Author: Marlon James
Title: Black Leopard, Red Wolf
Format: Paperback
Pages: 620
Series: The Dark Star Trilogy #1
“The child is dead. There is nothing left to know.” p. 3
If Quentin Tarantino and Guillermo del Toro ever had a child who was an empath with deep, abiding love for Africa and penchant for intimate, graphic violence, his name might have been Marlon James. Black Leopard, Red Wolf elicits quite extreme reactions from readers – from hate to confusion to appreciation to love – and after reading it I no longer find this surprising. It is indeed a visceral, shockingly brutal and sometimes outright nightmarish journey through atrocities and evils, real and imagined. When James writes that there are two pages in this book that his mother is not allowed to read, I feel I know exactly which two pages he talks about; and they are horrifying in the portrayal of the most intimate, vengeful violence. And yet Black Leopard, Red Wolf is also a book describing with heartbreaking detail the fleeting, protean essence of happiness; the capriciousness of fate and coincidence; the twisted, uncanny ways of human heart. At 620 pages of dense, challenging prose Black Leopard, Red Wolf is James’s absolutely stunning tour de force; a classic Bildungsroman set in the mythical neverwhen of pre-colonial Africa, where monsters prowl the land and sometimes hide behind human eyes, where humans take on animal forms, where magic is ordinary, and miracles are everyday occurrences, but where human kindness is rarer than gold.
James populates this explosive, violent phantasmagoria with flesh-and-blood characters, utterly believable, relatable and heartbreaking in their vulnerabilities, inconsistencies, contrarian capriciousness, and their never-ending search for love. Well, yes, you read that right: love; because for all the very graphic and consciously vulgar sex scenes peppering the pages with frequency equaled only by the occurrences of similarly graphic and shocking killings James’s characters are driven by the need to be recognized, to be known, to be noticed and cherished for who they are by others – particularly their significant others. In this context, Black Leopard, Red Wolf is an unusual manifestation of the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas’s, who in the face of the Other saw the transcendent responsibility of being human. Such big words and ideas for a book focused on rampant sex and rabid murder, on bloody vengeance and ecstatic violence! And yet, for all its shyness, for its constant concealment under cinematic sequences of mayhem and scorn, the undercurrent of the very human needs for meaning and interpersonal connection is undeniable.
“Like, I like. Dislike, I love. Disgust, I can feel. Loathing, I can grab in the palm of my hand and squeeze. And hatred, I can live in hatred for days. But the smug smile of indifference on someone’s face makes me want to hack it off.” p. 49
The protagonist of the novel is called Tracker. He had a different name, a long time ago, but he left it behind along with his blood ties and family responsibilities. He talks about it like about shedding an old skin, but this is just a pretence of a boy wanting to appear a man. A boy in a man’s skin, always afraid to reveal his true feelings for the fear of rejection. And yet, what at the beginning seems like a teenage tantrum, a Peter Pan resolution of never growing up, becomes something else altogether along the long, winding journey Tracker takes us on with him. Tracker’s overarching need, despite his solitary ways, is the need of belonging. He’s a thoroughly modern character, searching for his family of choice in a world where ties of blood and kinship are everything. And in this lie his many tragedies, and the story of his coming of age, which takes him through the full spectrum of human emotions. I found James’s portrayal of Tracker spot on – from the early, very teenage-appropriate unthinking disdain and rebellious streak against any authority, through his young-adult loneliness and sadness mixed with mischief, through his most precious moments of mature, fully appreciated happiness, to the destructive drive of vengeance and, still later, resigned acceptance of upcoming fate. Though I’m very, very curious what James has in store for Tracker – for I feel we should hear of him yet, even though the other parts of the trilogy are going to showcase other perspectives.
“It has been said you have a nose.” p. 127
Tracker has an uncanny ability to know everyone’s whereabouts just by scenting their smell. His head is an unending library of odors, and every single one must be catalogued, every new smell found, ascribed to its owner, and stored in its proper place within Tracker’s mind – otherwise, it can drive him mad. This gift, or curse, propels Tracker on a journey through the magic, lethal Africa of myths and tales – through the cursed forests and cruel kingdoms, through savannahs and deserts, through solitary huts, enchanted jungles and fabulous cities. His task is simple: to find a boy abducted years ago, who vanished without a trace. The only thing left is a smell, lingering in his old possessions – and assassins, keen to kill anyone too interested in the past. Stories about the special child abound, each more false and outlandish than the last, but one thing is certain: his fate seems inescapably bound to that of Tracker.
