Black Leopard, Red Wolf

By Marlon James

Black Leopard, Red Wolf - Marlon James
  • Release Date: 2019-02-05
  • Genre: Historical Fantasy
Score: 4
4
From 261 Ratings

Description

One of TIME’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time

Winner of the L.A. Times Ray Bradbury Prize 

Finalist for the 2019 National Book Award

The New York Times Bestseller

Named a Best Book of 2019 by The Wall Street Journal, TIME, NPR, GQ, Vogue, and The Washington Post

"A fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made." --Neil Gaiman

"Gripping, action-packed....The literary equivalent of a Marvel Comics universe." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

The epic novel from the Man Booker Prize-winning author of A Brief History of Seven Killings

In the stunning first novel in Marlon James's 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.

Reviews

  • Not what it sounds like.

    1
    By Used to hate shopping
    I expected to love this because of the reviews. I absolutely could NOT get into it. And I persisted. I really wanted to like it! I can count on one hand the number of books I have started and not finished in my life. This is one of them.
  • Disappointing

    2
    By Xhaotix
    After reading the hype that this book was a Tolkien set in Africa I was all in, after all “The Epic of Sundiata” was one of my favorite reads in college. This book is very artsy and has interesting concepts but for me it never coalesced into something I found engaging enough to finish. Kudos to those of you that did.
  • Trackerrrrr

    5
    By zenispenis
    What a magnificent book. I can’t believe it’s over. Definitely want to take notes in the beginning but soul found so much peace from reading this
  • Outstanding

    1
    By Pagan Zod
    If you are a casual reader, or even just a casual reader of fantasy, this book might not be for you. If you are interested in reading a story that obliterates the typical expectations for fantasy, and carves a new path in the genre, pick up BLACK LEOPARD RED WOLF. If you are interested in reading characters who are round and nuanced and full of conflict and dramatic tension, this book is for you. If you are interested in reading a book that challenges you with elevated prose and writing that requires your brain to be engaged, then stop reading my review and start reading BLACK LEOPARD RED WOLF. There are a lot of reviews that say this book is boring, or too convoluted, or not like most fantasy (as if that’s a bad thing). You have to understand that you are entering a new world, with a style of storytelling we do not often digest in western culture (again, not a bad thing to have something new and unique). The first hundred or so pages are massively world-building, so be patient. Embrace the new, it’s good—dare I say better than the old, tired genre of sword & sorcery. I have read Game of Thrones. This is not Game of Thrones. This is better. I look forward to reading the next entry in this series. A second read through definitely helps to readdress the first hundred-ish pages & truly understand what’s happening, the world building is so dynamic and intricate. Brilliant piece of prose!
  • Solid Read

    5
    By Royal_13
    At first I thought this would be a book that I would give up a few chapters in. Both from my lack of interest of reading for the past ten years or so, and from how the book began. But then I got to the main story and I couldn’t stop reading. Solid read.
  • Disappointing

    2
    By pileofbugs
    Some cool ideas mostly wasted in plot sludge.
  • Garbage

    1
    By zordacme
    Filth, violence, unable to follow the story line couldn’t get my interest at all. Wish there was some way to get my money back. One of the worst ever of any book. I can’t believe the hype about this trash.
  • Black leopard red wolf

    1
    By My Must read list
    What a nonsensical piece of drivel.
  • Read it two times

    5
    By Narwhal Blue
    So absorbing that I read if first as a downloaded book then bought a hard copy and read it again right away.