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sujong127's review
- 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, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Incest, Death, Sexual assault, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence
hello_kara's review against another edition
- 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
This is not a comfortable or easy read. But content riddled with trauma should not be comfortable. Gratuitous mention of shit, piss, blood, rape, gang rape, genital mutilation, child abandonment and sacrifice, kidnapping, corruption, slavery, torture, dismemberment, and murder. Is the overall story still intriguing though? Yes. Not a book I could ever rate on a simple scale though.
“There was always someone or some two or some three who will grab me like a stick and break me, grab me like wet cloth, and wring everything out of me. And that was just the way of the world. That was the way of everybody’s world.”
Took me forever to get through this one, and I didn’t feel invested until about a third of the way through. That’s also about how long it takes to get to the advertised plot of the book. I was drawn in by the premise of an epic quest of a group of people each with different supernatural gifts, knowledge, or skill, with the goal of finding a missing child of prophecy. The story is told from the point of view of Tracker, The Red Wolf, and is being told to the Inquisitor questioning him regarding this quest. Rooted in African inspired mythologies and folklore, this quest takes them to several different cities, through cursed lands and hidden doorways, and they cross paths with a plethora of terrifying creatures.
This book is the first in a planned trilogy, with each book more companion than sequel, telling the story from different points of view. I think it’s a very interesting concept, especially with unreliable narrators, a plot thick with political intrigue, characters with supernatural gifts and some with unnaturally long life spans. At times the writing was rich and easily immersive, other times disorienting with a stream-of-consciousness-mania. The style was so unlike other books I’ve read.
Audiobook performance was excellent, but with the writing style it was difficult at times to tell when characters switched back and forth during dialogue. I did read along with the ebook for most of this which helped. There are also several maps and character lists at the beginning of the book.
“We don't own truth. Truth is truth and nothing you can do about it even if you hide it, or kill it, or even tell it. It was truth before you open your mouth and say, That there is a true thing.”
Graphic: Abandonment, Cannibalism, Child death, Death of parent, Excrement, Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Ableism, Bullying, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
bookishkarina's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Sexism, Incest, Death, Gore, Murder, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Child death, and Torture
samanthaleereads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Sexism, and Confinement
reflectiverambling_nalana's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
However, even after 'slowing down' to speeds I don't normally listen at, I had to go back more than once. Somewhere in the middle of this book I kept feeling like I was loosing key information. I consider myself not exceptionally intelligent, but relatively capable of following complex plots as much as the next scifi/fantasy reader. Something about the pacing of this tale, of what started to feel like an excessive amount of additions crammed into a single story, left me feeling just two steps behind. I never was able to get a really good grasp on the world itself. The constant questions started piling up more as frustrations than curiosity for new revelations.
To ad to this, while I appreciate the mental complexity of the Tracker, the emotional distance he had to place as he was forced into survival mode made if very difficult for me to really connect with him. though I confess I was taken by some of the secondary characters. This might be in part because of the constant fight and flight necessity that just made me feel like I was in a whirlwind. It leaves me wondering if at the time of the writing the author wasn't aware he would be granted a trilogy and was desperate to show all these wonderful gems of ideas in fear that he wouldn't have time to breathe and flesh them out after a single installment.
Overall, this is a story with so much good and potential. It deserves a chance from readers. but I have to admit after finishing it I'm not entirely compelled to continue on. honestly, it left my brain a touch exhausted in a way that was not rewarding or from a way I could say i was challenged but feel accomplished from.
I would also like to warn readers that there is excessive and blunt physical and sexual violence as that might be a problem for some.
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Torture
Moderate: Sexism, Murder, Death, Incest, and Child death
Minor: Abandonment and Kidnapping
a_raptor_named_arsenic'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? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Child death, Body horror, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexism
rc_boxnut's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Rape, Misogyny, Slavery, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Pedophilia
magehydrate's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Marlon James is clearly a talented writer, and also seemed to have done a lot of research into African (I believe specifically west african? could be wrong) legends and myths, but still this book was at times nearly impassable. Every type of extreme sexual violence is written about in great detail, including pedophelia, beastiality, sexual torture. The list goes on—I’ve actually seen a list going around of all the “triggers” in this book. The main characters are all foul people, even in the depths of their love or flaws, they reek. Tracker, the teller of the tale, may to be blame for that, for he is a man overcome with anger and nothingness and everything is through his eyes. Even when a violent act is not being done, the characters never have kind things to say, and often their dialogue is a threat, typically sexual in nature. Aside from the sheer amount of violence, James tries too hard to make the plot complex, and loses the thread for most of the book. What could have been a cool search party journey turns into something at times totally illegible because he’s trying so hard? The dialogue is almost exclusively nonsensical riddles, which at first is sort of engaging and requires close reading, but eventually one realizes that the riddles are not opening doors to greater meaning, but rather putting off meaning entirely. (Which might actually be on purpose? So much of the book is about stories and lies, the absence and construction of truth and story. What would a character who is without any meaning at all think of meaning?)Somehow, despite all that…I read the whole thing and was drawn into the world which was huge and imaginative. The monsters are interesting, and so are the enchantments and magics, though they’re all cruel and disgusting (but shouldn’t magic be kind of unpleasant??)and I did find myself invested. It is hard to say what kind of development happens for the characters—for instance , Tracker hates women and that is brought to his attention almost 80% of the way thru the book, but the resolution is two vague sentences about finally seeing his mom again and crying at her feet. In fact it makes one wonder if James himself hates women, because he does address how little choice and mobility women have, even in this fictional non western fantasy realm, but there isn’t a single woman in the book who isn’t conniving, selfish and evil… But again, Tracker sort of admits at the beginning of the book that he might be lying, and we are reminded that this entire tale is through his lens. Man. this is a crazy book. There is so much to say about it and I know I will be thinking about it for a long time. Not sure if I will read the others in this series. Might write another review after some time, when I’ve had more time to think about it.
Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Rape, Trafficking, Transphobia, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Excrement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture
arguhlincozzi's review
Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Cannibalism
nrhilmer's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Violence, Abandonment, Body horror, Cannibalism, Cursing, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Child death, Death, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Infidelity, Transphobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Incest, Sexism, Rape, War, and Xenophobia