Along the way through ten and nine doors and thirteen kingdoms of Africa our protagonist meets many fellow travelers, from his inscrutable friend, enemy and mentor, and first love, shapechanger Leopard, to his friend Sadogo, who is not a giant, never a giant, despite his gigantic size, to his hated and hateful nemesis – a centuries-old witch Sogolon, and finally to his soulmate, whose name you’ll have to discover for yourself, should you wish so. He encounters many fabled monsters, bloodsuckers and flesh eaters, human spiders changed by white science, which is worse than black magic, evil malformed twins torturing the mind and sucking the soul, feral monkeys and fish as big as islands. And yet, while we unconditionally accept Tracker’s story, the whole fabulous, awe-inspiring mythical Africa we see through Tracker’s eyes might easily exist only in his own head. Is it true? The various changes and metamorphoses are one of the key themes of the novel, which consistently revolves around the issues such like the nature of truth, reality and identity.
“And that is all and all is truth, great inquisitor. You wanted a tale, did you not? From the dawn of it to the dusk of it, and such is the tale I have given you. What you wanted was testimony, but what you really wanted was story, is it not true? Now you sound like men I have heard of, men coming from the West for they heard of slave flesh, men who ask, Is this true? When we find this, shall we seek no more? Is it truth as you call it, truth in entire? What is truth when it always expands and shrinks? Truth is just another story.” p. 523
As you can probably tell, I immensely enjoyed Black Leopard, Red Wolf. And yet it is not a book I would recommend to everyone; if I were to list all trigger warnings, my list would probably be as long as the book itself. It unflinchingly, even ecstatically portrays all imaginable atrocities one human being can inflict on another. It delights in shock, sometimes for the shock’s sake; it uses superheroic clichés and references with gleeful abandon; finally, it creates an image of Africa that, had the writer been white, would probably be considered racist. The themes of race and racial stereotypes are present, especially in the concept of white scientists, whose nature is as abhorrent as it is intentionally vague; the book has been accused of mysogyny, and not entirely without cause – though in my opinion, it’s a matter of an unreliable narrator and not the author’s perspective. But in the end, I must say I didn’t really care about any of the above; after the first twenty or so pages, which were rather slow going, I found myself completely engrossed in Tracker’s story and followed it faithfully, to the very last page. And I am sure of one thing: true or not, it will stay with me for a long, long time.
Score: 9/10
Re-enchantment Of The World 
Love this review! Sounds like a book that has the reader in the edge of their seat the whole way through.
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Thank you! 😊
It was certainly a unique reading experience, lush and vibrant and very, very violent. You’ve got the edge of the seat right!
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Your first sentence made me laugh, lol! I enjoyed reading your review and absolutely agree that it’s about the search for love. Despite the violence and how graphic the story is, I think there is a tender part to it too that we glimpse every now and then when that part of the story (search for love) is touched on.
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Thanks, Zezee! 😀
I agree, there is this tenderness to this story that’s just so incredibly touching whenever it peeks from under all the violence and horrific images. My heart bled for Tracker more than once. I do hope we’ll see him in future installments and that his story won’t be undermined by the two other accounts – especially that neither Sogolon not Fumeli are his friends 😉
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Same here. I felt for Tracker, esp what happens to his loved ones close to the end. I hope the same too, to see him again, and I hope he finds some peace and love again.
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Oh man, that was devastating. I knew what had happened as soon as that last part started and he was alone again, on a quest for vengeance (a bit like Punisher, I’d say… ;)), I only didn’t know how, and there the boy’s role was just heartbreaking, especially with all the foreshadowing in earlier parts
Yea, I guess it’s obvious this book will stay with me for a while. One for the book hangover list, definitely! 😉
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Yes! Definitely. I actually feel bad for the boy too, for what he was made into. So horrible.
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This sounds like an engrossing book, and also one that requires a very particular frame of mind to be appreciated as it certainly deserves – a frame of mind free of the current worries and tribulations that make me want to find comfort in less… graphic reality 😉
But I will keep this in mind for better times: thanks for sharing!
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You’re spot on, Maddalena – it definitely requires a certain mood, a willigness to be enfolded in fantastical darkness where all emotions are violent, even – or maybe especially – love.
So yes, in our current times maybe it’s better to look for more uplifting books, or at least some with happier conclusions 😉 I’m certainly finding myself in such mood, so if you have any recommendations, I’d be grateful!
As for Black Leopard, Red Wolf, I can guarantee that if you’re looking for a hangover book, this would be a very good choice! 😀
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I’m so pleased to see that you got around to cracking open this beast of a book. I remember when it had a solicited so much controversy, hate, and love at its release, yet, like you, I didn’t care for any of it and was found completely mesmerized by the writing style, the world, the violence. I too thought that if the author were to be white, this would’ve made many burn the dude alive but, in the end, the author was impertinent. Tracker’s story was all that mattered. I have no idea what to expect from the sequel. I believe that it will probably demand that I reread the first book though. Again, I’m really happy to see that you enjoyed this and wrote up another one of your marvelous reviews, Ola! Thanks for sharing! 😀
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Thank you, Lashaan, for putting this book on my radar in the first place! It was a unique experience, that’s for sure, and I can’t wait to read the next installment. 😀
I read somewhere that the two next books will show the same story from other perspectives: Sogolon the Moon Witch and “the boy”, which I take to mean Fumeli, as he’s the last one from the team to survive. I still hope we’ll see some more of Tracker, but I’d also love to know how the whole story ends!
