Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Schwarzer Leopard, roter Wolf by Marlon James

42 reviews

econsidine's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.25

This one took a long time to read, because it's 620 pages long and a lot of it is in a meandering pace and a lot of information is thrown at you that you may need to remember or recall. That said, I enjoyed it a lot. It's a twisty story spanning an unclear amount of years about a Tracker with a near-supernaturally-strong nose, his friendship/relationship with a leopard-man, a hired job to find a random boy who doesn't seem to exist, and also the Tracker's sort-of adopted children. If you like fantasy with inventive worlds and systems, if you like fantasy with a lot of characters and a complex plot that takes ages to progress, if you like books along the lines of GoT and The Witcher and The Broken Earth and are ready to jump into something new—this is a good pick for you.

NOTE THAT THERE IS A LOT OF HEAVY/DARK MATERIAL AND IMAGERY. I've tagged everything I can possibly think of below but have likely missed something. If you do not want to read something that involves any of the usual suspects of what people consider "dark" or "gory" or "messed up," then this is not for you. It's not a horror book, but it is often disturbing. And even for me—someone who loves fictional horror and grotesque shit and frequently reads books about cannibalism for fun—this one is a lot to get through and had me physically flinching at some moments while reading. It didn't read like it was just for shock value, as weird as that may sound, but the tone of the narrator through the whole book is very matter-of-fact, so many disturbing events are described in full detail but without much direct inflection/editorializing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual content, Body horror, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Sexism, War, Blood, Death of parent, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

bookforthought's review against another edition

I really wanted to like this, as I loved the idea of an African-inspired fantasy but the constant stream of explicit violence, child abuse and sexual content on basically every page was just too much for me.
I liked the African mythology and the writing style was original and intriguing (it resembles the oral storytelling tradition), but the content was making it impossible for me to enjoy this. I might give this another try in the future, but for now it’s a no. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Murder, Slavery, Death, and Child death

nate_b's review against another edition

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! 

---

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

e_asw_97's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

this book is a dazzling narrative full of rich imagination and prose. but at times, the pacing drags, and the action becomes dry and repetitive. these small complaints do not detract from the impact and the scope of the narrative, which is unlike anything I have ever read.

I took a full star off my rating, however, because I am disappointed to see how, even in this masterful upheaval of fantasy, women are still made to endlessly suffer, and to be the cause of the male characters' greatest suffering. few, if any, main characters are female, and those who are die quickly, or live only to serve the ends and purpose of the male characters. I want so badly for literature to move past this convention, this unending commitment to a misogynistic ideal, and to engage with it beyond a throwaway line from a supporting character asking the main character why he hates women so much. I could go on about the gratuitous and unsympathetic use of violence and rape in this book, and how the author wholeheartedly fails to resolve his own main character's virulent hatred of women, but to do so would echo decades of criticism of genre and literary fiction. I am simply disappointed that this book, which was lauded for flouting convention and being a "revolutionary" work, simply conformed to the worst parts of its genre. I had hoped for otherwise.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Blood, Sexual violence, Sexism, Murder, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Child death, Body horror, Violence, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Sexual content, and Gore

Moderate: Grief, War, Xenophobia, and Physical abuse

t_thekla's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.5

last chapter slapped

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Death of parent, Excrement, Homophobia, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Violence, and War

lotsa bad stuff

softanimal's review against another edition

I love the rich imagery, imaginative storytelling, and lush world-building but the level of intensity is not where I'm at right now. Strong trigger warnings come with this one. The content warnings under "graphic" occur multiple times in each chapter.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Death, Toxic relationship, Child death, Violence, Body horror, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, and Misogyny

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, War, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Infertility, Vomit, Cursing, Excrement, Homophobia, Incest, and Sexual harassment

Nearly all of this book is graphic violence, rape, and child abuse.

A major plot is about finding abused children and there multiple graphic descriptions of rapes as well as ubiquitous references to sex, gore, sexual violence, and physical and sexual abuse of children.

cringeisen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Blood, Cannibalism, Body horror, Violence, Death, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Rape, Cursing, Pedophilia, Sexism, Misogyny, Drug use, and Incest

Minor: Slavery and Kidnapping

fox_at_the_circus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. Tracker is a great main character and I love how sarcastic and cheeky he is. It makes the dialogues very funny. I liked the other characters, too. They're all well fleshed out and I like that we get a backstory for (almost) everyone.
The world this book is set in is super cool! With the main characters travelling all over the continent, we really get to see all the different cultures and cities and the differences between them. I also like how many different ways there are for people to gain some special abilities, magic, white science,.. some people, like tracker, just have a special ability and it never gets explained. It adds to the fantastical feeling of the world.

The ending really hurt me. Tracker got his nice life and a resolution and a family and it's only shown in a poem/song and then the last part takes it all away. I had tears in my eyes.

This book deals with a lot of heavy topics (see the trigger warnings), and in my opinion it does it pretty well, but it is definitely not for everyone.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, and Torture

Moderate: Cannibalism, Confinement, Dysphoria, War, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Minor: War and Xenophobia

jialianyang'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

4.5

Wow. A mind-bending page turner with lush, fantastical, vivid descriptions and plot twists and turns. This is a book about friendship, lovers, war, kingdoms and queendoms, myth, adventure, and family that focuses on what or whom is worth fighting for. This is a book that you should not put down because each read will plunge you deep into this world of magical and fantastical characters and events. The story spins beautiful and horrific and awesome tales of loyalty and treachery, of kindness and cruelty, all wrapped up in cultural references to myth and religion. There are worlds within worlds here. Do not pick up this book if you're not ready to get lost.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Cursing, Death, Grief, and Rape

Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, Abandonment, and Adult/minor relationship

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!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Rape, Death, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture

Moderate: Incest, Cannibalism, and Infidelity