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A review by thepurplebookwyrm
Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
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? It's complicated
3.5
Note: I haven't read Black Leopard, Red Wolf, book 1 of the Dark Star trilogy (and don't plan to).
General impression:
I found Moon Witch, Spider King to be a good – not great, but good – (standalone for me) high fantasy story; it had a mostly, competently told and decently compelling plot, a decently compelling main protagonist, pretty good elements of theming and very engaging world-building.
In more detail:
• Moon Witch, Spider King tells the life story of its main protagonist, Sogolon, and this made for a decently compelling story – once it found its footing at the very least. That being said, there were major issues with pacing: transitions between life periods, or even within chapters, weren't always handled that smoothly, and there's a huge time jump – and increase in the story's overall pacing – about three quarters of the way in that left me reeling a little. There were also strange intra-chapter flashbacks at times that made the text a lot more confusing than it had to be – I really don't see why it had to be written that way.
• I never really took to the fact this book is written using a kind of pidgin English. It didn't make the text unreadable by any means, but I found it rough-going in places... and inconsistently applied at times too, actually. Mostly, it just wasn't my thing, and that's that. That being said, I'm glad to say it didn't necessarily hamper the book's more descriptive writing, and thus the quality of its world-building.
• I mostly enjoyed the book's character writing, though I'll note Sogolon's character development didn't always feel that consistent to me either. I found myself wondering how she knew what she knew a couple of times, and raising eyebrows at too-surprising changes in the way she spoke. Overall, however, she was an interesting character to follow. I don't have any strong feelings towards most of the story's secondary characters, though some, like Keme or Bunshi, stood out a little more (and there were certainly emotionally impactful moments where Keme and his part of the story were concerned). Tracker, who I know is the first book's main character, mostly came across as an arsehole to me, and I have zero desire to (sort of) re-read the story from his point of view.
• I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the book's exposition and understanding of, and empathy towards women's experiences and feelings living within patriarchal/male-dominated societies. It honestly borders on feminist theming in a way, so that was really neat. There was also theming on trauma, loss, grief and revenge that, whilst not the deepest I've ever encountered, I found engaging overall.
• By far, however, the best, or most stimulating part of this book was its world-building! Its roots in African cultures, languages, religions and related mythologies were very apparent, but (to my albeit limited perception at least) pretty seamlessly woven into their own unique and rich tapestry. Moon Witch, Spider King's world felt real and vibrant, and it wasn't hard at all for me to get immersed in it. Of special note was the presence of were-lions (and other non-lycan shape-shifters). That... certainly got interesting, and that's all I'll say about that. 😆😅 And slightly different-feeling dark magic (with an emphasis on amnesia curse-magic... *shudders*).
I'm not particularly inclined to read the third book in this planned trilogy, but I certainly had a worthwhile enough time reading this one! 🙂
General impression:
I found Moon Witch, Spider King to be a good – not great, but good – (standalone for me) high fantasy story; it had a mostly, competently told and decently compelling plot, a decently compelling main protagonist, pretty good elements of theming and very engaging world-building.
In more detail:
• Moon Witch, Spider King tells the life story of its main protagonist, Sogolon, and this made for a decently compelling story – once it found its footing at the very least. That being said, there were major issues with pacing: transitions between life periods, or even within chapters, weren't always handled that smoothly, and there's a huge time jump – and increase in the story's overall pacing – about three quarters of the way in that left me reeling a little. There were also strange intra-chapter flashbacks at times that made the text a lot more confusing than it had to be – I really don't see why it had to be written that way.
• I never really took to the fact this book is written using a kind of pidgin English. It didn't make the text unreadable by any means, but I found it rough-going in places... and inconsistently applied at times too, actually. Mostly, it just wasn't my thing, and that's that. That being said, I'm glad to say it didn't necessarily hamper the book's more descriptive writing, and thus the quality of its world-building.
• I mostly enjoyed the book's character writing, though I'll note Sogolon's character development didn't always feel that consistent to me either. I found myself wondering how she knew what she knew a couple of times, and raising eyebrows at too-surprising changes in the way she spoke. Overall, however, she was an interesting character to follow. I don't have any strong feelings towards most of the story's secondary characters, though some, like Keme or Bunshi, stood out a little more (and there were certainly emotionally impactful moments where Keme and his part of the story were concerned). Tracker, who I know is the first book's main character, mostly came across as an arsehole to me, and I have zero desire to (sort of) re-read the story from his point of view.
• I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the book's exposition and understanding of, and empathy towards women's experiences and feelings living within patriarchal/male-dominated societies. It honestly borders on feminist theming in a way, so that was really neat. There was also theming on trauma, loss, grief and revenge that, whilst not the deepest I've ever encountered, I found engaging overall.
• By far, however, the best, or most stimulating part of this book was its world-building! Its roots in African cultures, languages, religions and related mythologies were very apparent, but (to my albeit limited perception at least) pretty seamlessly woven into their own unique and rich tapestry. Moon Witch, Spider King's world felt real and vibrant, and it wasn't hard at all for me to get immersed in it. Of special note was the presence of were-lions (and other non-lycan shape-shifters). That... certainly got interesting, and that's all I'll say about that. 😆😅 And slightly different-feeling dark magic (with an emphasis on amnesia curse-magic... *shudders*).
I'm not particularly inclined to read the third book in this planned trilogy, but I certainly had a worthwhile enough time reading this one! 🙂