Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

79 reviews

mgraceoliver's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual content, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Child death, Animal death, Excrement, Gore, Cannibalism, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, and Rape

elizaahhh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Sexual violence, Child death, Body horror, Animal death, Sexual assault, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

dananator13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Violence, Torture, Body horror, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Death, Slavery, Sexual assault, Rape, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, and Blood

bee26's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Gore, Grief, Death, Torture, Child death, Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Blood

Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, and Adult/minor relationship

Be aware of some scene of bestiality

acaciathorns's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Slavery

Moderate: War

kingcrookback's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

I'm fairly sure that people called this "the African Game of Thrones" for marketing purposes because they both occupy the epic fantasy space, but I think the comparison is apt for other reasons. Similar to how A Song of Ice and Fire is something of an examination and deconstruction of feudal fantasy and grapples with how myth, history, and subjective experiences tangle and interweave, Black Leopard, Red Wolf also tackles the interplay among truth, stories, and subjectivity. Admittedly, I initially found it difficult to detect and hook onto this theme, partially due to the book's graphicness as well as the fact that that's...simply how it goes with a lot of fantasy worlds. It took me about 100 pages to find my footing, and reading James' interview with the Boston Review was also very helpful (https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/representation-doesnt-just-mean-heroes-we-need-the-villains-as-well).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Death, Torture, Body horror, Rape, Blood, Murder, Sexual violence, Gore, Cursing, and Child death

Moderate: Slavery, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexual content, War, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Mental illness, Grief, and Excrement

Minor: Drug use

eli3823's review against another edition

DNF. Stopped 1/3 in. Dense, highly stylized prose. Difficult to read. It's not always clear who is talking. Too much rape, graphic violence and reference to ass smells. Main character motivations aren't apparent. The part of the timeline, background that could shed light on who the protagonist is comes way too late. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Rape, Torture, Slavery, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Murder, Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Excrement

nate_b's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A truly brilliant story! The world-building of an alternative African magical reality is absolutely incredible. I will need to give this another listen, though it is so intense and violent I don't know when I'll be up for it. It's almost like the most graphic type of scenes from Law & Order: SVU all put together with terrifying descriptions of witchcraft blended with mysterious powers, destiny, loss, and a pervasive, bitter sense of betrayal.

It was hard to follow at times but well worth the effort and time. It's a long book but so exquisitely told!

The author does not shy away from extremely graphic depictions of the acts of his characters, including sexual assault, murder, and war crimes against children. I actually had to set it aside after the first time I tried listening to it until a time when I was more able to handle the violent opening scene and get into the fascinating characters beyond. Maybe next year I'll be up to listen to the sequel! I hope they get the same narrator. He did a phenomenal job! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Biphobia, Blood, Bullying, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Rape, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Colonisation, Murder, Cursing, Gore, Trafficking, War, Sexual violence, Child death, Drug use, Sexual content, Classism, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Torture, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Alcohol, and Animal death

cryptidstar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? Yes

2.5

The writing of this book is interesting, but ultimately the plot and writing was just too dense and slow moving to hold my interest. I didn’t finish it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Trafficking, Misogyny, and Slavery

oisinofthehill's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Confinement, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Cannibalism, Body horror, Gore, and Sexism

Moderate: Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Sexual violence