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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
octoberharbor's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Moderate: Sexual assault, Homophobia, Mental illness, Death, Body horror, Abandonment, Violence, Child death, Child abuse, Sexism, Rape, Grief, and Gore
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
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
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
lanid's review
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Sexual assault, Grief, Rape, Misogyny, Blood, Torture, Violence, Animal death, Cannibalism, Death, Gore, and Murder
christina_ro's review
- 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
3.5
If you have any concerns about trigger warnings around any kind of violence, I’d google the warnings for this book. The graphic violence of this book was probably the hardest part for me. There are certain scenes where the violence and detailed descriptions add weight and emotion, but there are a number of times where I didn’t feel it added anything to the story. I’m not typically one for gratuitous violence or gore, but it caught me off guard and since I was reading it for my book club, I pushed through.
Overall, I’m glad that I finished this book, and James is certainly a talented author, but I’m not sure I would read more from the author if his other books are this graphic.
Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Grief, Excrement, Violence, Blood, War, Animal death, Child death, Torture, Slavery, Rape, Pedophilia, Incest, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Homophobia
aehmyers's review
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Violence, Death, Slavery, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Gore, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
amsu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I loved the narration style, the way you have to go along with it to piece together the story, the quest is fun, the world building amazing.... I highly recommend this book.
A few things I have to mention for everyone wanting to read this book:
It is an amazing quest story, with great characters, but this book is a very hard and heavy read. The characters in this book suffer a lot and also take very questionable actions themselves. I would recommend reading the trigger warnings, as this book contains very graphic and gory violence (of all sorts).
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Slavery, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Homophobia and Cannibalism
Minor: War, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, and Toxic friendship
The main character of this book, has a very strongly negative and judgmental opinion of women, which becomes clear whenever he interacts with any of the female characters that pop up in the story. That was, in the beginning very hard to read, as I wasn't sure if it was a case of a male author writing female character or if it was just the depiction of that specific character. It becomes clear in the story though, that it is in fact the second of these options, as the characters opinion is questioned and critiqued several times during the course of the book .trippalli's review
1.0
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Kidnapping, Racism, Violence, Bullying, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Infertility, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Animal death, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Rape, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Confinement, Grief, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence