Blood at the Root
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4.7 • 23 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A teenager on the run from his past finds the family he never knew existed and the community he never knew he needed at an HBCU for the young, Black, and magical. Enroll in this fresh fantasy debut unlike anything you've seen before.
Ten years ago, Malik's life changed forever the night his mother mysteriously vanished and he discovered he had uncontrollable powers. Since then, he has kept his abilities hidden, looking out for himself and his younger foster brother, Taye. Now, at 17, Malik is finally ready to start a new life for both of them, far from the trauma of his past. However, a daring act to rescue Taye reveals an unexpected connection with his long-lost grandmother: a legendary conjurer with ties to a hidden magical university that Malik’s mother attended.
At Caiman University, Malik’s eyes are opened to a future he never could have envisioned for himself— one that includes the reappearance of his first love, Alexis. His search for answers about his heritage, his powers, and what really happened to his mother exposes the cracks in their magical community as it faces a reawakened evil dating back to the Haitian Revolution. Together with Alexis, Malik discovers a lot beneath the surface at Caiman: feuding covens and magical politics, forbidden knowledge and buried mysteries.
In a wholly unique saga of family, history and community, Malik must embrace his legacy to save what's left of his old family as well as his new one. Exploring the roots and secrets that connect us in an unforgettable contemporary setting, this heart-pounding fantasy series opener is a rich tapestry of atmosphere, intrigue, and emotion.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Trauma triggers a Black boy's dormant ancestral magic in debut author Williams's exuberant contemporary fantasy series opener. When seven-year-old Malik Baron sees his screaming mother vanish from their Helena, Ala., home while surrounded by cloaked figures, blue fire erupts from his fingers, incinerating her assailants. Nobody believes Malik's story, so he spends the next decade hiding his powers and moving between foster placements. At 17, Malik rescues his 12-year-old foster brother from an abusive home, and the two head west to start fresh. En route, a stranger conveys a letter from Malik's estranged maternal grandmother, Mama Aya, inviting the brothers to live with her in New Orleans. Mama Aya reveals that magic is in their family's blood, and enrolls Malik at his mother's alma mater, Caiman University—a historically Black college for hoodoo and vodun practitioners. In addition to getting a "Blackgical" education, Malik vows to uncover the truth about his mother's disappearance. Some action sequences are disorienting, and several characters' villainous turns feel arbitrary. Still, through Malik's slang-heavy first-person-present narration, Williams delivers a serpentine, high-intensity celebration of Black culture, history, and power. All major characters are Black. Ages 14–up.
Customer Reviews
Blagical Excellence
It was hard to put this book down at times. Each chapter had me ready to see what was next. I felt like I was at Caiman with the other characters and enjoyed every last bit of this book. I’m glad it was recommended to me!
Black boy magic. Fresh and unique take
It a whole lot of magic and ngitry in this itch” -Malik. This quite definitely describes this book. Overall it’s a nice steady read. I love the creativity and fresh take on magic application and its connection to our roots as black people. However, there were times I felt the author leaned to heavy into the bliggity blackness. It like in every paragraph the author feels the need to remind you it’s a black book, focused on the black experience. I feel every black cultural reference, colloquialism, metaphor, was jam packed into this book and at times took away from the overall plot, which also took forever to be revealed, or maybe I just expected more. The audio is way better than reading it on page and the ending makes it all worth it and made me interested in reading book 2. Also, it was advertised as a “black Harry Potter” like book, or magic academia but they’re bairly in the school lol. However, it seems that’ll change in book 2, so again I look forward to reading it.
Utterly Perfect
Wow. Whoa. There aren’t even any words good enough to describe it. This was for us.