Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

145 reviews

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.

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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

auntjammins's review against another edition

It was gross. Weird, I’m not shy I know mythology can get weird. This was horrible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Vomit, and Violence

passionyoungwrites's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

Y’all, this book is long but the chapters within an are all filled with information and journeys that lead to finding this little boy. The kicker is that it is hilarious at times, pushes you to really think, and forces you to keep turning the pages. 

My favorite character has to be the three hundred year old witch. Why? Because she would stop at nothing to find this boy. But, as with everyone else - she must have her secrets as well. Secrets that aren’t shared in this book. But, book 2 of the trilogy is hers. 

🐺 

This book has many topics, situations, and things that occur that I know many people wouldn’t want to read. However, it gives the story a push forward - a way to understand even the characters that aren’t the main focus. 

With this being a fantasy, with African Mythology mixed within, I’d say this was a wonderful experience. It shows how power is limited, how truths are stretched,and excessive ambitions. Have I read anything like it before? No. But, I have read another novel by this author and it didn’t disappoint either. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Self harm, Animal death, Violence, Rape, and Murder

qog's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

1.5

I had to force myself to finish this book. First, it was hard to follow what was happening. The first half of the book, I had no idea what the storyline was. Eventually I was tracking and there were a lot of interesting stories, characters, worlds, etc. But what made it very challenging to read/finish the book was the overwhelming amount of extremely graphic, often sexually violent scenes, along with overly sexualized content, involving all ages. So much extreme violence, sexual violence, sex/genitalia descriptions, etc. It was too much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Gore, Rape, Child abuse, Slavery, Violence, Murder, Torture, and Sexual content

starrynight's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Violence, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Death, Cursing, Pedophilia, Excrement, Sexual content, Gore, Rape, and Sexual assault

apersonfromflorida'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, War, Blood, and Body horror

emvoor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Torture, Rape, and Slavery

Moderate: Abandonment and Ableism

kaseyd's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

2.0

I really wanted to like this book, but finishing it was an absolute chore. I knew very early on I disliked it but powered through to give it a chance. The audiobook was 24 hours long and truly maybe six of those hours were actually necessary to the plot. So much of this massive novel was unconnected random stories that were gross, repetitive, and a drag. I fell asleep listening to this, didn’t go back to listen to what I’d missed, and at no point was confused because nothing in the entire hour I slept was actually important to the story. I hate when authors think that for their fantasy to be taken seriously they have to make it disgusting, crass, and disturbing to read. This book is not worth all the time it takes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Cursing, Sexual assault, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Blood, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Misogyny

Minor: Body horror, Ableism, Slavery, Confinement, Homophobia, and Cannibalism

mielenmaisemia'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Rape, Torture, Death, Gore, Child death, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content

zmcma13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexual content, Body horror, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Incest