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jialianyang'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? Yes
4.5
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
- 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
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!
Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Rape, Death, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture
Moderate: Incest, Cannibalism, and Infidelity
taleofabibliophile's review against another edition
Graphic: Murder, Child death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Gore, Blood, and Sexual content
Moderate: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury
Other CW: FGM, beastialityrubyellen95's review against another edition
- 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
Magic, myth, mystery and graphic psychological horror abound wrapped in a queer romantic adventure about love, family, found family, masculinity, and pride.
There's also misogyny but it's explored as a character flaw of the character that most displays it.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Dysphoria, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War
Beastiality takes place but there wasn't a content warning for that. I've put all content warnings as graphic as you're very invovled with the characters that experience them and the writing is very blunt so it can be shocking but for most content warnings and readers I would suggest it's more around the moderate warning but better safe than sorryrusya'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
annemaries_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
alexisbbrewer's review against another edition
Graphic: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Rape
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