Blood Slaves by Markus Redmond

Welcome Back, Booklovers! I've been talking about reading Blood Slaves for months now. I often see people online say we have enough slave stories or don't recommend me any stories with slavery in them or back in the day the only Black books were slavery stories. But if we pause for a moment how many book titles can be name that we read that have been about slavery? I've spoken about it before but I too used to be one of those people who would see a mention of slavery and run in the opposite direction. Until I finally sat down and read some historical fiction and dealt with why. Blood Slaves takes that slave narrative and interjects some fantasy and horror answering the question, "What would the slaves do if they had the power to free themselves?" I received a copy for review from Kensington Books Publishing.

In 1710 Carolina the enslaved people are suffering on the Barrow plantation. Every day is like hell on earth with no end in sight. Though they try to steal moments of joy here and there, there's always someone waiting to snuff it out. After a failed escape, and brutal assaults on both him and his love Gertie, he finally reaches his breaking point. This is when he meets Rafazi, a survivor of the Ramanga tribe, an African vampire tribe. He convinces Willie to take back his power and together they build an army to rise against the plantation owner and his overseers.

Blood Slaves does not shy away from the true horrors of slavery which does make this a heavier read. The novel opens to every day life in slave village. There's gruesome violence against men, women, and children. The cinematic writing style helps paint a vivid image of the life of these people. While Willie is the main character readers also get outside povs from a variety of characters and seeing the male perspective contrasted against more than one woman's perspective allows for some interesting discussions. 

This book explores who gets to decide what is good and bad and how we make those decisions. Gertie for much of the book is against the idea of vampirism and taking revenge into their own hands believing it will make them the same as the monsters they're rising up against. She clings to the few happy moments she and Willie have had together having hope that one day their suffering will be over. While Irene is a mixed-race house slave that doesn't quite fit in anywhere, having the blood that makes her closer to the white people may elevate her over those in the field but there's horrors working in the house she must deal with. And when she and a few of the other women take vengeance into their own hands it is satisfying. 

Even-paced with a cinematic like writing style Blood Slaves will keep readers wanting more. The same way Sinners was more than a movie about vampires this is more than a book about vampires.