I'm going to start out thanking NetGalley for the ARC, because I'm really not sure exactly how to describe this, much less give it a start rating. If you're reading this review, I will have made a decision about the star rating, but as I'm typing now, I have no idea where it's going to end up. I'm going to go into vague spoilers, so if you want to go into this completely blind, don't read this review, but honestly I think knowing a little of what's coming might make this a better read.

I looked up Redmond out of curiosity after reading his dedication letter at the front of the ARC that I received, and it absolutely tracks that he was a screenwriter. The prose here is mostly telling vs showing. It made some of the emotional beats fall a little flat for me, particularly early on, but it continues throughout. Also, to anyone thinking that the violence in this book is made-up or exaggerated, it is not! Redmond also does a really good job of portraying the violence that Black women experienced from white women. Interested readers may want to read Hazel Carby's "Slave and Mistress" in her book Reconstructing Womanhood: The Emergence of the Afro-American Woman Novelist. It covers in a more academic register what Redmond demonstrates here.

The first half of this book was such a turn-off for me, to the point where I considered DNFing several times. Aside from the prologue, I really can't say I liked any of it. Of particular note were the rape scenes. To be very fair to Redmond, he trigger warns for these, but I just find graphic rape scenes pretty distasteful pretty much no matter what, and they came one after another for a decent chunk of the first ten chapters. I can understand why Redmond included them, and their depiction lines up with other graphic depictions of non-sexual violence in the text, but especially when I hadn't read the rest of the book, I found them to be a bit much. I also felt that some of the characters' actions were a bit nonsensical (Willie deciding that he was dreaming at a pivotal moment being chief among them). I also did not trust Redmond to not get SUPER weird about Gertie, particularly with the blurb framing her as the one thing standing between Willie and fucking up their enslavers. The thing I disliked the most about this section of the novel was how deeply pessimistic it was. It was difficult to read about how miserable everyone was and how barely anyone seemed to feel any sort of connection with anyone else. Indeed, this may have been part of the point (and judging from Redmond's feelings in the dedication about the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent protests, it is almost certainly the point), but it made the first half deeply unpleasant to read.

The second half was much better in almost every respect. Redmond does NOT get super weird about Gertie! I feel like some of the shifts in her motivation were a little out of nowhere, but I was so relieved that nothing dire happened that I was willing to go with it. There was much more solidarity and community in the second half, which was heartening for me and much more pleasant to read about. There was significantly less on-page sexual violence, which I deeply appreciated. The ending was solid, tying off most loose ends while leaving a few tantalizing threads for the next book(s) in this series. I've still got a few gripes with it (I don't love the way the Indigenous people were written, and I think Willie's "special blood" gets a little deus ex machina-y for me), but it's MILES better than the first half.

I'd definitely pick up the second book in this series, but that first half of this book just did not do it for me at all. 3 stars for now, but I could see myself liking the second one much more.

Raise your hand if you were recommended this book because you loved Sinners: *raises hand*.

Now, this is a different story than Sinners! So don't go in expecting a copy/paste experience. I really enjoyed this book. Didn't want to put it down, the story carried itself very well and the writing was easy and enjoyable to consume. The subject matter is difficult. Simply don't read it if you're not prepared to be uncomfortable. There are plenty of trigger warnings, but honestly, don't use them as an excuse to avoid confronting challenging topics. The subject matter is dark. I think it would have been a disservice to the period and context if the author had omitted some of the graphic details and scenes, Personally I didn't think it was gratuitous, but of course it's subjective. It SHOULD upset you and make you uncomfortable and angry. That's the point. I think it's easy and common practice for slavery to be a topic that's watered down so that people aren't offended. Smh...that's a whole different conversation though. Back to the book. I loved these vampires, rooted in the African lore of the Ramangans . I would have loved to get more of that context, maybe had more of a foundation for Rafazi's creation/existence. The elements the author includes for his version of the monster felt both familiar and fresh. I enjoyed Willy's character arc and how he remains true to his disposition even as he changes and develops throughout the story. A bit repetitive at times, but he storytelling was really impressive for a debut author. There were multiple time where I feel like the essence of the story could have been lost, but the author does a good job of keeping it very focused. Which is bittersweet because sometimes as a reader you DO want to go on those tangents, see a wider picture or a more in depth scene/character, but I appreciate that the author had to control the narrative.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for an ARC of Blood Slaves in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4/5

If you enjoyed Sinners, you will definitely love this book. It explores many important and relevant themes, which is one of the reasons I appreciate horror in the first place. It's such a great read! I wish more books were as bold as this one. I highly recommend it.