Thanks for reading! 😊
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I have been on the fence about reading this book since the library bought it.
Having read ZeeZee’s review, and now yours, I am much more inclined to try it, although still a bit worried about how I’ll get on with the more graphic parts.
A really fantastic review Ola! 🙂
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Thank you! 😀
It’s a great but quite difficult book; it’s one of the most graphic novels I have ever read when it comes to violence, as violence is basically the one key approach to all human relations here. It’s as much in love as it is in hatred, and the gentle moments are so striking both for their rarity and the contrast to the overwhelming, ever-present violence.
I’m very happy you’re willing to give it a go despite these reservations, and I wish I could guarantee your enjoyment of it 😉 Do give it some time, though, as it starts slowly and warming up to Tracker takes a moment or two 😉
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What an intriguing review, Ola. I’m tempted. The characters and situations sound well drawn, and you make a strong case for why we should think about this, so your list of reasons for caution become part of the draw, rather than a block. I want to see for myself, now. Very clever!
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Thank you, Cath! 😊
It is a unique book, in all aspects – both good and bad; and yes, it requires a bit of good will in the beginning, but I found it an absolutely mesmerizing reading experience. I do hope you’ll enjoy it if you decide to pick it up one day!
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Well……from now on, if anyone asks me about this book I’ll just point furiously at your review! I tried to write one last year, but it was a nightmare for me to try to dissect, and a part of me was wondering if I should have enjoyed it as much as I did, considering how horrific some of the scenes were. So I just left it sitting in my draft folder. But you perfectly touched on everything I loved about it, all the hugs to you!! 😊
But yes, it was just such a beautifully *human* story at the end of it all, and I would KILL to see del Toro attempt an adaption of it.
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This is such a sweet comment, Kathy, thank you! 😊 Comments like this make the effort of writing worthwhile!
And yes, I’d love to see this as a movie. It has such a cinematic potential!
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I’m glad you enjoyed this Ola! For me it was just too dense. If he’d broken up the chapters a little more I think I’d have appreciated it better.
Tracker being unreliable also led to a lot of confusion for me lol.
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Thanks, Sarah! Sorry it wasn’t a better read for you. It’s not an easy book to read, that’s for sure. The beginning was a bit trying, Tracker being his enigmatic and offensive self without any preamble or explanation 😉, but when we got to Sangoma I was already thoroughly hooked.
All in all, I was very impressed with how James subtly changed the tone of narrative along the way, showing the process of Tracker’s coming of age and the changes coming over him through various events in his life – but that made for a rough beginning and a heartbreaking end. I’m very curious about the second book in this trilogy!
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Mostly for me it was density. I have a really hard time forgiving an author for 40 page chapters. Makes my brain hurt.
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It is problematic when you need to do some other things in between the reading bursts, and I have a tendency to read to the end of the chapter, not before, so I know what you mean 😉
On a side note, I finished Last Kingdom and enjoyed it a lot. I wish I hadn’t seen the first episode of the series prior to reading the book, because it spoiled the main twist, but generally I found the book much better than the adaptation. I’ll be definitely continuing with Cornwell’s series – thanks for the recommendation!
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You are so very welcome! I’d say keep on with the books before continuing the tv series, but then it might ruin the tv series for you. (I know it did for me, they are leaving way too much it.)
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That’s what I felt even after the first episode. I was reading the book and wondering where on Earth all the events from his childhood had gone? It’s been such a crucial element of the story! Will they be depicted later on in the series or have they out been left out altogether?
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I think they’ve just been left out. Which sucks because you miss out on what a huge impact it has on the direction Uhtred’s life takes. If it had never happened he’d be a very different person (or dead, which sucks) lol
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Oh no! These scenes are crucial to understand Uthred and his motivation, I fully agree with you. I had hoped they would appear later on as flashbacks or something similar… Now I’m much less inclined to watch the series 😉
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Great review Ola! You have a way with words. I think I like this book because it is not just about violence, but also about love and vulnerability. The moments of peace and redemption for Tracker are really rare, but it is important that they are there.
I wonder if our impressions of Sogolon and the Aesi will change with the upcoming books.
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Thanks, Jeroen! 😊
Yes, exactly – there’s a lot of violence, hate and anger, but there’s also a welcome respite from it in form of tenderness, trust and love (which in James’s world can be violent and hurtful, but is still the most valuable thing you can ever get).
Oh man, I’m very anxious about it – I do hope the next book won’t change my take on Tracker! Though I must admit I am intrigued! 😁
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