Black Leopard, Red Wolf (The Dark Star Trilogy, #1) in SOULar Powered Afrofuturism Reading Group

Mar 30, 2019 Jherane Patmore rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: poc-lit, rebelwomenlit, african-lit, magic

Thank you to Riverhead Books for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Tell me truth, if this book were written by a white person, reviewers would’ve annihilated their career for writing a high fantasy based on all the cliches of “Africa- The Dark Continent” set in jungles, where lives were cheap, the rape of women and children was the main sign of power, and values bordered the line of repulsive and nonexistent.

Perhaps the most obviously disturbing theme in the book was the use of violen Thank you to Riverhead Books for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Tell me truth, if this book were written by a white person, reviewers would’ve annihilated their career for writing a high fantasy based on all the cliches of “Africa- The Dark Continent” set in jungles, where lives were cheap, the rape of women and children was the main sign of power, and values bordered the line of repulsive and nonexistent.

Perhaps the most obviously disturbing theme in the book was the use of violence and particularly violence against the body. Every form of imaginable physical, sexual and psychological violence you can imagine is written in this book, which wouldn't have been a problem for me had it been written responsibly. The author provides zero critique of violence, blatant or subtle, and uses it as a filler on every other page to show you “this is a bad person because they just raped someone”. It’s not realistic to expect literature without violence, however the presence of violence =/= the critique of violence. If you finish the book (which I did, twice) you become quickly desensitized to it all after the 5th or so rape and beheading scene, which happens even before you begin grasping where the story is going.

One of the only strengths of this book lied in the wide range of magical characters we meet in the book from alchemists, to dirt mermaids, anti witches and lots and lots of shapeshifters. However, despite the wide amount of magic available in this world, none of it felt immersive and I found it hard to care or feel attached to anything happening in the wider world as we moved through each event with the group of mercenaries.

The writing tried so hard to be poetic to the point where it was gaudy, cringe-worthy and repetitive. The book was surprisingly filled with stereotypes of an African fantasy filled with cannibals, silly queens, pitiable prostitutes, senseless soldiers and explorations of the “African forest” - that felt like a fictionalized 19th Century Colonial expedition.

This all being said, BLRW was exhausting and insulting to my intelligence.

I highly doubt I’ll be reading any of the other books in the Dark Star Trilogy, but I’ll continue to look forward to James’ short stories.

1.5 Stars rounded down. ...more

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Feb 18, 2019 Arlene♡ rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: blacklit-collective, audio, fantastical, supernatural, tometopple, horror, read-caribbean

Unpopular opinion... I didn’t LOVE this book. Fuck the Gods I wanted to, but truth? It was just okay. 🤷🏾‍♀️

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Mar 19, 2019 Deidre added it · review of another edition

Shelves: dnf

I DNF this book. You ever read those fake deep posts/memes floating all over social media. Now imagine reading a book of that with sprinkles of what you hope resembles an actual story. I got to many books waiting on my shelf to play around with this one.

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Dec 27, 2019 Ingrid rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Man...

I don’t want to write this review. Because I feel like I was biased. And still am. I WANTED this to be a super awesome epic African fantasy novel. I wanted it to be the next African GoT. And given the African representation in fantasy novels and film you can see why.
But holy moly.

It’s not that this is a bad book. But think about if there was a story about a tribal man searching for answers about himself, Life, and love... And then throw in Royal pedophiles, gang-raping hyenas, bestiality, ...more

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