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The kind of book that makes reading fun! Jun 14, 2008 (48 of 48 found this helpful)
Upon opening the book I expected certain things. I expected darkness, horror with out equal, strong statements about race and racism, feminism, and mythology. I got all that I had asked for and more.
Blood Colony takes the story of Fana, who was an infant(with power that nobody matched) in the Living Blood, and here she is coming of age. She is lonely, much as I imagine any make shift deity would be, even though she was surrounded by her family and friends. She used her blood to cure illnesses around the world through what she and her family call The Mission, but the US regards her blood as a narcotic, thus it's illegal. Fana and her good friend Caitlin set up a modern day underground railroad in order to fight AIDS and other blood diseases. Glow, the street name for Fana's mystic blood, is the center of controversy and violence around the nation. When Caitlin witnesses a horrific act of violence, she and her dad are gathered by the Immortals(Fana's family) and this causes the two girls to run.
The novel is part road trip, part social commentary, and travels through many different emotions. There are scenes of heartbreaking sadness, gruesome violence, overwhelming passion and everything in between. You can't help but feel bad for poor Fana, who for all of her power, is mostly helpless and unsure of herself, as she and Caitlin try to run from the other Immortals.
Things get creepy, or creepier I should say, when it turns out that Fana's family is not the only group of Immortals who are looking for her, another branch is a religious sect which wishes to kill off man kind and use the Blood to revitalize any they see as worthy and usher in the New Days of religious monarchy, with them as the monarchs.
I absolutely loved The Blood Colony. It was rich, funny, well textured, dark, moody, cynical at times, optimistic at times, and well crafted. The series as a unit is my favorite of any horror series I've read(and I've read a lot). Blood Colony is the kind of book that makes reading fun. It isn't strictly horror, but travels a world between genres comparable to Neil Gaiman's American Gods.
The narrative is brilliantly structured, constantly evolving, full of twists and turns and fast paced.
Oh, and remember how I said it was more than I had expected? The book is hilarious. Okay, some of the humor was specialized, she introduces people who are of my particular religion, and a lot of the humor is very dark and bitter, she mocks peoples racism at points, and all of her characters are real, well thought out people, who occasionally make really stupid mistakes and often get in pretty good sarcastic remarks on the expense of others, especially Caitlin.
I've been a fan of horror for as long as I can remember. Horror has been something that I seemed to grasp firmly, even as a young child. I had read R L Stine's books, sure, and the Scary Stories series, and I watched Tales From The Crypt right after I watched Are You Afraid Of The Dark on snick. By the time I was in the sixth grade I'd been reading Stephen King's books and by high school I thought I was done with reading. I digested horror movies and music with out flinching and since I'd thought I had mastered the horror literary world, I began to notice that horror entertainment doesn't always have much of a point. I would seek out the horror writers and artists who said something I agreed with or was unaware of and became obsessed with Horror with a Point.
One thing I was never aware of, though, was race. I grew up in an extremely mixed community but the vast majority of the horror I was watching(or reading, or listening to) was created by white people, about white people, for white people. Sure, Night Of The Living Dead features an African American actor who does a great job, but there really wasn't anything out there besides that. It never even came up in my mind, seeing as I am whi
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It was worthe the wait ! Jun 3, 2008 (9 of 9 found this helpful)
I Have waited a very long time to read this book. I fell in love with Fana and the other characters from Living Blood and My Soul to Keep. As soon as i got this book, i was completly consumed with it.I finished it in two days. I felt as if i was with fana the whole time.This story was so intresting and kept me on my toes. I really hated to finish the book so fast because i didnt want the story to end. Fortunatly the story left off in a place that i hope Mrs.Due will pick up on in the future. To Say i look forward to the fourth book would be an understatement.
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African Immortals trilogy: recommended Jul 8, 2008 (9 of 10 found this helpful)
Due tosses together vampiric creatures [super-strong, super-fast, super-smart, obsessed with blood and immortal: yeah, they're vampires], Christian faith, feminism, fate vs. free will and superheroes. The resultant rich and spicy mixture works. I credit much of her trilogy's power to Due's lean, muscular writing. The prose is quick but compentent in book 1, but it soon improves to swift, economical status by books 2 and 3.
Additionally, Due's themes of moral responsibility make this trilogy especially engrossing. While there are obvious good guys and bad guys in this series, Due's omniscient perpsective combines curiosity and compassion for all characters. She tries to realistically answer the question of how human beings would deal with immortality. The Life Brothers exclude themselves from humanity, perfecting intellectual arts, while Sanctus Cruor, the eugenics nuts, will obliterate human life in order to safeguard the Blood. Meanwhile, Dawit, Jessica and Fana, who spread the Blood as salvation, represent a generous use of immortality. In other words, Due's thesis is that immortality brings out the extremes in people, both the very best and the very worst. Her vampires are all too human, an interpretation of monsters that I find much more compelling than the monsters=aliens portrayal.
Verdict: With a sympathetic cast [including assertive and realistic women, woooo hoooo!], the pacing of a suspense series and a compelling moral exploration that most fantasy trilogies can't hold a candle to, the African Immortals trilogy provides an intelligent and delicious revision of vampire lore.
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Excellent! Jun 11, 2008 (4 of 4 found this helpful)
Excellent. I loved it. It is rare that an author can write sequels and they are just as interesting and entertaining and thought provoking as the original.
I just have two complaints. First, it was too short. Before I knew it, I was at the end, and the end surprised me. Secondly, I give the art work a 1 star. There is nothing about it that would make me pick up the book if I wasn't already familar with her. The only reason I even know who Ms. Due is is becasue the artwork on the cover kept calling me. Finally, I picked the Living Blood up and I have been a fan since.
I highly recommend. I would not mind reading a continuation of this story. I see many variations of this story. I want to hear more about Moses in the future. In fact, I hope Ms. Due will consider it. Ms. Due lost some of her mojo in Joplin's Ghost, but sistah gal has reclaimed her throne in "my" mind. I humbly bow.
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The Blood Clots Slowly.... Jul 28, 2008 (23 of 31 found this helpful)
Based on the positive reception and number of raving reviews for Tananarive Due's latest novel, Blood Colony, it is quite evident that my commentary will be in the minority based on my "3-star," middle of the road rating for the book. It is the first time I have ever applied an average rating to one of her novels, especially when I am a fan of the Immortal series. Like others, I pre-ordered my copy to ensure I would have it as soon as it dropped. While I LOVED My Soul To Keep and liked The Living Blood, I found Blood Colony to be just "OK" -- a good novel, but not of exceptional caliber.
The novel opens with an alert 17-year-old Fana fully emerged from the seemingly self-induced years-long trance finally participating in the "world" as secluded as it may be. The Wolde clan, along with selected friends and life brother supporters, have sequestered themselves within the Washington forest and secretly share the "living" blood with third world, remote countries under the guise of it being an experimental pharmaceutical drug. However, there is evidence that an underground distribution network exists in North America. With the blood as its catalyst, an illegal drug called Glow, is in demand with a high street value making it the target of governmental crackdowns with harsh penalties and punishments to those involved with its manufacture and distribution. It does not take long to figure out that Fana (without her parent's permission or knowledge) is the primary source of the blood that fuels Glow's production. Without divulging too much of the plot, Fana runs away from the safety of the complex with good guys, bad guys, and the government hot on her tail. The chase is afoot and we follow along and watch the body count increase at nearly every turn.
It is difficult for me to explain what did not quite work for me with this otherwise well-written and well-conceived novel. Perhaps it is the shift to Fana and away from one of my favorite characters, Dawit, who, in this episode, was relegated to a seemingly perfunctory role of neutered husband. It might have been the continued emphasis on Fana. I suppose it was time for her light to shine (no pun intended) and there is no doubt that everyone (including the reader) is supposed to love Fana as the enlightened one with extraordinary skills who holds the future of mankind in her veins. I "got" that this novel showed her as less monster, more human: she is a vulnerable, typical, confused, misguided teenager who throws caution to the wind and lives dangerously with no clue regarding the life-threatening consequences of her actions. In the span of one novel, she zooms through first crush, first kiss, to a ten-year engagement rooted in a questionable, antediluvian prophecy. Unfortunately, I failed to be enamored or empathetic with her in The Living Blood and still did not really connect with her or her friends (do-gooders to a fault) in this novel. Maybe it was the familiarity of themes used in other novels: the telepathic, humanitarian aspects elicited vibes from Octavia Butler's Patternmaster series, the evil Sanctus Cruor seemed akin to the misunderstood Opus Dei of The DaVinci Code fame.
Another annoyance is Jessica's (and now Fana's) overbearing, blinding insistence to share the blood (regardless of the ramifications to their friends and family) comes off as near fanaticism. Following the "like mother, like daughter" mantra, it is now both the Jessica and Fana's decisions that continue to endanger everyone around them while trying to save the innocent masses from disease, suffering, and death. I know that the light and goodness will prevail (or at least I hope so), but in order to pull it off, this hodgepodge family/team really needs to get it together because throughout this novel, it was more than apparent that they could barely save themselves let alone humanity. Last, buried in the pages, there is the banter and discussions from p