4.5 ⭐️

As a fantasy lover, I have always been enchanted by tales of quests and magic. The intricate world-building and the promise of escapism never fail to excite me. However, despite my love for these stories, I often found myself missing from the narratives. “Blood at the Root” by LaDarion Williams changed that for me in the most profound way.

From the very beginning, the world Williams creates is nothing short of mesmerizing. The attention to detail, the cultural richness, and the authenticity of the characters made this book an instant favorite. Being able to see my younger self in the characters was an incredible experience. The jokes, the banter, and the cultural nuances are unmatched, bringing a sense of familiarity and warmth to the story.

The main character, Malik, witnessed something unthinkable when he was 17 years old. This traumatic event haunts him for a decade, and even as a young man, he is still grieving the loss of his mother from that fateful night. Malik’s journey takes a turn when he discovers he has a grandmother, Mama Aya, who is the matriarch of magic. Enrolled at Caiman U, an HBCU for magical students, Malik begins to hone his magical abilities, learn about his ancestors, and uncover the truth about what happened that tragic night.

“Blood at the Root” is more than just a fantasy novel; it’s a coming-of-age story filled with themes of friendship, self-acceptance, betrayal, and coping with grief. The twists and turns in the plot kept me on the edge of my seat, making for an incredibly enjoyable reading experience.

LaDarion Williams has crafted a story that is both enchanting and deeply personal. I cannot wait to see what he pens next. If you’re a fan of fantasy with rich cultural elements and relatable characters, “Blood at the Root” is a must-read.

I received a digital advance copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think I was hoping for a bit more from this book. It wasn’t bad, but I’m not 100% convinced I will pick up the next book in the series. I liked the fact that the magic system in the book was connected to Haiti, but the overall plot itself felt a little disconnected to me. I know it’s only the first book so the questions I have will probably be answered later on, but I think I was left a little too confused in this book. Also, I was able to predict the person to betray Malik pretty much as soon as the character was introduced, so there was no suspense for me there.

Thank you net galley for this amazing ARC!!!!! This blew EVERY fantasy book I’ve ever read out of the water!!!! The dialogue, the black boy joy, THE BLACK BOY MAGIC!!!!! Malik was a black YA male from Alabama whose mother was taken from him at a young age which put him into an orphanage. There is where he met 2 people who would become his lifelong family. It never sat right with him how his mother was taken- everyone said she died, but he felt it in his spirit that she was alive! He follows his gut and his magic to a MAGICAL HBCU to uncover the truth about his entire bloodline.

This book had me hooked from start to finish! Such an amazing, inspiring, BLACK EXCELLENT novel. The audio version also will make you love it a million times more. Truly a master piece!

I just can’t get over the way characters speak in this book. I am African American and it seems borderline stereotypical. I could not get past it and it made the story not enjoyable for me.

At Tome Student Literacy Society, we have a list of language and content criteria for the books we select for our annual book award list, the Tome Society Book Award. Upon a language search in this book, we discovered that it did not meet our specific criteria for language. Due to this, we elected not to finish this book for review purposes for our organization. We would like to thank the publisher for the opportunity to review an e-book of this title.

If you are looking for a book that centers on a Black teen who discovers magic at a university, then this book is for you. Malik is a emancipated teen who decided to get his brother from a toxic household. But when go sideways, he is thrust in a world full of Hoodoo and ancestral magic.

This book does not read like a debut novel! Going into it I was expecting a more teen feeling story and that is absolutely not what it was. This story follows 17 year old Malik on the run with his foster brother when he suddenly finds a family that he never knew existed. Malik has been in the foster system since he was 7 years old and the world thinks he killed him mom along with a room full of people. Now finding himself with a grandmother who does not have all the answers she promised, he is thrust into magic school where he begins to unravel the mysteries of his mom's past and what really happened that night 10 years ago. I enjoyed how mature Malik was in his actions but at the same time you saw his child self who was holding on to feelings of hurt and abandonment. Malik's protectiveness over his brother had me all the way in my feels. This story gave me similar vibes of a mix between Children of Blood and Bone and the Percy Jackson series, the later making sense since the author speaks about it in his author's note. I just love reading about books that have black main characters with magic. What made this story stand out to me was that it was not just about black trauma as we know it today but a story about Malik's life and his heritage while also touching on what non-magical black people go through in the everyday world. It was a perfect blend of the two. The ending while slightly predictable on who would reveal themselves in the end (I am a cynical reader I have learned never to trust anyone especially in fantasies 😂) was immensely entertaining and has me excited for book two. Will definitely be tuning in to see what's next for Malik.

