I was really excited when I learned of this book. It is hard to find fantasy books, especially young adult fantasy books that feature a POC main character. It was interesting to see the main character start out thinking that magic was something amazing but would never happen to someone like him, to go to having it but hating/fearing it because of what happened when he first gained it. He had to learn to accept this power and himself which I feel that there are a lot a people in the world that don't entirely accept themselves but learn to love themselves and become empowered by it.

This book is full of stereotypes and reads like someone trying entirely too hard to be hip and show off to their white friends how "hood" they are for cool points. As an educator, I would sadly not give this one to my Black male students as it feels like the book equivalent of a professional development speaker telling teachers to let kids make up a rap or play Tupac during work time in an effort to "relate" to their Black students. Storywise, this book has very weak worldbuilding that sloppily meshes together nonsensical African lore (the names OMG!) and uses extremely misspelled and incorrect Caribbean patois in the spells and magic. Maybe it was intentional but it made me cringe hearing Africans described as dark as night, wearing war paint, and spelling their names in an almost mocking way--African names and words have meaning in their spellings and this author seemed to not get that by hastily making things up. It does not seem like much thought or time was given to the research part of this Afro/Caribbean-inspired magic system and the author was just like "This sounds cool and I heard of it in passing but don't feel like making sure I'm not unintentionally perpetuating stereotypes/butchering cultural lore that I'm not directly part of". Besides that, the romance is bleh. No development, explanation of backstory, or believable on-page relationship building at all and Alexis just seems there just to be there. The conflict is not really there and the scene changes are very jarring. The writing and plot aren't strengths in this book, so I suspect a lot is riding on the premise. Unfortunately, the execution is not there. Also, there is an ableist line "Why is my magic acting remedial right now". I know this is an ARC but this was a huge letdown and honestly, as a Black person, this was embarrassing to read. It feels like one of those TV shows where they try way too hard to BE BLACKITY BLACK combined with a Tubi movie. The book has also been promoted as having no trauma which makes you think it's more of a light-hearted fantasy but there is a heavy emphasis on "the man, the system" and a scene where the cops show up and try to arrest one of the characters. If you want a book that centers Black boys but in a non- "yo wassup my nizzle, what's popping" cringe-worthy way then I suggest Angie Thomas, Julian Winters, Terry Benton, Jason Reynolds, Tiffany D. Jackson, or Lamar Giles.

Thanks to Random House Children’s & Labyrinth Road for this digital ARC from NetGalley.

Blood Root is the Black fantasy novel many people needed growing up. I loved the representation of a black boy from the South as the main character, and the ties between voodoo & ancestral magic & Black History/inventions. Uncle Samedi ‘s character was amazing. The Black culture references was great to see.

Mama Aya was my favorite character, but disappointingly, many of the women and girls in this book (including the love interest) were not fully developed characters.

This book feels filled with trauma, from losing a parent, navigating the foster system, and suddenly being in a university basically on his own. His foster brother get to relax some, um when does he? Dude cannot catch a break!!

I wish that the book had more black boy joy and more HBCU traditions. I saw aspects of world building that approached a magical HBCU - but didn’t quite make it there.

The pop culture references were a lot and distracting. To me, this book is written like it is a tv show and a bit choppy.

Really liked the cover art and the premise! I was really looking forward to reading it but overall I think the writing could have been better.