Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Leopardo Negro, Lobo Vermelho by Marlon James

87 reviews

midnarose's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• 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

To be honest i almost DNF this book within the first 100 pages. 
After the first 3 chapters i was just not feeling the story. The sexual imagery (specifically how any woman was described when tracker the main character meet them or the description of cave walls being compared to a woman's body part) really put me off the book. However once i got past pg 150 I really enjoyed the story especially the unique spin of tracker telling his side of the story. I am intrigued to read the next book reading another character's side of the story and trying to figure whos story is true.  

This book was a dark fantasy, with tones of African inspired imagery and culture. It was very different and fresh to read once you get past the beginning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Torture

Minor: Incest

ketreads's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

• 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

I am immensely disappointed by this book.
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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, and Torture

Moderate: Slavery

nicolewhopickedthisbook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

TW: Rape, sexual assault of children, genitalia mutilation, violence, gore, torture 

2.5

Honestly, I’m still not quite sure what happened... second half is stronger when it comes to linear plot lines. The first half jumped around a lot and it was hard to keep track of what was going on. Making this book was very hard to get though. 

Very rapey and everything was described sexually... like everything... even inanimate objects. 

The trigger warnings above were depicted extremely graphic so please take them seriously and tread carefully. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racism, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Violence, Gore, and Torture

victorianrogue's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

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

maya_7's review against another edition

This book isn't for me st this time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Torture, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

steph1225's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

rrovezzi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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

The prose and graphic nature weren't really appealing. I only kept reading because it was here, but I'm returning it to the library so I can get something else to read. 

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Content Warnings

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

henriettta's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Incest, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, and Torture

skitch41's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is one of those books that I think I am going to have to read again in the near future. I both loved and hated this book at the same time. Loved it because the ending was particularly good and brought many things I didn't fully understand into view. I also loved it for just how different this book is. It's just a fascinating world Mr. James has created. However, I hated this book because it was so easy to get lost, which I did very early and never really recovered. Part of that is my fault as I didn't always devote the time and attention to it I should have. But part of it is also the way Marlon James has written this book. Over 600+ pages, chapters could be incredibly long and even tedious. And yet, key plot points could happen very quickly. So, if you lose your focus on this book for just one minute, you could miss a whole bunch of incredibly important information. And it certainly doesn't help that there are so many characters that come in and out of this tale that it is hard to keep a track of them all in your head. Because of that, you may find yourself constantly referring back to the cast of characters at the front of the book, like I did towards the end. In short, this is a book I struggled with mightily for a month and I think i will have to revisit it sometime soon to get a better understanding of everything that happened.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gore, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual content