This book is so well written and creative. Alternate history at its best! This story combines my love of history and my obsession with all things vampire. This book gives us a look at 1700’s plantation life, particularly in the context of slaves point of view and there decision to fight back. It is time for revenge!

This book will bring on string emotions and it is graphic at times, but all necessary to deliver the story successfully. The character development is wonderful! I found myself rooting for Willie, my heart breaking for Gerti and so much hatred and distain for Big Jim. I will be purchasing this one when it releases!

Markus Redmond’s Blood Slaves is an electrifying and thought-provoking novel that masterfully blends horror, suspense, and deep social commentary. As an early reader thanks to NetGalley, I had the privilege of diving into this hauntingly gripping story before its official release—and let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

From the first page, Blood Slaves pulls you into a dark and immersive world where the lines between predator and prey blur in ways that feel eerily relevant. Redmond’s writing is sharp and cinematic, creating a vivid atmosphere that lingers long after the final chapter. His ability to craft tension is impeccable, making every scene feel urgent and unsettling in the best way possible.

The characters are richly developed, each carrying layers of complexity that make them both compelling and unpredictable. Without delving into spoilers, the protagonist’s journey is one of survival, defiance, and moral reckoning, set against a backdrop that is as terrifying as it is thought-provoking. The themes of power, control, and the commodification of humanity are woven seamlessly into the narrative, elevating Blood Slaves beyond a simple horror story into something far more profound.

One of the aspects I enjoyed most about this book was its ability to keep me on edge. Just when I thought I knew where the story was going, Redmond would throw in a twist that left me breathless. The pacing is relentless, yet never overwhelming, making it impossible to put the book down.

Overall, Blood Slaves is a must-read for fans of horror and thrillers, especially those who appreciate stories that push boundaries and challenge perspectives. Markus Redmond has crafted a novel that is as intelligent as it is terrifying, and I highly recommend picking it up when it hits shelves.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I knew it was going to be a good book when I first started reading and I seen all the triggers that were in this book. This was a green flag for me. This book was an amazing read and I couldn’t put it down. Although the book is 400 odd pages it felt like 200.

I always admire an author that takes a known theme and makes it their own. Markus has truly made his own lane and added his own twist to the old age tale of “Vampires”. This is not like the vampire story you’re used to this is something different and better.

The story is about Rafazi, he is part of the Ramanga Tribe. Sadly he is known as being selfish and a coward. An unforeseeable plague comes along and wipes out all of his tribe, he is left alone. Until he crosses paths with Willie. Willie is a slave taken from his family and is made to work on a plantation dealing abuse and unimaginable horrors. Until one day a decision is made that changes history and lives.

I admired how the author used the historical era of slavery and how he used is gift of story telling that transported you to that time. I was reading the book and my mom was making small talk with, but as I was reading all I can hear , see and feel was being transported in this book being under the hot sun, picking cotton and tooling over a field. Now to me that was powerful. I felt the book as if I was experiencing it for myself.

The characters in this book are very believable, you definitely relate to them and feel their emotions. This book will make you question what exactly is good and evil and how far you’ll go for what you want? How far will you go for freedom.

This book is a MUST read! You will not be disappointed at all. The story telling and vampires with a twist is more than enough to give this book a read.

Thank you to Markus Redmond, NetGalley, and
Kensington Publishing for providing me with an ARC! I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is American History with fangs.

I met Markus on a particularly rough day working as a bookseller. I don’t remember why it was a bad day, all I remember is Markus telling me about BLOOD SLAVES. I remember thinking, if I don’t read this book immediately, I will die.

I’ve spent the last three-ish years bothering Markus, praying I might be one of the lucky few that gets an advanced copy of BLOOD SLAVES.

There is only so much I can say about the book without spoiling it, but here’s what you need to know: it’s worth it. I would have waited another thirty years to read this book.

I didn’t expect this book to be as cathartic as it was for me. I have spent so much of my life angry (I really think that James Baldwin guy was onto something there) and it is hard to put that anger into words. I know the plantation where my ancestors were enslaved still stands today. My ancestor going back thirteen or fourteen generations who was forced from her homeland and brought to the US was named Lamonhea. How am I supposed to have this information and not claw my own eyes out?

As Markus describes in the author’s note, BLOOD SLAVES was written in response to the brutal murder of George Floyd. While I had the image of Floyd’s murder in my mind while reading BLOOD SLAVES, I couldn’t help but think of Kerry-Anne and Michael Gordon, a Black couple who got married in June 2020 during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests.

Before their first look outside of the hotel where their wedding was held, Michael heard a commotion from protestors. When he rounded the corner he saw the protestors cheering for his soon-to-be wife. In an interview I read in 2020 Michael talks about the moment when he realized that response was “all for her.” That was the other image in my mind while reading BLOOD SLAVES.

That’s what this book is about. Those two opposing images that come from the same dark and twisted place. The love that grows between two people while it feels like the world is crumbling around you. The realization that you would burn the world to the ground for the people you hold close and for those who didn’t get the chance to fight back. This is one of those books that takes all of the contradictions and lies we’ve been told about our Blackness and turns them on their head.

It’s hard to fault the person that becomes a demon to save themselves from hell on earth. In fact, it’s easy to root for them. To hope that they will re-emerge, covered in blood.

BLOOD SLAVES will be available for purchase on July 29th, 2025. Pre-Order it now so you’ll have something to sink your teeth into this summer.

This book has a lot to love! The characters are complex and of the environment is always leaping off the pages. I know its rated as a 4 stars read...but in reality I'm leaning more of towards 4.5!

Markus has a very easy writing style to digest! The pacing of the book was not too fast, where you don't know what's going on, or not too drawn out, where you get bored. But, instead its the perfect mixture to keep you on your toes and have your fingers hovering over the next page with anticipation.

And PHEW, that ending chapter!!!!!
However, readers do be warned. Its not for the faint of heart, like many historical-fictions, there are mentions of sexual assault/rape scenes in the book. Though if you're willing to stomach it or skip over those parts then you'll more than likely love this book.

I would definitely love to see this maybe adapted into a TV show one day!

::| Blood Slaves
By Markus Redmond
Chapter Eleven Page 112
Between Death and Vengeance
5.5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

{ “Don't you worry none,” she heard Willie say. “He ain't gonna hurt you.”
When Rafazi bared his wet and dripping fangs -with far more moisture than the light sheen Willie remembered seeing on them - Irene screamed until Willie quickly covered her mouth. “Shh! It's all right,” Willie whispered to her before hissing at Rafazi. “That's enough, now! She done seen what she need to!”
Rafazi reverted to normal and Irene felt Willie rubbing her back reassuringly as shook with fright. “Hush now,” Willie soothed her. “He ain't gonna do you no harm..” }

We follow a slave named Willie, who is hated the most by the overseers and the plantation owner named Big Jim. Some of the cruel torture is outlined briefly through the story, making it heart-breakingly and raw to read. It's a story filled with hope where no room for hope was allowed to grow and still it blossoms with the voice of Willie as he breaks out of his confinements including discarding the name his white masters gave him.

For not only himself but for the rest of his people, he allows himself to be referred to and take the form of the evil in order to defeat an even bigger evil, in the hopes his sacrifice is enough for his people to be free and allowed to live their lives however they want to, not under the cruel hands of the people who changed, abused and broke them, moulding them into something they believed to be inferior.

This story was truly an inspirational one and with enough dash of fiction.. and as much as i wished this story wasn't.. it was nothing but that.. fiction.

But it isn't. Slavery was very real and despite being held down and forced to live a life due to someone's belief that their skin did not match or even come close to matching up against the purest of white. They found a way to claim back their power. Just like the Devil is handsome and evil, so can white have dark inside.

For these amazing people to not only manage to survive their ordeal, they even had families, found love, and even found ways to bring joy into their lives in small wins. I will never forget the thousands of people who were born free and died as slaves to someone's opinion on the colour of their skin.
Humans are human no matter what they look like, what colour their skin is, or who or what they believe in.

