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rc_boxnut's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Pedophilia
magehydrate's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Marlon James is clearly a talented writer, and also seemed to have done a lot of research into African (I believe specifically west african? could be wrong) legends and myths, but still this book was at times nearly impassable. Every type of extreme sexual violence is written about in great detail, including pedophelia, beastiality, sexual torture. The list goes on—I’ve actually seen a list going around of all the “triggers” in this book. The main characters are all foul people, even in the depths of their love or flaws, they reek. Tracker, the teller of the tale, may to be blame for that, for he is a man overcome with anger and nothingness and everything is through his eyes. Even when a violent act is not being done, the characters never have kind things to say, and often their dialogue is a threat, typically sexual in nature. Aside from the sheer amount of violence, James tries too hard to make the plot complex, and loses the thread for most of the book. What could have been a cool search party journey turns into something at times totally illegible because he’s trying so hard? The dialogue is almost exclusively nonsensical riddles, which at first is sort of engaging and requires close reading, but eventually one realizes that the riddles are not opening doors to greater meaning, but rather putting off meaning entirely. (Which might actually be on purpose? So much of the book is about stories and lies, the absence and construction of truth and story. What would a character who is without any meaning at all think of meaning?)Somehow, despite all that…I read the whole thing and was drawn into the world which was huge and imaginative. The monsters are interesting, and so are the enchantments and magics, though they’re all cruel and disgusting (but shouldn’t magic be kind of unpleasant??)and I did find myself invested. It is hard to say what kind of development happens for the characters—for instance , Tracker hates women and that is brought to his attention almost 80% of the way thru the book, but the resolution is two vague sentences about finally seeing his mom again and crying at her feet. In fact it makes one wonder if James himself hates women, because he does address how little choice and mobility women have, even in this fictional non western fantasy realm, but there isn’t a single woman in the book who isn’t conniving, selfish and evil… But again, Tracker sort of admits at the beginning of the book that he might be lying, and we are reminded that this entire tale is through his lens. Man. this is a crazy book. There is so much to say about it and I know I will be thinking about it for a long time. Not sure if I will read the others in this series. Might write another review after some time, when I’ve had more time to think about it.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
arguhlincozzi's review against another edition
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
nrhilmer's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
malimaan's review against another edition
every time I thought about opening the book i started to feel dread because it just made me so uncomfortable.
the writing itself is really complicated and often poetic, which I appreciated. in the end, however, neither the promising story nor the writing style was entirely to keep me interested enough to finish.
i feel like this book is a good book for some people but the graphic details were just too much to make it enjoyable for me.
Graphic: Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Drug use, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Excrement, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
there is a scene in which the MC is gang raped by hyenas. additionally there are several instances of bestiality.amsu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I loved the narration style, the way you have to go along with it to piece together the story, the quest is fun, the world building amazing.... I highly recommend this book.
A few things I have to mention for everyone wanting to read this book:
It is an amazing quest story, with great characters, but this book is a very hard and heavy read. The characters in this book suffer a lot and also take very questionable actions themselves. I would recommend reading the trigger warnings, as this book contains very graphic and gory violence (of all sorts).
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia and Cannibalism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and War
The main character of this book, has a very strongly negative and judgmental opinion of women, which becomes clear whenever he interacts with any of the female characters that pop up in the story. That was, in the beginning very hard to read, as I wasn't sure if it was a case of a male author writing female character or if it was just the depiction of that specific character. It becomes clear in the story though, that it is in fact the second of these options, as the characters opinion is questioned and critiqued several times during the course of the book .trippalli's review against another edition
1.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
betamagnificus's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and War
thenymphsvoice's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
However that’s not a bad thing. BLRW is a wild ride, I found the characters compelling, funny, sad, rage inducing.
This story was not afraid to deal with harsh realities even if this is a fantasy.
Trackers life is disjointed and many times dehumanizing. They struggle to understand themselves and their world, as it often changes with the snap of a finger around them.
They adapt they hurt, they grow or don’t in the perfectly imperfect way people do.
What I would say to anyone going into reading this is, prepare yourself to not always understand what is happening. That is a reflection of the characters confusion of events and the way their life has been broken by the traumas they have and do endure. (At least that’s how it read to me.)
The mystery and journey is second to me to the journey that Tracker is on in their own head. Invest in Trackers experience.
Also… if you can think of it Trigger/Content Warning. It’s in this book. Be prepared.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War
Just like all the things, this book is not for the faint of heart or easily triggered.vedpears's review against another edition
- 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
2.25
Abundant run on sentences took some getting used to, but I managed to navigate that just fine.
I enjoyed how the story was written in such a way that it was like viewing a large photo by zooming in, then zooming out a bit, zooming in somewhere nearby, zooming out again until the whole picture is revealed.
What I did not enjoy was the overwhelming number of elements that would warrant trigger warnings: sex, rape, child abuse, pedophilia, slavery, bodily harm, mutilation, murder, combinations of all of those at once with a gratuitous serving of explicit language.
The overarching story is intriguing. The characters and concepts borrowed from African history and mythology were woven in very well. If this were written to be less corrosive on the psyche, I would have rated it higher.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
It basically has all the trigger warnings, including infanticide.