“This is not just a vampire novel. It’s a brutal, beautiful scream against oppression, bloody, bold, and unforgettable.”
Blood Slaves is one of those rare books that refuses to let you look away. Set in 1710 North Carolina, it follows Willie, an enslaved man offered an impossible choice: live in chains or become something monstrous and free. Guided by Rafazi, a centuries-old vampire from a powerful Ghanaian clan, Willie chooses blood and rebellion.
Markus Redmond doesn’t just write horror. He writes reckoning. The historical elements hit hard, and the supernatural horror never overshadows the real trauma at the story’s heart. But when the violence comes, it is raw, earned, and absolutely ruthless in the best way.
The writing is cinematic, almost poetic in moments, with rich worldbuilding and deep emotional arcs. Rafazi is one of the most fascinating vampire characters I’ve read in years, equal parts wise, brutal, and haunted.

Thank you Kensington Publishing for the ARC!

I think my jaw is still on the floor y’all. This masterpiece snatched me up by the edges and refused to let me go up until the last page 😭 I promise you that reading Blood Slaves, especially while this country is showing its ass, will ignite something in you- be it anger, sadness, or the desire for revenge. It offers the story of a courageous enslaved man in the 1700s, Willie/Kwadzo, and a tempting offer to exact retribution against his wicked enslavers (from a seven centuries old African vampire btw) & makes you think deeply about how far you’d be willing to go if you had the power to change our history.

Blood Slaves is both brutally honest and absolutely gorgeous. On one hand, there are many moments in this book where you might hold your breath as Redmond forces you to confront the very real dehumanization, humiliation, and violence inflicted onto our ancestors (pls read the trigger warnings). All of the characters endure the brunt of it in different ways, which forms the high stakes nature of the book. Its grip on your emotions is unrelenting, and I think it should be. On the other hand, relief lies in the RICHNESS of the characters/their conflicts, the Ramangan vampire lore, and the bloody uprising for liberation. Revenge is so sweet in this book, and the road to it balances discussions on good/evil, humanity, freedom, and immortality.

This book is a master class in blending historical fiction/fantasy/horror and I’ll be screaming about this book to anyone who will listen. Thank you for this gift 🩸 please bless us with book 2 soon!!!!!

While I was excited to read this book because I mean… look at the cover. My excitement was kind of short lived. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the book but I felt like it was drawn out towards the 60% mark to the point I wanted to skim read just to get to the main action. Maybe that was just the anxiousness in me wanting to break out and get the story done already. 🤷🏽‍♀️

A few things I loved about this book was the folklore. I had a time looking up some of the names and seeing the correlation between the story and what I researched. Gertie got on my nerves something so powerful 🤭 and that made me love this book. Kwadzo’s determination to free his people was love from the beginning. While, this certain part that I didn’t actually like in the beginning, or when it happened, I later appreciated it, but the sudden dialect change and the changing of the names were confusing but made sense in the end.

Overall, I don’t mind sharing this title with my book friends.., especially once all books are written… I know a good time will be had

I feel bad that within a handful of pages I found myself going "this is definitely a debut novel."

First, I want to praise the good things. This book has a lot of characters. It juggles many points of view and has at least a dozen side characters who add to the proceedings. These characters felt different from each other and I rarely had to try and recall who was who. That is a real accomplishment.

Something else I noticed is how humanized all the enslaved Black characters are, even those who strongly disagree with the protagonists. Everyone is trying to survive the best way they can, and exert what little control they have over their situation. Even when these characters make bad choices, the book treats them with empathy. This character work is great and shows wonderful potential, and even though I disliked this book, I hope the author keeps writing and refining his craft. He has a great foundation to build off of.

The main thing I struggled with is an issue of tone. The horror in this novel comes from the constant debasement of the slaves. Our enslaved cast spends most of the book being horrifically abused, with the majority of the violence being rape. Most of this violence is directed towards women, but a man is raped on page too. They are also subjected to the most vile, racist statements from the slave owners around them. And then when we move into the vampire portions of the book, it suddenly feels like I'm reading a shonen manga. Our protagonist turns out to be super special and a natural leader, wow! Characters infodump about their strengths and weaknesses and abilities like they're reading from a D&D manual.