For fans of Legendborn, you’ll absolutely eat this book up too. I loved being able to learn about different cultural practices while also being in a fantasy setting! The pacing was a little bit slow which is to be expected with all the world building so that didn’t bother me at all.

This book was like a breath of fresh air. I enjoyed this book because of the cast diversity, writing style, and fantasy elements. This author is surely on his way and I look forward to reading what he creates next!

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was good. It took awhile to get through, not because the book is bad or not writing well, just for whatever reason, it took me forever to finish it. The audiobook was fantastic though, highly recommend it over reading it physically (just my personal opinion). I am interested to see what this author releases in the future.

Initial reaction: 4-4.5 stars. There's many layers to Blood at the Root that I really enjoyed, writing, character attention and detail, magic system and display. I'm still thinking about certain aspects of it long after reading it, though there are some aspects that I'm critical of that can be seen as flaws of the main character, not the narrative itself.

Full review:

All right, everyone. I'm ready to dive into this one because this book has been on my radar for a long time, was a highly anticipated read for me, AND I got it as a galley from NetGalley, so of course I knew that I would read it. (Albeit much later than than release.) I think getting to it later had me tempering my expectations of it as a YA Urban Fantasy/Fantasy with contemporary leanings, a magical HBCU with classes on said magic, with a Black boy as the main character and focus POV while on the run from his past. All of that sounded great to me, and for the most part - it delivered on those promises.

Note well: I am NOT an expert on the Yoruba, Orisha, and practices of Vodou. I think there are other reviewers who are far better equipped than me to tackle on how well this book treats those portrayals, although I'll say that it's lightly incorporated in the practices, spells, and overarching worldbuilding of this story. There are some books that I've read where I've been informed that the portrayals are not good (i.e. Skin of the Sea, that's a book I have yet to finish). I can however speak specifically to some of the critiques made on the content for portrayal of story. We'll get to that soon.

"Blood at the Root" is the first book of a series centered around 17-year old Malik. Ten years before, Malik witnessed the traumatic vanishing of his mother during the Fourth of July celebration in his home of Alabama. Ever since that night, Malik has felt his powers were cursed and that he was blamed/the cause of that traumatic event. But at 17, he hatches a plan to get himself and his foster brother Taye out of an abusive home life to go to California, make a new start. I think it's not a stretch to say that throughout this story, Malik is a very flawed character and his background is quite the traumatic one, especially coming from the foster care system. But it's told on his own terms, in his identity as a Black teen. I think that's important to establish in contrast to many narratives that frame it from a non-marginalized lens. Malik is messy, he makes mistakes/bad decisions. You get that from point one in the book. But you also understand his desperation in getting himself and Taye to a better life, even with limited resources at his hands and a power he doesn't understand. Even further, he sometimes takes that power too far in his desperation/anger.

Malik and Taye end up in a precarious situation that almost gets them caught. They are helped by a stranger while also getting an invitation to meet with Malik's long lost grandmother (Mama Aya), who runs a magical HBCU. Caiman University, which just so happens to be the same university Malik's mother attended. Mama Aya reveals that she and her daughter had a massive falling out, but that hadn't stopped her from trying to find Malik. She pulls some strings to get Malik enrolled in Caiman University, to better hone his magic and provide a space for him to live/be. Malik is conflicted about this (of course), but it's hard to refuse when it not only gives him a space to better wield his magic, provide a stable home for Taye, and help him find the pieces of his mother's past and what led to the events of his mother's disappearance. Being on campus also reunites him with another familiar face - the girl he was in love with back when he was in foster care - Alexis.

I think it's important to say that Malik is a very well crafted flawed character that's willing to learn though reluctant to trust. You see that in several examples as you follow Malik's adjustment to University life. You can tell that his worldview is sheltered/limited to an extent. Regarding some of the reader comments/feedback about a character being misgendered in here - I saw that was quickly corrected and illustrated as a learning experience for Malik as he gets to know his gay, bisexual, and non-binary peers, and there are several examples where the community is featured on page in an inclusive manner. Could this have been showcased better? I think so, but I can't speak to it because I'm not from the LGBTQ+ community, so I think it's worth listening to those who are of that spectrum of identity in terms of what could be done better. You don't have to show someone of different identity being disrespected in order to acknowledge the respectful way to see/address someone. That's important to note when we're talking about positive representation of inclusive communities. I thought it was nice to be able to see, for example, a space where Malik hears from a Black man who acknowledges his bisexuality and how that's erased in the community, in which Malik goes up to him after the talk and thanks him. (Of course that happens just before a very harrowing scene which is residing in my mind, rent free, but I'll talk about that later in this review.)

