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hagwife's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This book is insanely good and a read that greatly expands the audience's view of what is possible in fantasy writing. Perhaps the super short version is from Amar El-Mohtar, which described the books as "if Toni Morrison had written Ovid's Metamorphoses"(NPR, 2018). The slightly longer version starts with awe at this beautiful landscape woven out of African history and African mythology.
One of my favourite aspects of the novel is its narrative style. The entirety of the book is Tracker relaying his version of events to an inquisitor, though we never hear the inquisitor speak. As far as Tracker's story, most of that is told through conversations between characters, thus making the book almost entirely dialogue. Given that we are only receiving Tracker's version of events, there's a malleability to the story that is different from other uses of unreliable narrators. It feels less like intentionally diverting attention (Westworld) or subconsciously lying (Mr. Robot) and more so like an oral history. What is truth but the way one man saw the events and how he then chooses to remember them? And even if his version of the story doesn't match the "actual" events, what is to say that those events are any more true? This is a story where authenticity is not yoked to correctness, where truth is not an absolute because people are not absolute.
The theme of truth, the oral history style, and James' use of language combine into a worldview that feels authentic to the world in the novel. While written in English, it doesn't sound like English. James put a lot of effort into crafting a voice for his characters that sounds like a dialect, and not one where it's been translated, but one where the reader has a Star Trek-esque translation device – the characters speak and we understand. Perhaps the last novel I read where I was conscious of the amount of effort put into the way language works and how characters communicated was Zora Neal Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. The fact that many readers have found it hard to read means, at least in my opinion, that James succeeded in writing pre-colonial communications with a post-colonial language. There's that has been written on this, but recently I've been thinking about a quote from wa Thiong'o's Decolonizing the mind: "language was the most important vehicle through which that power fascinated and held the soul prisoner...Language was the means of spiritual subjugation".
I also enjoy how unapologetic and frank this book is in its queerness. We see many examples of platonic love, romantic love, and sexual attraction in all its various combinations between men. These relationships and encounters are vivid and intense; for Tracker, the line between love and hate is extremely thin and are characterized by the intenseness of his feelings, of the time and energy and many ways in which Leopard and Nyka and Mossi are intertwined with his life. And this queerness is shared and explored in a way that honors and explores the broadness of masculinity and how that impacts one's identity and vice versa.
I should point out that for any test related to the treatment and inclusion of women, this novel fails, and I think that's intentional. Tracker's relationships with women are extremely fraught, and though born out of trauma, extremely unfair to generalize, as several characters point out. It's interesting, because we don't meet any women or female presenting characters who challenge Tracker's beliefs with their actions, but we're left to wonder whether that is how these characters are or how Tracker sees them. I'm extremely interested in the second book in the trilogy, which tells the same tale, but from Sogolon's perspective.
This is also an incredibly hard book to recommend. James does not care about your sensibilities, particularly if they are European or derive historically from European ones; he's not interested in White-washing events or making them more palatable. He has built a stark reality in the world of Black Leopard, Red Wolf, one that understands that you gain nothing by trying to make it pretty or talk around it. You're going to be uncomfortable and you should be uncomfortable; it's not supposed to be easy to read about violent acts or intense grief. Most importantly though, please, please, please read the content warnings and take care of yourself first and foremost.
One of my favourite aspects of the novel is its narrative style. The entirety of the book is Tracker relaying his version of events to an inquisitor, though we never hear the inquisitor speak. As far as Tracker's story, most of that is told through conversations between characters, thus making the book almost entirely dialogue. Given that we are only receiving Tracker's version of events, there's a malleability to the story that is different from other uses of unreliable narrators. It feels less like intentionally diverting attention (Westworld) or subconsciously lying (Mr. Robot) and more so like an oral history. What is truth but the way one man saw the events and how he then chooses to remember them? And even if his version of the story doesn't match the "actual" events, what is to say that those events are any more true? This is a story where authenticity is not yoked to correctness, where truth is not an absolute because people are not absolute.
The theme of truth, the oral history style, and James' use of language combine into a worldview that feels authentic to the world in the novel. While written in English, it doesn't sound like English. James put a lot of effort into crafting a voice for his characters that sounds like a dialect, and not one where it's been translated, but one where the reader has a Star Trek-esque translation device – the characters speak and we understand. Perhaps the last novel I read where I was conscious of the amount of effort put into the way language works and how characters communicated was Zora Neal Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. The fact that many readers have found it hard to read means, at least in my opinion, that James succeeded in writing pre-colonial communications with a post-colonial language. There's that has been written on this, but recently I've been thinking about a quote from wa Thiong'o's Decolonizing the mind: "language was the most important vehicle through which that power fascinated and held the soul prisoner...Language was the means of spiritual subjugation".
I also enjoy how unapologetic and frank this book is in its queerness. We see many examples of platonic love, romantic love, and sexual attraction in all its various combinations between men. These relationships and encounters are vivid and intense; for Tracker, the line between love and hate is extremely thin and are characterized by the intenseness of his feelings, of the time and energy and many ways in which Leopard and Nyka and Mossi are intertwined with his life. And this queerness is shared and explored in a way that honors and explores the broadness of masculinity and how that impacts one's identity and vice versa.
