I just finished this book by Marlon James a few days ago and really can’t piece together what I read. Overall the story made sense. I get that it was in its own world and it is a trilogy that I’m not sure I can ever finish but I had a really hard time even getting through the first book. Is it just like this because it is based in mythology and we all know that other mythologies have their own issues? Or am I missing something?
Overall the story was entertaining but the language and the sex was just too much and maybe I just didn’t know that about Marlon James going into it.
I guess maybe this one just wasn’t for me.
by Bottdavid
6 Comments
This was one of the most disappointing books that I’ve ever read. I absolutely loved A Brief History Of Seven Killings, and came into BLRW with high expectations. But I felt that everything that “actually happens” in the story was explained in long-winded expository dialog that just did not hold my attention.
I absolutely love this book. I could explain it, but you also say that “the story made sense.” So it seems like you did understand it? I’m not sure what you mean by “what actually happens” in it.
James has been pretty clear about how he is drawing on African mythology rather than European, as fantasy typically does, and he isn’t sanitizing it. African mythology, and indigenous mythology in general, is known for featuring extremely graphic and frequent references to sexuality, as it doesn’t hold back the way that typical Western stories do. This also crosses over to the ubiquity of sexual assault in the world, which is a dealbreaker for a lot of people.
So what you’re thinking may be a few things. Maybe it is partially that this is the first book in a trilogy, so it’s world building and telling you only part of a larger story while trying to tell Tracker’s part in this story (which James also only tells part of). It’s maybe also partially that Tracker is a protagonist who is both anti-hero and an unreliable narrator (this becomes more evident in the second book Moon Witch Spider King), so both his motives and telling of events are very suspect and inconsistent. Lastly it might also just be that it’s all drawing on African mythology and folklore that is unfamiliar to a lot of audiences (including myself) so you might not have a lot of prior knowledge to fill in details (eg if I’m reading a story and it mentions a dragon I’m like, sure. But if it mentions an ipundulu I’m like, k what is that? lemme google that).
It leaves you with more questions than answers. Read Moon Witch, Spider King. It pieces things together nicely. I just lent BLRW to a buddy and he had the same reaction. The second book is a much easier read as well and feels more like an adventure novel than a high fantasy mystery like the first. There’s also another book in the trilogy that hasn’t been released yet.
I DNF’d it. It was billed as this African take on GoT, but what I got was a lot of weird incest and sex stuff (as you mentioned), and it all felt abstract and fever-dreamish, hard to piece together like you said. No hate for it but it was not for me.
Part of me loved it, and I have Moon Witch, Spider King queued.
But man, it felt like a chore to read, and there were absolutely events that took place that were gruesome solely for the shock factor. A particular beastiality scene could have easily been written differently and still provided the character involved with development. It was unnecessary, and I have a high tolerance for triggers (horror is my favorite genre).
U/maichenm makes some great points and maybe James just didn’t want to sanitize, which I can respect. It does, however, make it impossible for me to recommend this to 99% of my friends and family.