Reviews - Forty Acres | The StoryGraph

215 reviews for:

Forty Acres

Dwayne Alexander Smith

3.78 AVERAGE

raenico31's review against another edition

5.0

This book was amazing. One of the best books I’ve ever read. As a black man, it felt good to read a book about slavery from a different perspective.

scail's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

thissagreads's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous challenging dark hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I think this was a really GREAT concept for a thriller, however it was not executed very well.

Pros:
1. Concept!!! This concept was so intriguing -white people enslaved by black wealthy elite men- operating and functioning without any interference. Until the new recruit Martin is invited. What could possibly go wrong?

Cons:
1. Lack of context. For all of the interesting concepts and ideas, they were not fully developed. For example, how did the doctor get started on the idea? What was the money that made him so angry and full of uncontrolled rage that he set out the see this plan in motion? How did the people working for him, get involved? How did the men who invited Martin to join them, get involved? Where’s the backstory!? Ugh. So frustrating.

2. Characters were not fully fleshed out and I believe it was one of the downfalls of the book. There were so many men, but the creator of this sick labyrinth just sounded like a lot of hoteps out on the internet right now (cough cough Umar Johnson). What makes him stand out if quite literally all the money and power he acquired, in order to carry out this twisted, reparations fantasy. I think he’s supposed to be very ridiculous. But as the listener/reader I just laughed at how wild his ideologies were and couldn’t believe that all of these well-educated, wealthy elite black men actually believed in what was happening.

For example, the “doctor” implies that black men have to quiet the “black noise” and stop believing that white people aren’t dangerous.

Well Martin (the main character) is such a clean cut, “good guy” that he has different opinions but there’s no explanation for his thoughts and opinions either. On top of that, he doesn’t try to counter the extreme ideologies. And just ONCE, I wanted one of these men to discuss how or why they decided to follow the teachings of this “doctor”. It would’ve also been important to know the characters’ traumas surrounding white people. But none of that was covered.

3. The pacing of this story went from incredibly slow, to speedy and didn’t address many things by the end of the story.

What happened to all the men who blindly followed?! What happened to the people overseeing the slavery like Ray, in the mine? What happened to the “doctor” and his right hand man?! What about all the wives who were married to these men?

I think the author got lost in the details of the “thriller” but didn’t care enough to write about the after, and answering some of the any questions the reader is left with.

Due to the lack of context, weird pacing, and lack of character development, I cannot score this book very high, and I’m not sure if I’d recommend this read.

Content Warnings