We'll get a chapter where a child is raped (mercifully off-page), and in the next chapter we find out the ability that allows vampires to move so quickly the human eye can barely track them is literally called "the blur." A newly turned vampire punches a boulder and it explodes. And then we go back to a chapter of white people saying Black people are not human. It's like intercutting pages from Berserk with Naruto; the clumsy executions of both parts of the story gave me whiplash.

It's not the only part that's clumsy. A decent chunk of the story revolves around the conflict between Gertie and Willie. Gertie thinks being a vampire is a different kind of slavery, and is inherently evil because it involves killing. We know from page one that this is a vampire revenge story, so their whole conflict felt pointless.

What finally broke my suspension of disbelief completely is when one of these awful slavers escapes from a vampire massacre and runs back to tell his friends about it... and immediately clocks "superhuman speed and strength + red eyes + drinks blood" as a "vampyre"... and every other nasty slaver in the room knows what a vampire is... and one of those guys MET one before emigrating to the colonies (an African vampire at that!)... who happened to randomly tell him how to kill them. This book takes place in 1710. This is about 100 years before John Polidori publishes The Vampyre and 200 years before the New England vampire panic. You're telling me all these guys know what a vampire is? (And that's putting aside the eye-rolling coincidence that one of these men knows how to kill vampires!)

Thank you to Netgalley and Dafina for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

ARC Review
Please, I really mean this, check the trigger warnings!!

I had so many expectations for Blood Slaves, and I ended up disappointed. The idea was incredible, not so much the execution.
For starters, I think the pacing of this book was not for me. Still, my main issue was not that.
Now, I understand this is a book about slavery and vampires, so violence is pretty much expected. What I didn’t actually expect was how heavy it would be on abuse, and specifically sexual violence. The book takes you into this situations with excruciating details, and I don’t actually believe that contributes anything to the story. I think the attention to detail could be of more use in the vampire lore, the relationship with the Natives, or even spending more time at the beginning in the build up of Rafazi’s character and story line. Instead we get random facts just thrown away for a second, and then we go back again into a very unnecessary detailed violent scene. I feel like the story was missing substance, and it’s just not what I expected.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the arc!

An emotional blend of historical fiction, supernatural horror and alternate history that keeps you on the edge of your seat yearning for vengeance.

Book Stats:
📖: 400 pages
Genre: Adult Horror
Publisher: Dafina
Format: eARC from NetGalley
Series: Standalone

Themes:
💫: Oppression and Freedom
💫: Reclaiming identity
💫: Revenge

Representation:
🩸: All Black cast

🥵: Spice: 🚫
Potential Triggers: **check authors page/socials for full list.

Short Synopsis:
Willie is a slave wanting freedom for his new family when it is offered from an unexpected place. Rafazi is a lone survivor of a plague ravished African tribe that is willing to help Willie and the other slaves obtain vengeance and freedom from their oppressors. All they have to do is embrace eternal life and the desire for blood.

General Thoughts:
This book was fantastic!! The characters were so real and relatable. Wanting freedom and basic human rights is something every human should be able to relate to.

The depictions of slavery and the brutality that Black people went through as a result of the hatred of white people was written so emotionally. I had tears in my eyes many times during this book.

Gertie was so good as a character. Her struggle practically jumped off the page. Watching her character development was a fantastic component to this book.

I can't wait for more by this author.

Disclaimer: I read this book as a eARC from the NetGalley . All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.

While graphic in places, this books gore is for a reason and it doesn’t shy away from the cold hard truth of how people of colour were treated back then. I was so interested to learn about the Ramanga tribe, and also appreciated the twilight references. Definitely recommend this book.