Why must one human be superior to the other?
This story was so hard to read because it was raw and gave the tiniest glimpse into the kind of life a slave led. It was heartbreaking, and I'm going to be honest. I didn't want to read at one point. I didn't want to believe these things actually happened.

But they did, and closing your eyes or ignoring them won't make them any less untrue. I have so much love for Markus, for bringing his wisdom and gentle touch to something as evil that marked a place in history as a constant curse for anyone who is reminded of it. This book is engaging, it asks and demands answers to questions some people wouldn't like to and it forces the real truth of how these amazing souls lived and died on a whim of ones who called them self masters.

If there is one thing I would wish for this book? It's for schools to bring this into their curriculum and teach children what slavery was and is. This book would do all of that, spreading empathy and awareness for why these amazing people deserved to be remembered. Not as people who lost their lives. But as survivors.

A huge and heartfelt thank you to Markus Redmond, Kensington Publishing, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and relay my honest feedback. |::

It’s an interesting premise, marred by stilted writing. This reads like a teenage boy’s fantasy: filled with action and “kickass” imagery with no character development. I really wanted to like this book, but couldn’t.

the first half of this book is incredibly difficult to get through. if you have any kind of trigger be warned because this book goes hard and does not care— which is good as it’s depicting the horrors of slavery. this is a revenge tale at its core though, and the revenge portion of the story is innumerably satisfying. like YESSS!!! definitely one to check out if you can handle a tough read.

I really love this take on vampires. They feel like the ones that are saturated in media, but fresher. I also love all of the moral conflict the characters go through.

Thank You Kensington Publishing and Net Galley for the ARC

Above all else this book is an exquisitely satisfying tale of revenge.

The vampire lore is unique and brings a fresh perspective on the classic monster while also being recognizable and approachable enough for any genre fan.

That being said anyone who reads the blurb on the back will have a good idea going in that perhaps the vampires are not the monsters of the story.

This book isn’t expectedly hard read with graphic descriptions of violence, racism, sexual assault misogyny, and unspeakable cruelties that while they make sense in the time. This book takes place in, are the less harrowing to see depicted on the page.

It speaks to Redmond’s craft that while we do have a few mustache twirling villains, we also have just as many, who are convinced that they are not evil. It offers an uncomfortable mirror to our current day society.

I appreciated and this may be a formatting thing that gets changed, but the double spacing it made it incredibly easy to read and hope that that stays in the final copy honestly.

The few things I did not love about this book was that although we see characters like Gertie try and rationalize that the vampires are evil it never really seems like that is the case. This was the only true narrative issue for me as a reader. However the violence against women is particularly horrific, though again seems. Accurate and commentary on how black women are treated by society as a whole. I would probably make sure to mention this if I were to recommend this book to anyone.

I’m looking forward to reading more by this author!

I was very intrigued by the plot description when I read about this book in an article talking about horror releases for the year, especially since being a huge fan of the “Blade” films but also of the short-lived Netflix series featuring a Black vampire hunting family and sapphic romance, I have been wanting more in that vein (no pun intended). Last year’s “Immortal Dark” by Tigest Girma definitely helped satisfy that thirst, so I was very intrigued going into “Blood Slaves” by Markus Redmond. It starts in the 1400s in Africa. The atmosphere called to mind some of the origin story of the vampire in “Blacula” who also had a similar background as an African prince before he was turned into a vampire against his will. The protagonist, Rafazi’s, Maker warns him that hunters (or someone else) have developed a poison that can harm even vampires and kill them, and that they have to be careful because anyone who drinks from a human carrying it in their blodostream will be left vulnerable so that hunters can kill that vampire easily. It reminded me of “The Woman King” but if there were vampires with a vivid opening and sadly — intertwining history with the fiction, Rafazi is picked up by enslavers and forced across the Middle Passage to become an enslaved person in one of the Carolinas in 1710 in what would become the united States. Two enslaved people are running away from a plantation with bloodhounds on their trails. The next chapter lets readers know that the plantation in question that the enslaved were trying to escape is the Barrow Plantation, with the main planter called James or “Big Jim.” He has a young son, Thomas, who is 12, and a wife, Charity.