What I can speak to is some claims of of misogyny and misogynoir in here which...yeah, we need to talk about it. All, this book is filled with very flawed, messy, dramatic characters. These are teens/young adults in college. Also adults participating in power plays that often result in manipulative tactics to hide the secrets they have to keep. You learn of multiple betrayals happening among the cast at the drop of a hat - Malik learns this many times the hard way. Writing flawed Black women and girls in a narrative is not misogynoir. Nor is writing/expressing attraction towards/for those characters misogyny, such as observing some girls twerking at a college party. Not by itself. Depends on how that's done and there's a line to it. Nor is calling attention to Black girls who go missing or are harmed misogynoir, I understood what this book was doing with that and I'm like "Okay, you're hitting on so many different things that the community cares about/is intimate with the Black experience. I get it." Sometimes it felt like it could be a bit ambitious to take on all of that with everything going on in the narrative, but in the narrative, it made sense.

Like I understood, realistically, Malik's perspective as a straight Black teen having these first time experiences - his desires, his thoughts, really the narrative collectively does a good job of getting into his head through his ups and downs. He's a well-rounded character, if flawed. There was probably only one major point where I got VERY annoyed by Malik in terms of how he treats Alexis. It's clear he likes her - he's liked her since they met at the orphanage when they were younger kids and he says this. But when it comes to how he treats her when she potentially likes another guy, ehhh. I wanted to collect him and say "That's none of your doggone business whether she's sleeping or not sleeping with someone else, leave her alone, mind your business." And I don't doubt other readers reading those scenes would agree. Thankfully Alexis collects him on page in very similar form to what my internal thoughts were about it. And Malik is self-aware to state on page more than a few times how he screwed up with her. It's realistic teen relationship drama, and showcases both characters being in their own heads and flawed, while also playing it out on page. It is not the same as, say, Becca Fitzpatrick's YA novel "Hush, Hush" where Patch continuously crosses Nora's boundaries, stalks and antagonizes her to reckless abandon, and it being seen as desirable in text. I think it's worth noting the nuance, dynamics, and being transparent about it, but I understand that even with that note, people aren't going to like how that plays out.

What I really liked about this novel was being able to see Malik interact with a wide cast of characters, experiment with his magic, experiencing the emotional ups and downs on each revelation he makes about his mother's past and the people around her. And the fight scenes/scenes of peril in this book are wicked good, along with the vivid writing. I genuinely feared for Malik during multiple points in this book he gets on the other end of terrible magic and betrayals. I mentioned one of the scenes where Malik gets attacked right after a lecture - that scene stayed with me and I was wondering, right along with the other cast of characters, whether he was going to make it out of that okay.

There are moments of Black Boy joy in this book, where you see Malik being able to have fun with and see his foster brother, quiet moments where he spends with Mama Aya, and getting to know his professors and peers. And even further, feeling like he gets to know his community and come to terms with his sense of identity, a feeling of being home. However, you also get the weight of what costs magic has, the levels of tension, peril, and betrayal that Malik ultimately has to contend with, the history he witnesses and how that's tied to him, and how he has to navigate that. I usually say the best stories are those that not only have a wide range of narrative tones and emotional experiences for the characters within, but also allow me to really delve into who they are, even if I don't always like what they do. That's how I felt about "Blood at the Root" - I felt like I went on a whole journey reading this narrative. And it makes me want to know/experience more of it, even with some pretty heavy occurrences/losses for the characters within.

I liked the journey, and for my first experience with LaDarrion Williams's work, it was an intriguing one. I'm hoping to dive more into the author's work and more of this series in the future to see where it goes. Overall, despite some bumps in the road, I liked "Blood at the Root." Really, really worth it if you can get the audiobook narration for this story - it has sound effects, and is well in character voice for Malik being narrated by Jalyn Hall (who has a nice singing voice, I might add).

Overall score: 4/5 stars.

Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley from the publisher. Also listened to the audiobook narration, which I purchased for myself.

If you love books like the Legendborne series then this is the book for you! I actually ended up listening to it in audiobook form and it was such a fun read.

Let the Black Boy Magic commence…

If you are an audiobook reader, then I highly recommend getting this book! The narrator is amazing! He acted is butt off! I’m talking about accents, nuanced voice changes, other characters male and female, even acting like he had cereal in his mouth when the MC was eating breakfast and talking to someone! Not only that, but there are sound effects too! My big hope is that he comes back to narrate books 2 and 3 too!

