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A review by tanya_tate
Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Williams
Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.
Book Stats
Stars: DNFED @25%
Start Date: 07/22/24
Ending Date: 07/29/24
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Form: E-Arc/ Audiobook
Page Count: 432
Publishing Date: 05/07/24
Point of View: 1st Person
Setting: Helena, Al
My Blog :https://tanyasreading.wordpress.com/2024/07/29/blood-at-the-root-by-ladarrion-williams/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6449417911
Thank you Netgalley for the E-Arc in exchange for an honest review.
This book came to my attention thanks to Tiktok during the height of HAMU Tittok last year. HAMU (Hogwarts Agricultural and Magical University) was created by black titokers who loved Harry Potter and wanted to create a HBCU Hogwarts using the black experience and culture. Since around the same time, the video game, Hogwarts Legacy, was popular with a lot of people playing it.
For context, HBCU means Historically Black College and Universities since I am going to be saying that phrase a lot during this review.
So I started really seeing the author promoting this book calling it the Black Harry Potter with a Magical HBCU which for the most part sounded interesting. So when the arc came out I decided to request for it and got approved. I tried reading it three times and for some reason could get past the first few pages until I got the audiobook.
Let me tell you I should have listened to my subconscious and not even tried.
Why am I DNFing this book?
The author has been saying on their twitter and titkok pages as they heavily promoted this Black Magical HBCU as no black trauma which is further from the truth.
In the prologue and the first couple chapters this is what happens.
1.The prologue has the death of a parent and the first chapter has that character in the foster care system meaning they were in a single parent home to begin with. Meaning the absence of a father figure.
2.Honestly no mention of a father or father figure at all so far in the MMC life..
3.The community that the MMC was in didn’t step up for him and thought he killed his mom.
4.The potential Main Female Character was abandoned by her parents for doing magic.....
5.The MMC foster brother was abused by his foster parents.
6.The MMC pretty much didn’t even know he had a grandmother or relatives on his mama side of the family for ten years.
This is all in the first six chapters of the book. Like did he understand what black trauma actually means before saying it’s no black trauma in it?
I have been reading a lot of books with black authors with black characters and not once did these authors say that the book is not going through some kind of trauma. Hell, one of my favorite reads this year has the main two characters trying to figure out who framed their grandmother which led to her death and who killed their father. Those two characters go through a lot of shit in two books but don’t hear that author saying “Oh there is no trauma in it,”
The author is promoting this book to black boys so they can finally see themselves but have the main character hijack and steal a car in the first chapter. Something that most deniably get a black boy arrested and possibly killed for.
This book is trying so hard to appeal to blacks and the culture while still missing the mark. It doesn’t feel authentic because of it due to the fact Black Culture is not how many freaking black pop culture references you can make. You don’t need Temptations, Black Panther, Fast and the Fury or Drumline movie references for it to be black. Black Culture is using the experiences that black people can relate to. It's pretty using your own experience (not a caricature of an experience) to shape the story that people of that culture will understand. It is just too much and it comes off as being cringe instead of something you can enjoy.
Also instead of embracing the black culture it just feels like it’s mocking it especially when it comes to how the elders laugh and do things. Also how the black church is run as well.
The author is promoting this book as a Magical HBCU but not once did the author “shout out” the HBCUs in Alabama or in general but did shout the two most popular PWI schools in Alabama. Since the book takes place in Helena, Al before it goes to Louisiana.
It’s a line in particular where the MMC is learning the name of Magical HBCU.
<b>“I know,” I hear Mama Aya tell him. “I need you ta let him into Caiman.”Hearing that word, my mind goes back to last night, finding my mama’s college hoodie. The way they’re talking about it makes it seem like it’s University of Alabama or Auburn University."</b>
I'm not trying to be picky but if this supposed to have a HBCU like magic school why are mentioning the two PWI "muggle" schools ( Alabama and Auburn) instead of mentioning the "muggle" HBCU's?
