Customer Reviews

Blood Brothers

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

As anyone knows, I'm a tough sell. It takes a lot for a book to capture my imagination and make me want to really, really read it and regret it when I reach the end. Blood Brothers was just such a book. What makes it a good book?
"In L.A., young black computer games programmer/hacker Derek Waites is horrified when a cop attempts to abduct his children- -promising teenager Troy and lovable young Dee--and his ex-wife Rachel. Recently, Dee has been going into trances and reporting messages from a certain Dahlia Washington. The connection? Well, Derek's family is descended from Dahlia and slave-owner Augustus DuPris; now hundreds of years old, DuPris is a sorcerer who rejuvenates himself by feeding on the life-forces of his descendants. Dahlia says that a man named Tucker can help Derek. Tucker, it emerges, is white, has connections to neo-Nazi groups, and is rotting in jail for murdering his family! But--aha!--Tucker is descended from another sorcerer, The African, DuPris's partner, who preys upon Tucker's family just as DuPris preys upon Derek's. So, even if Derek can bust Tucker out of jail, can the two set aside their differences to save Derek's children and defeat the sorcerers?"
That's the basic set-up but what makes this novel compelling is how each character actually has a personality. The novel does tend to jerk a little at the end, unfortunately the strongest books of this nature can't live up in scale in the end. That's a given when the book is really good. The trade-off is that the story really pumps as Derek and Tucker genuinely don't like one another, for self-valid reasons. At the heart of this book is themes of racism and underlying relationships. It's one of the first books that I've seen that suggested a physical and spiritual need for a cooperation between Black and White people, I think that's what makes this book outstanding. You could point out that Derek and Tucker as archetypes are reversed for socialized views of what they should be or should know---Derek has no "killer instinct" (his hesitancy puts him and others at risks and at the same time makes him invaluable as he stops and evaluates each move, like a chess player and Tucker is constantly acting without thinking (his greatest strength but also his greatest limitation).
I personally believe that the link between all the People's of this here planet Earth is basic, perhaps even down to the blood and the magic realism/sci fi-esque field will explore this area quicker than other forms of literature. The summer after discovering Steven Barnes I then found his name as a note on a Tananarive Due books, all three which are excellent as well. Between the two of them there is a slow but steady emergence in the Fantasy (? I have no idea what to specifiy this field as, it covers so many areas but I do believe that at a point it is firmly grounded New Literature).
This book then lead me on to another Barnes book, Iron Shadows and the measure of a book is whether or not one will go out and buy a book by the author again. Steven Barnes delivers.

This was a very good read, I do believe that it is a book that is a mixture of science fiction, horror and mystery all rolled into one. It also addresses the issues of race relations. All in All I enjoyed it.

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!"

Steven Barnes's BLOOD BROTHERS is part volatile race relations and part supernatural thriller, and it's a recipe for a good read. This book features a behind-the-scenes look at computer game programming, an angry super warrior, a terrific family unaware of its magical heritage, and evil, O so evil voodoo magic.

Derek Waites hasn't had an easy life, part of it being his fault. Back in the day a notorious computer hacker nicknamed Captain Africa, Derek paid for his crimes with a stint in prison. Nowadays he's a legit computer game designer and plays doting dad to two beautiful children. He still tends to stick to childish things, living life like a frathouse party, and this bump of irresponsibility has cost him his marriage. And, for Derek Waites, life is about to get horrifyingly worse, paranormally worse.

The Waites family - even Derek's soon-to-be-divorced wife Rachel - are at the L.A. Zoo celebrating young Dee's seventh birthday (although Barnes soon after refers to her as an eight-year-old) when Dee begins burning up and a grown woman's voice emerges from her lips, promptly followed by a foiled attempt to abduct 13-year-old Troy Waites in broad daylight. For the ex-con Derek, it's even more alarming to learn that the police may be in on it.

Steven Barnes, who really gets into his characters and makes you feel for them, knows how to treat you to a white knuckle ride. Things quickly escalate for the Waites family, until soon they're fleeing for their lives and panicking about Dee's condition. We soon learn that she's being possessed by her however-many-times great grandmother, Dahlia Childe, a black woman and a slave hundreds of years ago. Dahlia has a warning. Dark magic, rooted from her past, still haunts the world and it's targeting her descendants. Dahlia urges Derek to seek the Warrior... who turns out to be a white supremacist.

Derek's search unearths Austin Tucker, a hulkish, white ex-Green Beret serving serious time for multiple murders. Tucker's life was shattered more than a decade ago, a few evenings before Thanksgiving when a brutal home invasion cost him his family's lives. Framed for their deaths, Tucker's only thought is on revenge. He gets a chance at this when Derek breaks him out of stir. But even the Warrior won't be enough when faced against corrupt sorcerers hundreds of years old and bent on living for much longer, their core sustenance dependent on the perpetual murdering of Dahlia Childe's descendants.

I've liked Steven Barnes's stuff for a while now. In the '80s and early '90s, guy wrote the bonecrunching sci-fi/action series featuring Aubrey Knight (Streetlethal, Gorgon Child, Firedance) and, in collaboration with Larry Niven, churned out the fantastic Dream Park series (Dream Park, The Barsoom Project (Dream Park series, Book 2), The California Voodoo Game, A Dream Park Novel). I first read BLOOD BROTHERS when it came out in the mid-'90s and I still recall its impact of occult kickassery and forceful theme of black vs. white. Although, re-reading this recently, I've forgotten that the story early on takes place during the Rodney King scandal. Austin Tucker makes for a powerful action hero, embittered and a racist and still mourning the loss of his fam. Tucker stands in for a particular protagonist Barnes seems to favor - that of a tough, nail-chewing, unstoppable man of action. And, this time, his protagonist is gifted with uncanny reflexes, brought about by a supernatural heritage. In the realm of martial arts-flavored sci-fi literature, Barnes is almost up there with Steve Perry. However, note that Tucker isn't really a martial artist as much as a freakily fast brawler. Everything slows down for Tucker to the extent that he can predict his opponent's next move, kind of like the Batgirl, Cassandra Cain.