I should point out that for any test related to the treatment and inclusion of women, this novel fails, and I think that's intentional. Tracker's relationships with women are extremely fraught, and though born out of trauma, extremely unfair to generalize, as several characters point out. It's interesting, because we don't meet any women or female presenting characters who challenge Tracker's beliefs with their actions, but we're left to wonder whether that is how these characters are or how Tracker sees them. I'm extremely interested in the second book in the trilogy, which tells the same tale, but from Sogolon's perspective.
This is also an incredibly hard book to recommend. James does not care about your sensibilities, particularly if they are European or derive historically from European ones; he's not interested in White-washing events or making them more palatable. He has built a stark reality in the world of Black Leopard, Red Wolf, one that understands that you gain nothing by trying to make it pretty or talk around it. You're going to be uncomfortable and you should be uncomfortable; it's not supposed to be easy to read about violent acts or intense grief. Most importantly though, please, please, please read the content warnings and take care of yourself first and foremost.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Grief, Rape, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Violence, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Sexism, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Vomit, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Excrement, and Infidelity
Minor: Drug abuse, Incest, and Drug use
This book is not written with regards to Western conventions. It does not condone or uplift violence towards others but it is also not going to shy away from the realities of such acts. You will be uncomfortable because you should be uncomfortable.emmasnowball's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I took quite a bit of time to reflect on my experience reading this before before writing a review. My feelings remain complicated, and unfortunately, quite negative. I found this to be a particularly frustrating read because James develops such a promising concept that felt needlessly sabotaged by certain stylistic and narrative choices. I also think this book was wildly mismarketed: this is not an "African Game of Thrones", and readers seeking epic fantasy may be disappointed.
James builds and explores a vivid, remarkably original folklore inspired by African mythology. I was captivated by the first page and wanted to learn more about the societies James constructed and the truly menacing monsters that plagued them. Stakes (at first) felt high, dangers real, and consequences material. The dialogue and humor, when used, was fast-paced and effective.
That is where my positive experience ended. In terms of structure and style, the prose varied inconsistently between beautifully evocative in some parts to wildly incoherent in others, especially during action sequences. As the book uses non-linear storytelling, the constant use of passive sentence structure burdens clarity of plot. I've read that James deliberately did not follow arcs to reflect the messiness of life and topple fantasy tropes---whether true or not, my ability to 'track' the action suffered for it. The characters themselves seemed to quickly lose interest in the plot , which ultimately lost urgency and became an afterthought in favor of meandering side quests.
The most offputting aspect of the book, however, was the gratuitous (often sexual) violence, scatology so ubiquitous it became boring, blatant misogyny, and characterization of queerness that was insensitive at best and offensive at worst. As a disclaimer, I recognize upfront that the narrator is a unreliable (and unlikable). I also flag that I do not balk at including graphic, traumatic themes in literature when done intentionally and cautiously. This was neither.
Graphic scenes of sexual violence seemed to be included more for shock value than narrative purpose. Physical descriptions of objects and people so often included comparisons to bodily excretions or genitalia (especially female bodies) that they became tedious. While recognizing the narrator has a sexist vantage that colors the writing, the way women were characterized was both objectifying and unpleasant. The few women included are either victims or villains, often falling into shallow tropes. While I've read in interviews that James intended to include gender fluidity in his worldbuilding, the only non-conforming characters were portrayed as sexual predators who violently assault the protagonist, traditional gender roles take precedence, and women are framed as "weak" with being feminine treated as an insult. Likewise, the narrator's exploration of his own sexuality includes internalized and externalized homophobia in ways that seemed like they were intended to shock rather than interrogate.
In brief, I wanted very much to like this book. However, I could only give two stars because the flaws outweighed the positives. By the end of the book, the frequency of graphic sexual violence and scatological language seemed like cheap and juvenile attempts at shock value. The prevalent misogyny and homophobia were deeply unpleasant to read. None of the characters were likeable, not in a way that created conflict and character development, but in a way that detracted from my personal investment in them. Since I finished reading a few months ago, I found the positive aspects of the book slipped from my memory while the sour aftertaste lingers.
James builds and explores a vivid, remarkably original folklore inspired by African mythology. I was captivated by the first page and wanted to learn more about the societies James constructed and the truly menacing monsters that plagued them. Stakes (at first) felt high, dangers real, and consequences material. The dialogue and humor, when used, was fast-paced and effective.
That is where my positive experience ended. In terms of structure and style, the prose varied inconsistently between beautifully evocative in some parts to wildly incoherent in others, especially during action sequences. As the book uses non-linear storytelling, the constant use of passive sentence structure burdens clarity of plot. I've read that James deliberately did not follow arcs to reflect the messiness of life and topple fantasy tropes---whether true or not, my ability to 'track' the action suffered for it. The characters themselves seemed to quickly lose interest in the plot , which ultimately lost urgency and became an afterthought in favor of meandering side quests.