You know like Selma University, Tuskegee, Miles, Stillman, Alabama State University, Alabama A&M and Concordia to name a few ? It would make more sense to mention those HBCU's since you are supposed to be basing the college off of them. Granted the MMC worldview can be stunted and him not knowing about the HBCUs. You know what? Let me take that back. Unless he went to a majority white elementary, middle and high school, he should have known about the HBCU’s because he may have had teachers that went there.
I wanted to DNF faster but I wanted to wait until he got to school before I made my decision. Once I got there my mind was made up that I was not going to continue.
How the hell the dean of the school is going to show up the whole campus where we see students walking around doing magic duels, playing basketball, riding bikes and other student activities. Show murals of Kobe Bryant and Chiswick Bosman, say 15,000 students that attend, have a student exchange program show pics of past students shaking Martin Luther King.Jr. 's hand but not once mention where the hell the dorms are?
The reason why I say this is because if you have that many students on your campus and the fact you have to teleport to the campus since it's hidden from the outside world, where the hell are that many students going to sleep? Especially the ones who come from different countries. I bring this up because the world building of this book so far is so nonexistent. How the magical system works in this book is not there either. This book needs to be better researched instead of throwing a black pop culture reference every five seconds and the MMC saying the n-word with the a on the end all the time.
So this book is not for me at all.
If you want a book written by a Black Male Author with one of the main characters/pov is a Black Male Teenager that does magic and have to deal with things that shape them, I recommend the Blood Debt Series by Terry Benton Walker.
If you want a Black Fantasy or Magical Realism in General I have recs I collected
1.Blood Debt Series by Terry Benton Walker
2.The Legendborn Cycle by Tracy Deonn
3.The Belles Series by Dhonielle Clayton
4.The Marvellers series by Dhonielle Clayton
5.Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi
6.Wings of Ebony Series by J.Elle
7.House of Marionne Series by J.Elle
8.The Poison We Drink by Bethany Baptiste
9.With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
10.The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
11.So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
12.Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana
13.The Effigies Series by Sarah Raughley
14.The Bones of Ruin Series by Sarah Raughley
15.Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton
16.Raybear Series by Jordan Ifueko
17.Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart
18.Blood like Magic Series by Liselle Sambury
19.Skin of the Sea Series by Natasha Bowen
20.The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
21.The Forge and Fracture Saga by Brittany N Williams
22.The Blood Gift Series by N. E. Davenport
23.A Song of Wraiths and Ruin Seriesby Roseanne A. Brown
24.This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings
25.The Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma
26.Crimson Hunter by N.D Jones
27.The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi
28.Faebound by Saara El-Arifi
29.Bellamy and The Brute by Alicia Michaels
30.Daughters of Nri by Reni K Amayo
31.Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown
32.Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
33.Kingdom of Souls Series by Rena Barron
34.Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender
35.The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow
36.Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden
37.Dread Nation Series by Justina Ireland
38.A River of Royal Blood Series by Amanda Joy
39.A Song Blow Water by Bethany C. Morrow
40.The Goddness Twins by Yodassa Williams
41.Nic Blake and the Remarkables Series by Angie Thomas
42.Of Blood and Lightning by Micki Janae
43.Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye
44.Daughters of Jubilation by Kara Lee Corthron
45.The Smoke That Thunders by Erhu Kome
46.A Phoenix First Must Burn Anthology
47.I Feed Her to the Beast by Jamison Shea
48.Legacy of Orïsha Series by Tomi Adeyemi
49.In the Shadow of the Fall by Tobi Ogundiran
50.It Waits in the Forest by Sarah Dass
51.Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray
52.Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brow
53.The Good Luck Girls Series by Charlotte Nicole Davis
54.Song of Blood & Stone by L. Penelope
55.The Monsters We Defy by L. Penelope
Anything by Nnedi Okorafor
Anything by N.K Jemisin
Anything by P. Djèlí Clark
Anything by Kalynn Bayron
Anything by Octavia Butler
Stars: DNFED @25%
Start Date: 07/22/24
Ending Date: 07/29/24
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Form: E-Arc/ Audiobook
Page Count: 432
Publishing Date: 05/07/24
Point of View: 1st Person
Setting: Helena, Al
My Blog :https://tanyasreading.wordpress.com/2024/07/29/blood-at-the-root-by-ladarrion-williams/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6449417911
Thank you Netgalley for the E-Arc in exchange for an honest review.
