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A review by clownface
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
slow-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? Yes
5.0
The negative first:
- as a lot of others have said, the dialogue can get a little hard to follow. There are a lot of characters, and there's a LOT of dialogue, and very few "(character) said"s. However, for me, this was only an impediment to reading two or three times, and only led to actual "need to reread that page" confusion just once. Also, admittedly, a lot of the characters talk similar to each other; however, I found this to be less and less of a problem as the book went on.
- if you're sensitive to graphic violence (including sexual violence), don't pick up this book. Some other reviews here imply that the author must have only included violence as some weird fetish - that's simply not true. If you have any real reading comprehension skills, it's pretty apparent that the author very very strongly disapproves of the violence. It's only ever depicted as ugly, shameful, terrifying, and disgusting - never as something to be celebrated or jacked off to.
Okay, now the positive!
- The writing style is absolutely intoxicating. It's clearly heavily inspired by traditional African storytelling methods, with nonlinear narratives, rich descriptions, and a strong emphasis on dialogue. There were times I would reread a passage just to experience it again. It's poetically dense.
- Additionally, the story takes narrative risks I've never seen another novel do. Our main plot is resolved a solid 150 pages before the end of the book, but the story continues. It's a pretty deliberate send-up of the idea of a tidy, neat narrative. While I haven't read the sequel yet, I'm incredibly excited to - it seems like it also elaborates on the themes of narration that I enjoyed so much here.
- Tracker is one of the most fully realized characters I've ever read about. His introduction to the audience is self-confident, assured, and self-possessed - and yet, there's more to him. The way he thinks of himself is constantly being challenged by other characters, and by the end of the book, we understand that there's so much more to him as a person than he would let us believe.
- Other characters, I actually found incredibly likeable as well. Everyone is a complex, complete human being, in a way that few other fantasy novels even attempt.
And the neutral:
- While reading this book, I kept being reminded of D&D. So much of the narrative feels a lot like D&D to me. This isn't a good or a bad thing, but honestly, if you have experience with the conventions of a fantasy tabletop game, then this book will seem really similar to you in that way too.
So, final thoughts:
- It took me a really long time to get through this book - about 2 months, off and on. However, that's not because I was bored or uninterested. It's because I wanted to savor this book as long as I could.
- If you get lost, just keep reading. The narrative is nonlinear, but there is a central plot (the quest to find the boy) that occupies most of the reading time. Also, Marlon James is clearly aware that this book is gonna be way too dense for the average reader: he includes, in the narrative, multiple recaps, in the form of griot songs, stories told to others, or dialogue.
- I have so many more thoughts. It's an incredible book. The worldbuilding is luscious! Inspired by African (and African diaspora) mythology, yet not afraid to create original ideas when needed! It's so good! I guess my note, if you want to read this, and don't like not knowing things, is browse some wikipedia pages on African myths before you pick it up.
- as a lot of others have said, the dialogue can get a little hard to follow. There are a lot of characters, and there's a LOT of dialogue, and very few "(character) said"s. However, for me, this was only an impediment to reading two or three times, and only led to actual "need to reread that page" confusion just once. Also, admittedly, a lot of the characters talk similar to each other; however, I found this to be less and less of a problem as the book went on.
- if you're sensitive to graphic violence (including sexual violence), don't pick up this book. Some other reviews here imply that the author must have only included violence as some weird fetish - that's simply not true. If you have any real reading comprehension skills, it's pretty apparent that the author very very strongly disapproves of the violence. It's only ever depicted as ugly, shameful, terrifying, and disgusting - never as something to be celebrated or jacked off to.
Okay, now the positive!
- The writing style is absolutely intoxicating. It's clearly heavily inspired by traditional African storytelling methods, with nonlinear narratives, rich descriptions, and a strong emphasis on dialogue. There were times I would reread a passage just to experience it again. It's poetically dense.
- Additionally, the story takes narrative risks I've never seen another novel do. Our main plot is resolved a solid 150 pages before the end of the book, but the story continues. It's a pretty deliberate send-up of the idea of a tidy, neat narrative. While I haven't read the sequel yet, I'm incredibly excited to - it seems like it also elaborates on the themes of narration that I enjoyed so much here.
- Tracker is one of the most fully realized characters I've ever read about. His introduction to the audience is self-confident, assured, and self-possessed - and yet, there's more to him. The way he thinks of himself is constantly being challenged by other characters, and by the end of the book, we understand that there's so much more to him as a person than he would let us believe.
- Other characters, I actually found incredibly likeable as well. Everyone is a complex, complete human being, in a way that few other fantasy novels even attempt.
And the neutral:
- While reading this book, I kept being reminded of D&D. So much of the narrative feels a lot like D&D to me. This isn't a good or a bad thing, but honestly, if you have experience with the conventions of a fantasy tabletop game, then this book will seem really similar to you in that way too.
So, final thoughts:
- It took me a really long time to get through this book - about 2 months, off and on. However, that's not because I was bored or uninterested. It's because I wanted to savor this book as long as I could.
- If you get lost, just keep reading. The narrative is nonlinear, but there is a central plot (the quest to find the boy) that occupies most of the reading time. Also, Marlon James is clearly aware that this book is gonna be way too dense for the average reader: he includes, in the narrative, multiple recaps, in the form of griot songs, stories told to others, or dialogue.
- I have so many more thoughts. It's an incredible book. The worldbuilding is luscious! Inspired by African (and African diaspora) mythology, yet not afraid to create original ideas when needed! It's so good! I guess my note, if you want to read this, and don't like not knowing things, is browse some wikipedia pages on African myths before you pick it up.