Really enjoyed this tough it was incredibly tough to read because of the subject matter. You absolutely should check your trigger warnings before reading this book as Markus Redmond does not shy away from the utter brutality and reality of what it was like to be a slave in the United States. I am 100% certain that every heinous violent attack that took place against the slaves in this book was informed by an actual account from The 1700s. The added bit of bringing in vampires and specifically that the vampires themselves originated from Africa and were brought over in a sense as part of the slave trade, inadvertently, was a nice twist. I do wonder what happened to Rafazi’s maker as she was only alluded to and presumed dead but I’m wondering if that is possibly being left open to be explored in a separate narrative. This was a pretty fast paced story and again at times stomach turning, I had to set the book down and breathe and try not to violently expel vomit, but the ending did feel almost too neatly wrapped up in a bow. Not that the characters needed any more struggle, but it just seems like as shown in the book, the white slave owners are incredibly pigheaded and need 30 or so repetitions of the lesson to learn that they are not better than anyone else and I feel that there will definitely be some repercussions visited upon this newly freed plantation. Additionally, at the end the system that was set up to govern the plantation will most likely cause problems because it is mostly governed by the newly reborn vampires. There’s not a lot of representation from other members of the community as not everyone is a vampire. The little tail/epilogue added was just fun. It felt like a horror movie end credit scene and I loved it. I am shocked that this is the author‘s first book because the plot and the character development was so well done and Redmond did a very good job of exploring the two separate sides of the argument of whether to accept vampirism as a form of or a vehicle for attaining freedom or to just suffer through and stay the course and possibly keep your soul intact. And I particularly loved Gertie‘s storyline exploring that dichotomy. Highly recommend and will be buying a copy when this is available.

Editors note when Willie first meets Rafazi, he is known as shit boy and before Rafazi introduces himself by his proper name, we are perceiving him through Willie’s eyes and Willie calls him by his proper name, which does not make sense because he has not actually learned his name yet just a slight timing issue in that scene, especially considering just a little bit later on Rafazi does introduce himself and it clears up that issue.

This book is truly a reminaging of history and it takes you on one hell of a ride.

This story follows enslaved peoples in Carolina Provience in the early 1700s. The book mixes vampire mythology and alternate history to bring us the really gripping story.

Willie, an enslaved man, meets another enslaved man, Rafazi who has a mysterious past. Little does Willie know, but Rafazi is the last of an ancient (thought to be mythical) vampire tribe.

Through a series of horrific occurences (literally read the tws…I beg), Willie takes Rafazi up on his offer to help him get revenge and escape the brual system of chattel slavery.

This book was truly stunning. The prose, the world-building all of it grabbed you from the first page. I had to take breaks because there were some parts that were really difficult to get through. I also liked the pacing…Markus took time to show you the horrors of slavery, the joy enslaved people still found despite it, and the moment when everything changes.

This is one of the best books I’ve read all year, and I would highly recommend you pre-order it now or buy it when it comes out.

Thank you so much for the ARC.

Unfortunately, this is just a bit too violent for me. I really like the concept and would have otherwise enjoyed this work.

This Blood Slaves was absolutely amazing!

I have not stopped talking about this on tiktok and will continue to talk about this until it is a hit

Gripping, immersive, and horrific in both the worst and best ways, Blood Slaves pulls you in from the first page and delivers a tale of retribution that is as unexpected as it is satisfying. This bold twist on the vampire origin story is set in the Carolinas, where enslaved Africans endure the unimaginable horrors of American slavery under the rule and brutality of those who feel ordained to rule over them. At the center of the story, Willie seeks an opportunity to escape. In his fight for freedom, he encounters an unexpected way forward by dying and leading a slave rebellion unlike anything his enslavers could have imagined.

One of the most compelling aspects of the novel is the emotional and ideological tension between Willie and Gertie, the woman he loves. Willie is fueled by rage and resistance; he wants not just freedom, but vengeance. Gertie clings to survival. She believes in doing what’s necessary to get through each day, without drawing more harm. Their differing philosophies parallel the continued tension that persists in the Black community: aggressively fighting for what we are owed or trying to survive the system as it stands, even when it’s crushing.

This push and pull between Willie and Gertie forms the emotional core of the story, as their relationship becomes a mirror for the community around them, each person forced to choose a path in the face of violence, trauma, and a sliver of supernatural possibility. The tension is palpable, and the stakes are devastatingly high.

To say I loved this book is a true understatement. The layers of Blood Slaves, from the powerful emotional foundation of Willie and Gertie’s relationship to the brutal, action-packed climax, come together in a story that is deeply resonant, unflinching, and unforgettable. It is a must-read for its boldness, its heart, and its haunting vision of liberation.

I ended up liking this a lot more than I thought I would based on the first chapter, which had some really strange diction and syntax that I assume was meant to reflect the time period but just felt stilted.