This book came to my attention thanks to Tiktok during the height of HAMU Tittok last year. HAMU (Hogwarts Agricultural and Magical University) was created by black titokers who loved Harry Potter and wanted to create a HBCU Hogwarts using the black experience and culture. Since around the same time, the video game, Hogwarts Legacy, was popular with a lot of people playing it.
For context, HBCU means Historically Black College and Universities since I am going to be saying that phrase a lot during this review.
So I started really seeing the author promoting this book calling it the Black Harry Potter with a Magical HBCU which for the most part sounded interesting. So when the arc came out I decided to request for it and got approved. I tried reading it three times and for some reason could get past the first few pages until I got the audiobook.
Let me tell you I should have listened to my subconscious and not even tried.
Why am I DNFing this book?
The author has been saying on their twitter and titkok pages as they heavily promoted this Black Magical HBCU as no black trauma which is further from the truth.
In the prologue and the first couple chapters this is what happens.
1.The prologue has the death of a parent and the first chapter has that character in the foster care system meaning they were in a single parent home to begin with. Meaning the absence of a father figure.
2.Honestly no mention of a father or father figure at all so far in the MMC life..
3.The community that the MMC was in didn’t step up for him and thought he killed his mom.
4.The potential Main Female Character was abandoned by her parents for doing magic.....
5.The MMC foster brother was abused by his foster parents.
6.The MMC pretty much didn’t even know he had a grandmother or relatives on his mama side of the family for ten years.
This is all in the first six chapters of the book. Like did he understand what black trauma actually means before saying it’s no black trauma in it?
I have been reading a lot of books with black authors with black characters and not once did these authors say that the book is not going through some kind of trauma. Hell, one of my favorite reads this year has the main two characters trying to figure out who framed their grandmother which led to her death and who killed their father. Those two characters go through a lot of shit in two books but don’t hear that author saying “Oh there is no trauma in it,”
The author is promoting this book to black boys so they can finally see themselves but have the main character hijack and steal a car in the first chapter. Something that most deniably get a black boy arrested and possibly killed for.
This book is trying so hard to appeal to blacks and the culture while still missing the mark. It doesn’t feel authentic because of it due to the fact Black Culture is not how many freaking black pop culture references you can make. You don’t need Temptations, Black Panther, Fast and the Fury or Drumline movie references for it to be black. Black Culture is using the experiences that black people can relate to. It's pretty using your own experience (not a caricature of an experience) to shape the story that people of that culture will understand. It is just too much and it comes off as being cringe instead of something you can enjoy.
Also instead of embracing the black culture it just feels like it’s mocking it especially when it comes to how the elders laugh and do things. Also how the black church is run as well.
The author is promoting this book as a Magical HBCU but not once did the author “shout out” the HBCUs in Alabama or in general but did shout the two most popular PWI schools in Alabama. Since the book takes place in Helena, Al before it goes to Louisiana.
It’s a line in particular where the MMC is learning the name of Magical HBCU.
<b>“I know,” I hear Mama Aya tell him. “I need you ta let him into Caiman.”Hearing that word, my mind goes back to last night, finding my mama’s college hoodie. The way they’re talking about it makes it seem like it’s University of Alabama or Auburn University."</b>
I'm not trying to be picky but if this supposed to have a HBCU like magic school why are mentioning the two PWI "muggle" schools ( Alabama and Auburn) instead of mentioning the "muggle" HBCU's?
