Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James
In the stunning first novel in Marlon James’ Dark Star trilogy, myth, fantasy, and history come together to explore what happens when a mercenary is hired to find a missing child.
Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: “He has a nose,” people say. Engaged to track down a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier, Tracker breaks his own rule of always working alone when he finds himself part of a group that comes together to search for the boy. The band is a hodgepodge, full of unusual characters with secrets of their own, including a shape-shifting man-animal known as Leopard.
As Tracker follows the boy’s scent – from one ancient city to another; into dense forests and across deep rivers – he and the band are set upon by creatures intent on destroying them. As he struggles to survive, Tracker starts to wonder: Who, really, is this boy? Why has he been missing for so long? Why do so many people want to keep Tracker from finding him? And perhaps the most important questions of all: Who is telling the truth, and who is lying?
Drawing from African history and mythology and his own rich imagination, Marlon James has written a novel unlike anything that’s come before it: a saga of breathtaking adventure that’s also an ambitious, involving read. Defying categorization and full of unforgettable characters, Black Leopard, Red Wolf is both surprising and profound as it explores the fundamentals of truth, the limits of power, and our need to understand them both.
This book was looonnngggg in length and I *almost* did not finish it before it was due back at the library.
This is what happens to me when a bunch of books I put on hold and have been waiting for for 300 years come thru at the same time. 🤦♀️
I literally finished this book one hour before midnight the day it was due….now THAT is bookworm skills at their FINEST.
Yea for me!👏👏👏
Here’s the deal with this one:
If you were to ask me right now “Did you like this book?”
My simple answer would be “Yes….I mean no….I mean sorta….I don’t know.”
I feel like this may be a read that I don’t accurately know how I feel about it until it’s marinated in my brain a bit.
Yall know what I’m talking about here?
When you just have to sit with what you read, and ponder on it for a few days to REALLY know what your true thoughts are?
That’s where I’m at with this one.
This book was a LOT…figuratively AND literally. It’s a 24 hour listen and 640 physical pages😲so for sure not a “light” read in ANY kind of way.
I’m not sure I enjoyed this book….but I’m not sure I DIDN’T enjoy it either.
Here are some things that you’ll find in this story:
Mystical creatures, dangerous tasks and mysterious journeys.
It is magical and disturbing, strange and wonderful, complex and beautiful, terrifying and even humorous.
There is sadness and anger, grief and frustration, love and loss.
There IS some sex and grotesque violence–a lot of times simultaneously, which is something I have a hard time ingesting. I usually steer away from that combo in my entertainment choices.
I read a review that said this book is like an African Game of Thrones…I can’t make a fair comparison since I have never read that series (for the 2 reasons mentioned above), but those of you who HAVE, that may help guide you in your own personal decision to read it.
Maybe that is why I am feeling kinda weird and mixed up about this book.
But I was captivated and fascinated by it—the mix of actual African history with African mythology AND the author’s self created fantasy world was quite extraordinary.
I did find the story to be hellla confusing and very hard for me to follow a lot of the time—I could not keep the connections or plot line straight until close to the end 🤦♀️
That could be because it is summertime and my brain power is on low functioning these days…IDK.
This is the first book in a trilogy–and yall know I love me some series…especially some FANTASY ones!
I sorta wanna keep on reading and I sorta just wanna call it good with this one.
The books are all from different character perspectives which could be super interesting …and may also help me understand what I just read a bit more lol 😆
The ending was a cliffhanger of sorts which had me wondering what I would hear in the continuation….
So today I put a hold at the library…we’ll see how it goes 😬
OHHH!
How could I almost forget….
The narration of this audiobook was done by Dion Graham, who I have listened to a few times before. (Concrete Rose and Dear Martin are a couple)
He is PHENOMENAL AF and I wish I could listen to him read every book I ever listen to.