The novel will remind readers of “The Gilda Stories” and Octavia Butler’s “Kindred” and at the same time, is steeped in a vividness of its own.

This read right here was beyond emotional and captivating! Loved this 100%....now with that being said, I didn't know what to expect with this book. This book is well written in my opinion, it takes you on a journey through one plantations journey through being enslaved. Rafazi's character brings forth an ancient old tale that had been repeated throughout centuries, the tale of evil vs good.
Willie's character is comparable to and can represent what everyone goes through on a daily basis in life, decisions of should I or should I not. The love story between Willie & Gertie gives another depth to this story that causes you to feel each other's plight when making their decisions. Each and every supporting character gives such depth to this story that you won't be able to stop flipping the pages. To read this, you have to understand that this is a heavy yet powerful read especially for POC and adding the elements of immortality and vampires makes this read fantastic! I would compare this to a mix between Beloved, DJango and Blade! Full of action with a believable storyline. I highly recommend this for those who want something different to read!

Content warning: this does have content on racism with racial slurs, the rape of men, women, and children, and killings.

4.5 star read

Thanks to Kensington Publishing/Dafina for this ARC of 'Blood Slaves' by Markus Redmond.

I recently read Stephen Graham Jones' 'The Buffalo Hunter Hunter,' a Native American-focused vampire novel set at the turn of the 20th century so was very happy to see and receive 'Blood Slaves,' a vampire novel set in the early 1700s during the horrific depths of the Southern slavery era, and hoped it would be a good 'un. I wasn't disappointed.

We're launched into the story as a group of Ramangans (vampires) are running riot through an African village at the same time as slavers were coming through to rip these people from their homes to feed the voracious machine of cotton and rice production in the southern United States. One vampire - Rafazi - survives a blood plague and is swept up in this people trafficking.

We're then deposited into the vile Caroline Barrow Plantation where the enslaved people are treated abominably by the overseers and owner, Big Jim. What transpires is a tale of empowerment, revenge, and retribution as Rafazi takes on Willie as his first creation for decades and they plot the overthrow of the white bosses and the seizure of the plantation to work with the original Native American population.

This is a violent and righteously angry novel with graphic description of the real abuse rained on the enslaved people and the supernatural deaths rained down on the white overclass. This is a brutal novel about brutal and unforgiveable times.

Congratulations to Markus Redmond on this achievement.

When I first read the description of Blood Slaves, I was immediately struck by the power of its premise. The idea of blending vampire mythology with an alternate history of enslaved people rising up against their oppressors felt both bold and necessary. When I was approved to read an early copy, the author’s note made the story’s impact even stronger. Markus Redmond initially set out to write an incredible vampire novel, and he absolutely succeeded. However, the events of summer 2020—particularly the murder of George Floyd and the continued injustices faced by the Black community—deeply influenced the direction of the book. Redmond channeled that energy into creating an African-origin vampire myth, the Ramanga, within a story that powerfully reimagines resistance and liberation.

This novel resonated with me on many levels, especially given the social climate we find ourselves in once again. The fusion of African mythology and history felt fresh and unique, and I loved seeing it unfold. In recent years, I’ve been drawn to African mythology and folklore, and I’m not sure if it’s becoming more mainstream or if I’m simply noticing it more—but either way, I’ve really enjoyed exploring stories influenced by it.

Growing up in the South, the historical realities depicted in Blood Slaves are all too familiar, making parts of the novel difficult to read. But that’s the point, isn’t it? Stories like this aren’t meant to be easy—they’re meant to be powerful, unsettling, and thought-provoking. The novel doesn’t shy away from brutality, but it also delivers moments of deep satisfaction. Without giving away spoilers, I found the reclaiming of certain aspects of history and the alliances formed by the end to be incredibly rewarding.

