations of what's happening and lots of missing information. Again, I can only hope that it's explored in the sequels because as an ending to what was up until that point a relatively standalone novel, it was a bit of a letdown. We very much ended in the middle of the grand, mythological, story.
Overall, for those who can handle (or want to handle) *really* dark, violent, sexist/misogynistic (from characters, not the author himself) fantasy, I recommend giving Black Leopard, Red Wolf a try. It's a long read, and there's a bit of work on your end (maps and character lists are provided) but a worthwhile story if you jive with it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death and Domestic abuse
Minor: Pedophilia
ldysylvanas's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book was really rough to read. Tons of trigger warnings, and read very slow in my opinion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, and Murder
alexisbbrewer's review against another edition
I was unable to continue because I personally did not feel like it was something that I wanted to keep reading. I think the content of the story was just not for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, and Kidnapping
victorianrogue's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Cannibalism, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
steph1225's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, and Cannibalism
rrovezzi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, and Murder
henriettta's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- 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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Grief, and Murder
fluoresensitive's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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
2.5
** spoiler alert ** TW / RAPE DISCUSSION, PEDOPHILIA AND INCEST MENTION
.
.
.
.
I... I literally hate writing long reviews because they feel like book reports, but I have a lot to say. I'll start with the positive; I really loved Tracker and I loved Mossi, and the prose was very good!
Now let's get into everything I hated.
This book is so misogynistic, like it's actually crazy. Women are only mothers, or bitches, or victims of rape, and the way men talk about them is REVOLTING, like truly amazingly horrible, that's wild. The main women in the story exist only to do great evil and die, or be raped and die, it's miserable. Sologon and Bunshi and the king's sister (I forgot her name already, damn) go on rants about how horrible men are that feel like they were ripped from a Reddit board, like totally flat and emotionless, it's so weird.
And speaking of sexual assault, I would literally never recommend this book to another survivor as incest, rape and pedophilia are tossed around like it's nothing. I could hardly appreciate the fascinating story for all of the rape that took place in this book, it was truly atrocious. The main character is raped, his love interest is raped and yet there is no discussion of trauma, just a shrug and a weird justification of the violence from one of the female characters which is???
AND ANOTHER THING, this book is truly so depressing, and like, I respect that happy endings aren't always good endings, but my God, it almost felt like living through a Hay's Code era movie where gayness HAD to be punished with the goriest consequences. I'm nervous about what Mr. James has planned next because this was some honestly bleak reading, the few bright moments immediately dampened by some new and horrible thing.
And it sucks! It sucks that rape was everywhere, it sucks that this book made me so angry and sick, it sucks that I know this book could've been so much better than this lightless, hopeless gorefest! It sucks because I honestly loved Tracker, like so much of him is precious to me and I wanted more of the book to be spent on his time with Mossi and his children, or even healing from his various traumas. Instead we got This, and it's so disappointing! Ugh!
.
.
.
.
I... I literally hate writing long reviews because they feel like book reports, but I have a lot to say. I'll start with the positive; I really loved Tracker and I loved Mossi, and the prose was very good!
Now let's get into everything I hated.
This book is so misogynistic, like it's actually crazy. Women are only mothers, or bitches, or victims of rape, and the way men talk about them is REVOLTING, like truly amazingly horrible, that's wild. The main women in the story exist only to do great evil and die, or be raped and die, it's miserable. Sologon and Bunshi and the king's sister (I forgot her name already, damn) go on rants about how horrible men are that feel like they were ripped from a Reddit board, like totally flat and emotionless, it's so weird.
And speaking of sexual assault, I would literally never recommend this book to another survivor as incest, rape and pedophilia are tossed around like it's nothing. I could hardly appreciate the fascinating story for all of the rape that took place in this book, it was truly atrocious. The main character is raped, his love interest is raped and yet there is no discussion of trauma, just a shrug and a weird justification of the violence from one of the female characters which is???
AND ANOTHER THING, this book is truly so depressing, and like, I respect that happy endings aren't always good endings, but my God, it almost felt like living through a Hay's Code era movie where gayness HAD to be punished with the goriest consequences. I'm nervous about what Mr. James has planned next because this was some honestly bleak reading, the few bright moments immediately dampened by some new and horrible thing.
And it sucks! It sucks that rape was everywhere, it sucks that this book made me so angry and sick, it sucks that I know this book could've been so much better than this lightless, hopeless gorefest! It sucks because I honestly loved Tracker, like so much of him is precious to me and I wanted more of the book to be spent on his time with Mossi and his children, or even healing from his various traumas. Instead we got This, and it's so disappointing! Ugh!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Pedophilia, and Rape
bookishplantmom's review against another edition
I decided to give this a try but two things happened early on in my reading. 1: I did not like the way the audiobook is narrated (cadence, tone) and 2: it’s the rampant sexual violence for me. I should have checked trigger warnings and recommend people do so for sure. I looked at other reviews before making my decision to dnf and it seems issue number 2 continues throughout and I simply don’t have it in me to sit through hundreds of pages (20+ hours of audio) filled with repeated instances of horrific violence. Especially given that it seems much of it is gratuitous and unrelated to the plot (based on reviews I’ve read).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, and Excrement