You know like Selma University, Tuskegee, Miles, Stillman, Alabama State University, Alabama A&M and Concordia to name a few ? It would make more sense to mention those HBCU's since you are supposed to be basing the college off of them. Granted the MMC worldview can be stunted and him not knowing about the HBCUs. You know what? Let me take that back. Unless he went to a majority white elementary, middle and high school, he should have known about the HBCU’s because he may have had teachers that went there.
I wanted to DNF faster but I wanted to wait until he got to school before I made my decision. Once I got there my mind was made up that I was not going to continue.
How the hell the dean of the school is going to show up the whole campus where we see students walking around doing magic duels, playing basketball, riding bikes and other student activities. Show murals of Kobe Bryant and Chiswick Bosman, say 15,000 students that attend, have a student exchange program show pics of past students shaking Martin Luther King.Jr. 's hand but not once mention where the hell the dorms are?
The reason why I say this is because if you have that many students on your campus and the fact you have to teleport to the campus since it's hidden from the outside world, where the hell are that many students going to sleep? Especially the ones who come from different countries. I bring this up because the world building of this book so far is so nonexistent. How the magical system works in this book is not there either. This book needs to be better researched instead of throwing a black pop culture reference every five seconds and the MMC saying the n-word with the a on the end all the time.
So this book is not for me at all.
If you want a book written by a Black Male Author with one of the main characters/pov is a Black Male Teenager that does magic and have to deal with things that shape them, I recommend the Blood Debt Series by Terry Benton Walker.
If you want a Black Fantasy or Magical Realism in General I have recs I collected
1.Blood Debt Series by Terry Benton Walker
2.The Legendborn Cycle by Tracy Deonn
3.The Belles Series by Dhonielle Clayton
4.The Marvellers series by Dhonielle Clayton
5.Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi
6.Wings of Ebony Series by J.Elle
7.House of Marionne Series by J.Elle
8.The Poison We Drink by Bethany Baptiste
9.With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
10.The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
11.So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
12.Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana
13.The Effigies Series by Sarah Raughley
14.The Bones of Ruin Series by Sarah Raughley
15.Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton
16.Raybear Series by Jordan Ifueko
17.Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart
18.Blood like Magic Series by Liselle Sambury
19.Skin of the Sea Series by Natasha Bowen
20.The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
21.The Forge and Fracture Saga by Brittany N Williams
22.The Blood Gift Series by N. E. Davenport
23.A Song of Wraiths and Ruin Seriesby Roseanne A. Brown
24.This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings
25.The Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma
26.Crimson Hunter by N.D Jones
27.The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi
28.Faebound by Saara El-Arifi
29.Bellamy and The Brute by Alicia Michaels
30.Daughters of Nri by Reni K Amayo
31.Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown
32.Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
33.Kingdom of Souls Series by Rena Barron
34.Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender
35.The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow
36.Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden
37.Dread Nation Series by Justina Ireland
38.A River of Royal Blood Series by Amanda Joy
39.A Song Blow Water by Bethany C. Morrow
40.The Goddness Twins by Yodassa Williams
41.Nic Blake and the Remarkables Series by Angie Thomas
42.Of Blood and Lightning by Micki Janae
43.Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye
44.Daughters of Jubilation by Kara Lee Corthron
45.The Smoke That Thunders by Erhu Kome
46.A Phoenix First Must Burn Anthology
47.I Feed Her to the Beast by Jamison Shea
48.Legacy of Orïsha Series by Tomi Adeyemi
49.In the Shadow of the Fall by Tobi Ogundiran
50.It Waits in the Forest by Sarah Dass
51.Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray
52.Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brow
53.The Good Luck Girls Series by Charlotte Nicole Davis
54.Song of Blood & Stone by L. Penelope
55.The Monsters We Defy by L. Penelope
Anything by Nnedi Okorafor
Anything by N.K Jemisin
Anything by P. Djèlí Clark
Anything by Kalynn Bayron
Anything by Octavia Butler