When I first heard that James was writing a fantasy that used African myth, legends, and folklore, I was very excited, so it should be noted I had high expectations of this novel. Also, I love James’ but it takes about 100 or so pages for me to get into his books, but then I can’t put it down.
So, here’s the thing – most readers are going to fall into one of two camps with this book – you are either going to love it, or you’re going to hate it. There is going to be, I believe, a smaller group who fall somewhere in the middle.
At its most basic, the novel is a quest, as Tracker and various other characters (there are quite a few characters) try to find a boy. But the sweeping narrative is far more than that. If Tolkien drew from English and European myth/legend to fashion Middle Earth, James draws from African story telling tradition as well myth/legend/folklore here.
But to care it an African or Black LOTR or GOT is wrong because it implies that those two are the originals, and this book is more diverse version.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf is its own thing, as any good novel should be.
To say that the book is layered would be an understatement. There are references to comics as well as current events. Some of the sexual violence in the book does seem to be a comment FGM and criminalization of homosexuality.
There are character and figures that are from African legend, yet the African epic I found myself thinking of the most when reading the book was Sundiata from Mali. I’m not familiar enough with the style of griots, but I do also wonder if James’ style here is influenced by that tradition.
It doesn’t equal A Brief History of Seven Killings, and at time it could have been less sprawling, but there was something wonderful about the vision.