- Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
- Publisher: Tor Science Fiction (Oct 15 1997)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0812548078
- ISBN-13: 978-0812548075
- Product Dimensions: 17.1 x 10.6 x 2.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 204 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,245,666 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Better known for his science fiction, including collaborations with Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Barnes (Firedance) here turns to dark fantasy with a story of occultism and race relations that ranges from the days of slavery to the present. Paranormal phenomena, including spontaneous human combustion, and the machinations of some human conspiracy beset the families of two men: Derek Waites, a black programmer of computer games, and Austin Tucker, a former Green beret major who's turned into a white supremacist. Waites investigates, first alone and then with Tucker, discovering that for centuries an African sorcerer and his former slavemaster have been prolonging their lives by preying on others. The magic is well handled, but Barnes often smothers his writing in testosterone, repeatedly referring to Tucker's physical strength and his "corded" muscles as if he thought his readers habitually perused the backs of old comic books for muscle-building tips. Better, however, is Barnes's view of racial issues, including a moving journal by a slave matriarch named Dahlia. Although some connections and plot resolutions are forced, the novel ultimately delivers as an exploration (albeit a turgid one) of the temptations and costs of power-both to those who have it and those who are sacrificed to it.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Barnes' sound and absorbing fantasy deals with that classic devil's bargain, achieving immortality by absorbing the life force of others, including one's own children. Three centuries ago, a southerner bought an African slave who knew the right magic, and for two centuries they survived by breeding children for slaughter. After the Civil War, however, the children were scattered. In contemporary Los Angeles, a black computer-game designer and a white racist ex-Green Beret both mysteriously lose children, learn that each of them is descended from the life stealers, and have to fight their own prejudices before they can fight the sorcery. Barnes' historical scenes are stronger than his contemporary ones, in which he sometimes overdoes the gritty realism, but no doubt about it, the book is a page-turner that may fall short of genius but is always intelligent entertainment. Roland Green
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
To find their path blocked by thirty feet of emerald dragon. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
To find their path blocked by thirty feet of emerald dragon. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Twists-Turns-Plots & Sub-Plots,
By ACE (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Blood Brothers (Mass Market Paperback)
This was one of the best books I've read since discovering this author. The flow and style will grab you and you'll never see or guess what's coming on the next page. Two words sum up this book: "Read it!"
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great mixture of action and mysticism,
By
This review is from: Blood Brothers (Mass Market Paperback)
This was a great read! As so many of Barnes' novels, Blood Brothers tackles a series of human issues. The story essentially centers around two men who could not be more different: A black former computer hacker; divorced and still dealing the the pain of his split family. And a white, former special forces/martial artist serving a life sentence for the murder of his family...oh, and he is involved with the Aryan Nation in prison. What makes this story so interesting is not how different these men are, but how truly similar they are. The two are forced to work together to unravel a mystery that is over a hundred years old. As always Barnes does a masterful job of getting his reader to 'become' each of the characters. In my opinion, great writing is about people, not about deep storylines, and Barnes pulls the reader in from the first page, making them truly empathize and care about all the characters. A great read with lots of twists and turns.
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a great Will Smith- Jada Pinkett movie this'd be!!!,
By
This review is from: Blood Brothers (Mass Market Paperback)
This book reminds me of Toni Morrison's _Beloved_ and Octavia Butler's _Wild Seed._ (This is very high praise, in case you didn't know.) None of these are hard sf -- if that's what you want read Arthur C. Clarke instead. They are mythic fiction, speculative fiction, horror, literature, historical fiction, urban fantasy, who cares what the genre is called? (Hint: no star ships here.) What Butler, Morrison and Barnes have in common is that their characters during slave times must make truly *terrible* choices to preserve their families. In the present Derek Waites, Austin Tucker and Dahlia Washington have to make similar bargains to keep their families intact. I have read Barnes' earlier work which is (for me) too reliant on physical violence. This book which has the thoughtful Derek and the kinesthetic Tucker is much more enjoyable. In fact, I couldn't put it down. That the backdrop for the story in the present is the Rodney King riots is visceral.So-- when will Smith and Pinkett make this as a movie?!!!
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