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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
mcz_reads'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
3.5
This is a difficult book to review, just as it was a difficult book to read. The narrative resists becoming clear until it is good and ready; when it is clear, it's fantastic.
This book has a lot to say about power, corruption, sexuality, as well as homophobia and misogyny. These themes are addressed through a cast of characters I grew to love. Our antihero Tracker's journey is immensely satisfying, and I particularly enjoyed the arc of Sadogo. The dialogue can be hard to follow because it doesn't follow traditional forms for speech on a page, and only a few characters have distinct voices. The dialogue isn't only unreliable--it's deliberately obscured. But overall the writing style is excellent. It's particularly percussive and poetic when read aloud. When I finally got into the flow of the story, I was swept away.
The content is probably the most challenging aspect of the book. There is violence, gore, torture, and rape throughout the story. These are part of the story because of the earlier-mentioned themes, but I think there is room for discussion about intentionally crafted violence in art. Depictions of violence are necessary to demonstrate the consequences of violence, but how many scenes are necessary to convey the novel's idea?
I did enjoy the book and I'm looking forward to its sequel. I would recommend this book to fans of fantasy and classic epics.
This book has a lot to say about power, corruption, sexuality, as well as homophobia and misogyny. These themes are addressed through a cast of characters I grew to love. Our antihero Tracker's journey is immensely satisfying, and I particularly enjoyed the arc of Sadogo. The dialogue can be hard to follow because it doesn't follow traditional forms for speech on a page, and only a few characters have distinct voices. The dialogue isn't only unreliable--it's deliberately obscured. But overall the writing style is excellent. It's particularly percussive and poetic when read aloud. When I finally got into the flow of the story, I was swept away.
The content is probably the most challenging aspect of the book. There is violence, gore, torture, and rape throughout the story. These are part of the story because of the earlier-mentioned themes, but I think there is room for discussion about intentionally crafted violence in art. Depictions of violence are necessary to demonstrate the consequences of violence, but how many scenes are necessary to convey the novel's idea?
I did enjoy the book and I'm looking forward to its sequel. I would recommend this book to fans of fantasy and classic epics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Rape, and Sexual assault
abbyleinbach's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-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? It's complicated
4.25
I don't think I could ever explain this book to people, but I really enjoyed it. This is not a book I would recommend to everyone, but the story really enthralled me.
This is a dark, unhappy book. There's rape and murder in fairly graphic detail. Every character is morally grey. If that's not something that you enjoy, I don't recommend this book. What kept me reading was the world building and the relationships, platonic and romantic.
One thing I did not like about this book was the main character's hatred towards women. I don't think this went unexamined, but I also feel like ultimately, his hatred was validated.
If you decide to read this book, I highly recommend reading the book and listening to the audiobook in tandem. That really helped me to understand it and get through it. Seeing the maps was also helpful and was very fun.
This is a dark, unhappy book. There's rape and murder in fairly graphic detail. Every character is morally grey. If that's not something that you enjoy, I don't recommend this book. What kept me reading was the world building and the relationships, platonic and romantic.
One thing I did not like about this book was the main character's hatred towards women. I don't think this went unexamined, but I also feel like ultimately, his hatred was validated.
If you decide to read this book, I highly recommend reading the book and listening to the audiobook in tandem. That really helped me to understand it and get through it. Seeing the maps was also helpful and was very fun.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, and Pedophilia