It's saying something then that Derek Waites turns out to be the more absorbing character. Derek, a nerdy black computer programmer, makes for a more thoughtful lead and it's gratifying that the poor guy takes his licks but keeps on ticking, even as he fusses and gets his fright on plenty of times. BLOOD BROTHERS is one of those reads which keeps you flipping pages, racing to see how the bad guys, portrayed here as insanely powerful, get what's coming to them and, even more importantly, how it works out between Tucker and Derek, who as you can guess, don't start out as high-fiving chums. Their evolution from hostile strangers to uneasy allies to fast friends is one of the book's strengths. Barnes doesn't make it an easy transition.

Steven Barnes introduces us to a captivating family. The Waites are folks whom you immediately relate to and pull for. I like that Rachel, Derek's soon-to-be ex-wife genuinely loves her fiance and doesn't easily crawl back to Derek, even when dire straits fling them together. It's also more realistic that Rachel's fiance is actually an okay dude who genuinely care for her kids, although it's a bit much that he's a famous actor. Although, okay, the story does take place muchly in L.A.

Dee, the seven or eight-year-old girl, is absolutely adorable, although I found it disturbing whenever she would get possessed. 13-year-old Troy Waites is also interesting. Tucker takes the Waites to a "safe" place and this turns out to be - and this is funny in a sick way - a survivalist camp inhabited by well-armed white racists. One of the best moments in the book happens when, scared to be in the camp but trying to make a statement, feisty teenager Troy plays Tucker in a one-on-one basketball game. Tucker, remember, is blindingly fast. But, as we find out, so is Troy. I ate up the play by play.

It would've been hard coming up with a finale slam-bang enough and gratifying enough to live up to the way the plot unfolded, of the extreme odds stacked up against the protagonists and given Austin's talents and the soul-sucking stakes. Barnes does pretty good, and there's explosiveness and extreme peril and plenty kickassery. But, yes, ruefully I was expecting something even bigger.

Developing a jones for the blood and crunch and character development of this story, I've been waiting for some sort of sequel. But it's been over a decade now, so prospects look increasingly grim. I've read one of Steven Barnes's latest books, Great Sky Woman, and it's fine pseudo-historical fiction. But that book doesn't boast angelic kids running around, impishly doling out check marks for bad behavior. Or tough hombres who could stop your heartbeat with a strategic palm slammed to the chest. Ah, good times.

Steven Barnes is better known for science fiction, but this novel from 1996 was an early example of his forays into other genres, in this case a Koontz-ish supernatural thriller. The plotline here is very busy and ambitious, maybe too much so, with ancient African black magic unleashing an evil menace that was fueled by the horrors of slavery in America and continues to this day in a far-flung conspiracy of kidnapping and murder. Barnes layers on an incredibly intricate series of plat elements and manages to tie up all (or most) of the loose ends, really making the reader appreciate the complexity of the story, even though some of that complexity can be exasperating.

But this novel's real strengths are on the thematic side. Having two protagonists who should and initially do hate each other (a young black computer hacker and a violent white supremacist), who then have to resolve their differences and work together, is a pretty well-worn conceit but Barnes uses it brilliantly. The main characters are robust and defy stereotypes, and Barnes constructs incredibly disturbing and thought-provoking insights on race relations and the evils that can arise from a long history of discrimination and oppression. While this book's backdrop story of an evil conspiracy and the resulting chase can be unnecessarily dense, Barnes lays out his plotlines and sub-plotlines very well and his thematic insights are ultimately stirring and fascinating for the reader. In a genre that's been done to death with formulaic plots and stereotypical characters, this one rises above the pack. [~doomsdayer520~]

Although this book has been released for quite some time I am just now reading it and I was initially excited to read this novel. It is the first novel that I have read by this writer.

The basic premise sounded interesting...black and white related through blood who have to unite and put aside their differences in order to defeat a great evil.

Well I felt that alot of the plotted storyline was forced in order to advance the story. I hate to say it but it was like Barnes was too lazy to exercise his creativity and create a way that made more sense to connect some points in the story. Some parts were just too tidily handled. He wasn't creative in the way that suspense in the story was resolved either. You're on the edge of your seat trying to figure out how they are going to get out of the conflict this time and then something happens that is just too tidy and too convenient to really suspend disbelief.

Also, this is not necessarily Barnes's fault, probably more the editor(s), but the book was full of typos. And some words were overused in the story. It was hard to follow sometimes who was speaking during the dialog scenes as well. Again, more the editor(s) fault?

The character development was "okay." Barnes was overconcerned I felt with physical descriptions of the characters but he did a fairly decent job from time to time of getting the reader into the character's head.

All in all, I know I will probably not read another Steven Barnes novel. My time is limited to read though this is one of my favorite pasttimes. I hate finishing a novel that I am not really all that impressed with feeling like it was a colossal waste of time and that I could have been spending my time reading something more worthwhile.

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?!!!

Steven Barnes has created a nice balance between the supernatural element and the traditional elements of an action novel - male bonding, moral dilemmas, desperate combat, military technology and character development. I liked the fact that his main character breaks some of the typical stereotypes. Not only is he black, he is also a computer geek and father whose wife is divorcing him. Definitely worth reading!

Great combination of historical research with dark fantasy. Really picks up momentum as the book rolls along. I'm good at guessing endings and I thought I had this one figured out half way through. I was wrong. It's a worthy read.