paperback, 640 pages
Published Feb. 4, 2020 by Riverhead Books.
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 …
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.
I think it took me about 350 pages before finally getting sucked into the story. But when I finally got into to it, I finally found all the details fascinating. The story gets moving, full of action, stories, unique fiction, persona and lore. This is definitely something that should be read by all that love fantasy.
I usually drop fiction that hits me with too much magic up front, but this was so foreign, irreverent, and unpredictable that it kept me curious. Having finished it I really feel like I've spent time in an alien world. I'm not sure I like or understand all of it, but the exposure forced my mind to broaden somehow.
2019 - I feel like I may upgrade my opinion of this one after it's had some time to sink in.
2022 - Yup. Reread this in anticipation of reading the sequel and definitely liked it more the second time around. There's quite a bit about the story that's deliberately opaque (i.e. the identity of the boy the main characters all seek), or runs off along tangents (i.e. I hope the business with Tracker's wolf eye has some relevance in the sequel), and piecing all that together while also acclimating to the idiosyncrasies of the author and the narrator (for example, James likes long conversations between pairs of characters where the speakers alternate without ever identifying who is saying which line of dialog) sort of made me bounce off it the first time. Much better the second time around, armed with familiarity.
I’m uncomfortable with the sheer number of descriptions of things that somehow involve people’s bodies in a sexual manner even when nothing sexual is even happening. It felt like everything was couched in terms of a male/female binary. The thing that made me stop was one character’s casual description of circumcision and female genital mutilation as equivalent and positive things to do to children’s bodies. It’s possible that the overall stance of the book doesn’t condone this (authors are not their characters, after all), but I’m too distressed to read more and find out.
I honestly don't know what to think about this book. At first, I found it confusing. Then a while in I got into its groove and enjoyed it. Then found it a confusing again. The language can be hard to follow sometimes, which can be disjointing given that it seems to want to sort of be an adventure/action type thing and does at times flow in such a way, but then it constantly morphs and plays in other more complicated ways. Definitely worth reading and grappling with but I'm not sure it lived up to the critical praise for me. But maybe I missed something and need to reread it to really get it? Not sure.
DNF
Nope! Couldn't do it. Got about 120 pages in and just couldn't get over the misogyny, graphic sex, domestic violence, and disturbing fixation on genital mutilation. I don't like the style of writing which makes it difficult to figure out what is actually happening.
The opening chapter contains detailed reference to sexual assaults of such horrific depravity I dropped the book and went to research it again because HOW was this the buzzed about “modern day mythology” new “Lord of the Rings” I’d seen it called??
From what I’ve read in reviews this is just the tip of the iceberg for an onslaught of lovingly described dehumanizing torture and assault entirely unnecessary to the plot and so so SO not for me.
DNF. Wasn't for me, at least not in my current state of mind-- extremely graphic and surprisingly difficult to follow, despite being intriguing. May revisit later.
Pretentious meandering prose and constant sexual violence.
Disappointing, as I was looking forward to African myth and got patois nonsense instead. After a genuine attempt and 250 pages, I am going to give up on this book.
Maybe someday when I have more time to concentrate on one book at a time I'll pick this back up.
Wonderful worldbuilding and non-quest structure. The bodily excesses become too much for me.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf is a meandering novel, weaving together many elements of African mythology. You may have seen it described as epic fantasy, but's epic in the way The Odyssey is, and not like A Game of Thrones.
Tracker starts the story with an introduction to his past. I am still not sure if this is referring to female genital mutilation or not, or is Tracker intersex? He talks about how it was left too late to have the woman cut from him, that he will also carry her inside him. He also finds out that his father, who he hated, was not his father. Instead he is his grandfather's son. Yeah, it was a bit confusing at the start!
So Tracker is known to have a nose, he can find anyone. He is hired to find a boy. He bands together with a group of mercenaries, including a …
Black Leopard, Red Wolf is a meandering novel, weaving together many elements of African mythology. You may have seen it described as epic fantasy, but's epic in the way The Odyssey is, and not like A Game of Thrones.
Tracker starts the story with an introduction to his past. I am still not sure if this is referring to female genital mutilation or not, or is Tracker intersex? He talks about how it was left too late to have the woman cut from him, that he will also carry her inside him. He also finds out that his father, who he hated, was not his father. Instead he is his grandfather's son. Yeah, it was a bit confusing at the start!
So Tracker is known to have a nose, he can find anyone. He is hired to find a boy. He bands together with a group of mercenaries, including a shapeshifter called Leopard. His travels take him all over this alternate Africa, befriending mingi children (children who have been rejected by their families due to strange defects; a girl made of smoke, giraffe boy, another whose body is ball-like). He goes to strange lands and meets all sorts of dangerous creatures.
It's very much in the tradition of oral storytelling, with lots of tangents and various stories, with the loose central plot being there to hold them together. I am not sure this is my kind of thing. I enjoyed many of the stories, but found there was just too much going on. I had read that Marlon James did a lot of research for this book and I fear he didn't want to leave anything out. I personally would have liked a collection of stories based on African myths rather than feeling a bit confused about how they all fit together.
I did really like the sad character of Sadogo. An ogre of sorts, his people are hated as the human women they impregnate then die in childbirth due to the size of the baby. He feels guilt at his very existence. He was read so sad in the audiobook, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
There's a lot of casual reference to rape and child abuse, and it's swept away all a bit quickly for me to accept it being there. At a few points, it seems like it is going to handle it with a bit more sensitivity, but due to the sheer scale of the story, there's just not time. Also, I find literary descriptions of sexual acts a bit absurd. There is "seed" all over the place.
There will be plenty of people who think this is an amazing piece of work. I am glad I gave Marlon James a try, but I fear his style is just not for me.
Listening Notes
Dion Graham did a fantastic job of narrating this mammoth audiobook (24 hours of it!). I do not believe I would have had the patience to finish it in print, but his performance was entertaining and suited the story.