This is a difficult read. Despite it revolving around vampires, I don't think I would call it horror. It's more historical speculative fiction, but the content is, indeed, horrifying, sometimes to the extent that it felt gratuitous. That's my biggest issue with Redmond's debut: he never does or says something once but rather over and over. There's not one scene of sexual assault, there are many. There's not one scene of torture, there are many. There's not one discussion of how the Ramangan's powers work, there are many. In some ways, it makes you feel like you're stuck on this horrible, awful merry-go-round with the protagonists, but it also drags the plot (which would honestly make for a great 90-minute movie) down and deadens the pace.

Now that we've established this world, however, I look forward to the second installment and the development of a more complex story.

This book had me in a chokehold and I devoured (no pun intended) it in one sitting. I usually hate vampires (as story devices) but this book is an exception. Markus Redmond breaths a new life to the old, repetitive vampire tropes and makes them better. As many reviewers say, if you love movie "Sinners" you are definitely going to love this one.

This feels like a blend of blacksploitation horror and alternate history in a really well thought out kind of way. The premise here is that a slave named Willie is suffering the standard horrors of slavery when he comes across a vampire from an ancient African tribe looking for someone to turn, and they decide to raise a rebellion against their shitty masters. It does take a little bit of prevaricating to get to the massacre, as there is the standard "evil is evil" character as opposed to the ends justify the means character, but when it gets there, it's a rip roaring good time. Great summer pool read!

A hell of a debut! This was fast-paced and action packed. Truly a bloodbath and very cinematic, could easily see this being adapted to film. I love a good vampire book and for all the people that watched Sinners and were craving more black historical vampires, this is for you!

We follow Rafazi, one of the only surviving members of the Ramanga vampire tribe originating in Ghana. When the story starts, we witness a blood borne virus that wipes out the rest of his tribe, right after he gets tipped off about the tainted blood. He goes into hiding for centuries, the stories of his people becoming mere legend. He eventually ends up enslaved in the Carolina province, on a plantation under the control of Big Jim. Willie, an enslaved man tormented specifically by a hateful overseer, has dreams of running away and finding a better life for him and his girl, Gertie. Until he meets Rafazi, and the power in his blood facilitates a different set of goals. A reimagining of history, this book takes the very real horrors of chattel slavery and gives it a vengeful, gory, and satisfying resolution. Between this, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, and Hungerstone, this has been a banger of a year for vampire books!

I was drawn in from the first chapter and could not put this book down. The unique vampire lore made this very interesting and refreshing. The writing style was straightforward but solid and I feel like the dialogue felt believable. I did think it was cool that the author chose to have the vampires automatically start speaking with a more varied vocabulary or more "proper" after being turned, as well as knowing other languages. It was like an instant reclamation of the education they weren't allowed to pursue in their time in America. Yes, Gertie did get on my nerves at times because she was so against the vampirism and whatnot but I get it also, because she was just trying to keep her loved ones safe in her mind. While the general plot is what you would expect from the summary, the journey was intriguing and I read this in like a day and a half. Highly recommend, can't wait to read more from this author and see how his writing style grows from here!

<i>“Immortal slaves to blood mean you still a slave”</>

The intention was always to write a great vampire novel and Markus succeeded tenfold. Changing the trajectory of his novel due to the murder of George Floyd, Markus unfolded the harsh reality of injustice, pain, grief, anger, and so much more following the life of a slave set in 1710.

There isn’t any sugarcoating in this story. You have a front seat to pure brutality from start to finish. It’s graphic and you move through the chapters like a movie playing before you.

The writing is amazing and immersive. You get attached to characters and your emotions will not have a rest this entire time. I have a soft spot for Willie, Tussy, and Fanna. Gertie I had a conflict of emotions and upon reading the author’s questions, her character accomplished everything he set out to. Questioning your morality and where would you draw the line? I even started to question how far WOULD you go for love?

The vampire lore was real and I appreciated finding that out upon googling. He was able to weave true African folklore into his story to create an alternate version of history.

Overall, I have no complaints. Beginning to end, I was engaged and my emotions were fully locked in to what was played out in front of me. Feeling rage, thirsts for vengeance, cringes from the battlefield descriptions, sadness at loss, I loved every moment. For fans of Sinners, this one is for you.


***I read an arc copy without expectation or requirement to review - thank you Kensington Publishing!