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rusya's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, and Torture
Minor: Animal cruelty
bodiesinbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Body horror, Rape, Slavery, Vomit, Child death, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic friendship
f18's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Slavery, Infidelity, Sexual content, Gore, Cursing, Homophobia, Violence, Child death, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, and Blood
Moderate: Suicide, Vomit, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Incest, and Drug use
Minor: Torture, Confinement, Death of parent, Sexism, Cannibalism, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Misogyny
misandry fgm/circumcision bestialityannemaries_shelves'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
4.0
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.
Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Torture
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Animal death
Minor: Pedophilia
finn_vibing's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Child death, Death, Animal death, Slavery, Sexual violence, Violence, and Rape
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Homophobia
ketreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
During the reading of this, I found many times I wanted to DNF/ rate 1 star but did find there were redeemable aspects to this book, even if my overall feelings regarding it are negative.
I don't know when I heard about this book, but I definitely bought it during the initial hype. Seeing many people mention just how good it was, it's cool setting, and the amazing blurb really drew me in. Murder mystery adventure WITH African folklore based fantasy?? Yes please!
While I'm sure if I leaned back and squinted real hard I could see the blurb is being somewhat faithful to what we get, the choice of prose really threw me off and was not something I enjoyed.
The author's choice of prose is a meandering mess, often setting up promise of pay off with none in sight. His obsession with genitalia based descriptions and smells was almost off putting to the point of DNF'ing it 50 pages in. It thankfully either lessens as you progress, though I still found gratuitous moments involving overly descriptive text involving genitalia.
The book also suffers from a massive pacing issue that is prevalent throughout the book. I'd often find myself finally feeling the rhythm of the story and characters, and actually ENJOYING the book. Pages later the author would decide to focus pages of content to very specific scenes/ areas which would completely stunt the momentum he had just created. His attempts at character focused moments in time often felt pointless as none of these characters ever seemed to like eachother. Even the long time friends and main duo of the book (as seen in the title: Black Leopard & Red Wolf) seem to take any opportunity to bicker and insult one another.
This book isn't about a group of friends rescuing a child, it's a group of strangers constantly splitting up and quarrelling their way through 600 pages. I kept expecting for some sort of bond to grow between these people traveling and sometimes even fighting for their life's together but then Tracker would go ahead and insult someones entire existence out of nowhere.
So no, I wouldn't recommend this book nor will I expect to continue the series. Just looking at the next book and seeing it's about the Moon Witch (one of the least likeable characters of the bunch) I'll be staying well clear.
Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, and Torture
Moderate: Slavery
booknug's review against another edition
Graphic: Rape, Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Violence, Slavery, and Kidnapping
victorianrogue's review against another edition
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence
Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Sexism
rrovezzi's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia
aroguemonster's review against another edition
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Infidelity, Homophobia, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Cursing, Child death, Child abuse, Blood, and Misogyny