Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

77 reviews

kingcrookback's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

I'm fairly sure that people called this "the African Game of Thrones" for marketing purposes because they both occupy the epic fantasy space, but I think the comparison is apt for other reasons. Similar to how A Song of Ice and Fire is something of an examination and deconstruction of feudal fantasy and grapples with how myth, history, and subjective experiences tangle and interweave, Black Leopard, Red Wolf also tackles the interplay among truth, stories, and subjectivity. Admittedly, I initially found it difficult to detect and hook onto this theme, partially due to the book's graphicness as well as the fact that that's...simply how it goes with a lot of fantasy worlds. It took me about 100 pages to find my footing, and reading James' interview with the Boston Review was also very helpful (https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/representation-doesnt-just-mean-heroes-we-need-the-villains-as-well).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Slavery, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Drug use

eli3823's review against another edition

DNF. Stopped 1/3 in. Dense, highly stylized prose. Difficult to read. It's not always clear who is talking. Too much rape, graphic violence and reference to ass smells. Main character motivations aren't apparent. The part of the timeline, background that could shed light on who the protagonist is comes way too late. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

littlelynn's review against another edition

I got about 150 pages through this, then checked out some reviews to try and ascertain if the unpleasantness was ever going to let up and if the plot was ever going to begin, and picked up that while a plot does eventually introduce itself, the content continues on as unpalatable than ever. 

I do not typically put books down because of difficult content, however, the way it is framed and how unrelenting it is just left me feeling vaguely angry and nauseated without any emotional catharsis or payoff for enduring it on the horizon. Gory violence, sexual assault, child abuse, genitals and shit were mentioned every other page if not more frequently. It felt like the author wanted me to be constantly disgusted, and if so he was just far too successful. 

James is clearly a very talented writer, the prose - while difficult and somewhat inaccessible at first - is impressive. But I do think it smacks in places of literary authors not appreciating that genre is a different beast, and what makes excellent literary prose is fundamentally not the same as what makes excellent fantasy and genre prose. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

marmybarmy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Incest

scribblesandsuch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

This is very very good but also very intense. If you've only read Western stories it is a Big change of pace, the story telling of this is inherently and unapologetically Afro-Carribean. It's very gritty and gorey and sensory. Bear with it, it's worth reading

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Homophobia, and Suicide

t_thekla's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.5

last chapter slapped

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lotsa bad stuff

softanimal's review against another edition

I love the rich imagery, imaginative storytelling, and lush world-building but the level of intensity is not where I'm at right now. Strong trigger warnings come with this one. The content warnings under "graphic" occur multiple times in each chapter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and War

Nearly all of this book is graphic violence, rape, and child abuse.

A major plot is about finding abused children and there multiple graphic descriptions of rapes as well as ubiquitous references to sex, gore, sexual violence, and physical and sexual abuse of children.

cringeisen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexism

Minor: Slavery and Kidnapping

minxtte's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

fox_at_the_circus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. Tracker is a great main character and I love how sarcastic and cheeky he is. It makes the dialogues very funny. I liked the other characters, too. They're all well fleshed out and I like that we get a backstory for (almost) everyone.
The world this book is set in is super cool! With the main characters travelling all over the continent, we really get to see all the different cultures and cities and the differences between them. I also like how many different ways there are for people to gain some special abilities, magic, white science,.. some people, like tracker, just have a special ability and it never gets explained. It adds to the fantastical feeling of the world.

The ending really hurt me. Tracker got his nice life and a resolution and a family and it's only shown in a poem/song and then the last part takes it all away. I had tears in my eyes.

This book deals with a lot of heavy topics (see the trigger warnings), and in my opinion it does it pretty well, but it is definitely not for everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Dysphoria, and War

Minor: Xenophobia and War