A few random thoughts: When I first saw Markus Redmond’s name, I knew it sounded familiar, and then his author’s note reminded me—of course, I recognize him from his acting career! Another random thing—throughout the eARC, Blood Slaves was repeatedly printed in the middle of sentences (probably a formatting issue for the physical book), and I couldn’t help but read it out loud every time like it was some kind of ominous chant.

As for the writing itself, I think Redmond’s background in acting played a role in how vividly descriptive his storytelling is. Every death at the manor was gruesome and visceral, yet after witnessing the cruelty endured by the enslaved characters, I found the vengeance to be deeply satisfying. There were also a few things I was left wondering about—like what Kwadzo ultimately became and how they managed to do that to the dog (seriously, I need answers!).

Overall, I really enjoyed Blood Slaves. It was a tough read at times, but it was also a necessary one. If this is Markus Redmond’s debut novel, I can’t wait to see what he does next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing | Dafina for the early eARC of this work.

"Blood Slaves" is a gripping and eerie tale that deftly combines horror, historical fiction, and social criticism. Set in 1710 on a Southern plantation, the novel immerses readers in the horrible realities of slavery, with unimaginable pain setting the stage for an explosive twist of vampiric revenge. Willie, the protagonist, has endured horrific brutality at the hands of his captors, so his change into a vampire is more than just a plot device; it is a visceral act of freedom. Blood Slaves, with its rich characters, stark emotional depth, and action-packed storytelling, does more than merely shock readers; it also encourages them to consider themes of freedom, power, and retribution.

"Monsters come in many forms," Kwadzo said. "I'm looking at one right now."

WHO WOULD THIS BOOK APPEAL TO
Those who enjoy historical fiction. The heavy topics in the book are one to watch out for, slavery being the central theme. Horror fans can unite with a fresh vampire story. Also, it can look appealing to those who enjoy fantasy but want to dive into the darker side. With complex characters and action-packed storytelling, it is a blend of horror, history and social justice.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Whoa, this historical horror set in a Southern Plantation in 1710 covers some heavy and uncomfortable topics all whilst blending in vampire lore. I had an emotional time with his book and its topics as the set up is a necessary evil. Being witness to these acts against the slaves sets the tone for why the main character makes the choices and the extreme measures he takes to gain freedom. Overall all this book is one to look out for!

Timely, scary, and a blast to read. I have so much to say about this one that it won't all fit here, so I'm saving most of it for a much longer review piece on my blog for the book's official release date. Highly recommend this not just to horror fans but also to fans of historical fiction in general or just anyone having a tough time with the current political climate. Markus Redmond's foreword lays out why he felt the need to write this book right now and it helped contextualize things for me in a big way. Don't worry, vampire fans -- it's not all political, there's plenty of blood. But like ALL good horror, there's a lot more bubbling under the surface in this one.

Blood Slaves is a brilliant blend of vampiric horror and alternate history. Set on a Southern plantation in 1710, we follow enslaved man Willie as he suffers at the hands of Big Jim Barrow and his underlings. The first half of this book is an emotionally tough read, with our enslaved cast of characters being subjected to beatings and rapes, alongside inhumane working and living conditions. But that painful setup is necessary, not only because it’s true to life, but because witnessing the abuse allows the reader to fully understand why Willie would be driven to extreme measures—i.e. becoming a vampire—in pursuit of freedom.

At its heart, Blood Slaves is a bloody story of revenge. Anger crackles off the pages as the injustices mount and mount, leading to a satisfyingly blood-drenched conclusion once the fangs come out.

This work was incredible, historical fiction at it's best. Where else but the civil war could vampires be better used? The strong emotions, the lore, the incredible cast of characters-there was no part of this that didn't work for me. I particularly loved how descriptive the fight scene was. I feel like it was almost cinematic, and I would absolutely watch a series or movie adaptation for this. I think it's going to a be a huge hit, and this writer has a bright future. 10/10, no notes.