The most offputting aspect of the book, however, was the gratuitous (often sexual) violence, scatology so ubiquitous it became boring, blatant misogyny, and characterization of queerness that was insensitive at best and offensive at worst. As a disclaimer, I recognize upfront that the narrator is a unreliable (and unlikable). I also flag that I do not balk at including graphic, traumatic themes in literature when done intentionally and cautiously. This was neither.
Graphic scenes of sexual violence seemed to be included more for shock value than narrative purpose. Physical descriptions of objects and people so often included comparisons to bodily excretions or genitalia (especially female bodies) that they became tedious. While recognizing the narrator has a sexist vantage that colors the writing, the way women were characterized was both objectifying and unpleasant. The few women included are either victims or villains, often falling into shallow tropes. While I've read in interviews that James intended to include gender fluidity in his worldbuilding, the only non-conforming characters were portrayed as sexual predators who violently assault the protagonist, traditional gender roles take precedence, and women are framed as "weak" with being feminine treated as an insult. Likewise, the narrator's exploration of his own sexuality includes internalized and externalized homophobia in ways that seemed like they were intended to shock rather than interrogate.
In brief, I wanted very much to like this book. However, I could only give two stars because the flaws outweighed the positives. By the end of the book, the frequency of graphic sexual violence and scatological language seemed like cheap and juvenile attempts at shock value. The prevalent misogyny and homophobia were deeply unpleasant to read. None of the characters were likeable, not in a way that created conflict and character development, but in a way that detracted from my personal investment in them. Since I finished reading a few months ago, I found the positive aspects of the book slipped from my memory while the sour aftertaste lingers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Excrement, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Torture, Physical abuse, Body horror, Death, Homophobia, Gore, Rape, Sexism, and Child abuse
bitter_critter's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- 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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Pregnancy, Confinement, Excrement, Child abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, Addiction, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Rape, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child death, Death of parent, Violence, Sexism, Grief, Body horror, War, Trafficking, Slavery, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, and Cursing
sujong127's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
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
nathanielgale's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death, Rape, and Sexual assault
abnerbee's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
3.0
Incredible mythology and great lore but so, so graphic
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Rape, Child abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Sexual violence, Torture, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Violence
It's so violent and so graphic, just know that going in.samanthaleereads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
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
5aru's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
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
I have very conflicted feelings about this book.
On the one hand, I loved the story, which weaves an impressive, multifaceted, intriguing plot. The twists are built up to but never predictable. The characters feel distant from the reader due to Tracker's wilfully detached narration, but they never once fall flat. And the worldbuilding! It builds such a perfectly wild, unpredictable, intricate world around the characters, full of myth continually intruding upon the realistic. Truly flawless work in that regard.
On the other hand, the novel is full of gore and violence, sexual and otherwise. It is ever-present and it is inescapable; definitely go over the content warnings. In particular, there is so much rape in this book, you can hardly go a chapter without a passing mention or a threat of it. Hell, you can hardly go a page without reading the word fuck. I'm not particularly squeamish about what I read, and don't mind profanity, but James' world is so defined by and constructed around senseless violence that it truly gets hard to stomach sometimes. If I hadn't been so intrigued by the plot, I would've probably stopped reading at chapter 8; even then, I find it difficult to justify. I can understand the decision to narrate violence of all kinds, but at times it really was so naturalized, so mindless, that it felt like simple shock value that added nothing to the narrative.
I cannot recommend this to everyone; it is a hard book to read even if the premise interests you. Go in with a warning — but I'd say, if able, go in anyway. It really is one of a kind.
On the one hand, I loved the story, which weaves an impressive, multifaceted, intriguing plot. The twists are built up to but never predictable. The characters feel distant from the reader due to Tracker's wilfully detached narration, but they never once fall flat. And the worldbuilding! It builds such a perfectly wild, unpredictable, intricate world around the characters, full of myth continually intruding upon the realistic. Truly flawless work in that regard.
On the other hand, the novel is full of gore and violence, sexual and otherwise. It is ever-present and it is inescapable; definitely go over the content warnings. In particular, there is so much rape in this book, you can hardly go a chapter without a passing mention or a threat of it. Hell, you can hardly go a page without reading the word fuck. I'm not particularly squeamish about what I read, and don't mind profanity, but James' world is so defined by and constructed around senseless violence that it truly gets hard to stomach sometimes. If I hadn't been so intrigued by the plot, I would've probably stopped reading at chapter 8; even then, I find it difficult to justify. I can understand the decision to narrate violence of all kinds, but at times it really was so naturalized, so mindless, that it felt like simple shock value that added nothing to the narrative.
I cannot recommend this to everyone; it is a hard book to read even if the premise interests you. Go in with a warning — but I'd say, if able, go in anyway. It really is one of a kind.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Domestic abuse, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Trafficking, Pedophilia, Slavery, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
capybara5's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Cursing, Gore, Death, Murder, Torture, Sexual violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Misogyny
haddy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
2.5
It took me 15 months to read this book. A lot of it was quite a slog, I didn’t understand nearly anything that happened, and honestly I just think I’m too stupid for the way this book was written??
Having said that I have SO MANY feelings about how it ended !!?!?!
Having said that I have SO MANY feelings about how it ended !!?!?!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Gore, Rape, Misogyny, Body horror, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence