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A review by pangnaolin
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
This novel genuinely filled my reading world for half a year. I'm usually a pretty fast reader, but Black Leopard, Red Wolf made me take my time. It's filled with winding prose and creates a beautiful web of different stories, made even more interesting with dialects and accents sewn in (and no awkward explanations for white audiences).
Some of the things in this book are... rough. Overly violent and sexual at times, and a lot of the graphic detail felt unnecessary and iffy (especially when it was realistic violence and not odder fantastical stuff like, uh... a certain scene with hyenas), but overall, I truly adored this novel, and got incredibly invested in the characters, regardless of whether I liked them.
I do want to say that if you just like fantasy, and that's why you're interested in this, it might not be for you. Reading this is genuinely a literary feat and absolutely worth it if you like magical realism, beautiful and complex prose, reading that requires analysis, and don't have an issue with graphic detail and violence. It'll definitely be a less frustrating read if you're okay with it being long-term.
I really don't know who to recommend this to or how to explain it, but if nothing else, it's an incredibly rich and intense story with so much interesting mythology and culture weaved in. Definitely one of my most impactful reads, and for that, I gave it 5 stars-- despite some of its pitfalls.
Some of the things in this book are... rough. Overly violent and sexual at times, and a lot of the graphic detail felt unnecessary and iffy (especially when it was realistic violence and not odder fantastical stuff like, uh... a certain scene with hyenas), but overall, I truly adored this novel, and got incredibly invested in the characters, regardless of whether I liked them.
I do want to say that if you just like fantasy, and that's why you're interested in this, it might not be for you. Reading this is genuinely a literary feat and absolutely worth it if you like magical realism, beautiful and complex prose, reading that requires analysis, and don't have an issue with graphic detail and violence. It'll definitely be a less frustrating read if you're okay with it being long-term.
I really don't know who to recommend this to or how to explain it, but if nothing else, it's an incredibly rich and intense story with so much interesting mythology and culture weaved in. Definitely one of my most impactful reads, and for that, I gave it 5 stars-- despite some of its pitfalls.