Blood at the Root is a 5-Star for me. #BlackBoyMagic for the win!

The teen slang makes it super relevant to today’s generation of teen readers. I hope it will hold over time, because I want this book to last a lonnnnnngggg time for many young men to come. I mean when I finished this book, heck when I was halfway through it, I just wanted to get a whole box of books and start book talking it around my school district to young men. I’ve already been elevator pitching it to everyone I talk too. Malik is a character that talks like them, expresses his feelings, and has some wild magical powers.

We’ve got magical representation for the fellas (finally!), Black history, Haitian history, magic, dark academia, lost family, romance, LGBTQIA+ representation and mystery.

And that ending…I’m ready for Book #2. Just let me know the date and time.

I need Netflix or a movie company to come make Blood at the Root a movie or TV series or something! (And I’m not gonna lie, I’d put in a special request for some crossover dark academia episodes with Bree from Legendborn, and Quell from House of Marionne now that we have an official magic King on the scene.)

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's | Labyrinth Road for this ARC! "Blood at the Root" by Ladarrion Williams is a powerful and poignant novel that delves into the complexities of racial injustice and the impact of systemic oppression. Set in the American South, the story follows multiple characters whose lives intersect amidst a racially charged murder investigation. Williams' writing is raw and evocative, capturing the harsh realities faced by African Americans in a divided community. The characters are vividly portrayed, each grappling with their own struggles and aspirations against a backdrop of deep-rooted prejudice. The narrative is gripping, with themes of identity, justice, and resilience woven into a compelling storyline. "Blood at the Root" is a thought-provoking and timely read, shedding light on enduring issues of race and equality with both sensitivity and unflinching honesty.

Overall I really enjoyed BATR. Admittedly it was a little slow moving in the beginning but once it picks up it really takes off. I try not to give too much away in these reviews but I will say there are two plot points/twists that I did not see coming and I think that's what solidified my overall rating for this story. Excellent debut novel!

Amazing storytelling and world building. The authors ability to weave together words and paint a picture with them is unprecedented. Fantastic story and plot. Love the main characters being black and that this story has minority representation front and center, especially male representation which is so important for youth to see. Great book, highly recommend. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy!

“When Black boys find magic, they find themselves.”

What Worked: This is such a creative novel. I enjoyed so much how the author wove this magical community’s culture throughout American, African, and world history. The university, what’s at stake for these magical people, and how they operate is complex but not difficult to understand or connect with. The physical descriptions are engaging, and what’s fun about the audiobook is that there is additional sound/music whenever magic happens. I eventually transitioned to a combination of physical and audio so I could wrap my head around some of the words and languages they were using. That was to best reading scenario.

What Didn’t: As this is the start of a series, I wish the author had spread out more of the world creation rather than trying to cram it all into the first book. If Malik is going to be in college for four years, chunk out the information over time as readers need it, and make the world more complex as you go rather than right at the start. There is a LOT for readers to wrap their heads around with multiple completing storylines. Pacing out the information and the journey might have been more beneficial. Malik’s magical journey is a bit too quick. As someone who had no training, he masters these tasks as good as someone who has had training at magical elementary and high schools in just a few weeks of a summer program. It would have been nice to maybe start him younger and watch him grow into his magic instead of mastering it all at once. He has his character flaws for sure, but being this perfect at magic this quickly was a bit of a pet peeve for me.

I will be continuing with Book 2.

Rating: Liked it

DNFed at about 30 percent in . I was so excited for this book but the writing really took me out of the story. I could not stand the way AAVE was translated on the page. It was very cringe and unnecessary. I would read it in the tone it was intended without the intentional misspelling. It made the characters feel stereotypical and not real people . It really takes you out of the story and made it a less than enjoyable reading experience.

Williams' writing is lyrical and unflinching, and he paints a vivid portrait of the lives of his characters. He captures the beauty and resilience of the Black community, as well as the pain and suffering that Black people have endured.

This novel is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the experiences of Black boys in America. It is a powerful and moving story that will stay with you long after you finish reading it.

I truly got lost at Caiman University because of Williams’ ability to weave culturally relevant commentary into a transformative world plot set in the Deep South from Alabama to Louisiana. It was truly spectacular to read an epic in the making centered around a magical black boy! The relatable character arc was consistent and created edge of my seat suspense! What a well written- magically transformative story, BATR does not PLAY!! 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾 (5 Stars) can’t wait to read the second installment!
Malik’s character has redeemable qualities who make you root for his success!