Blood Brothers (Mass Market Paperback)

by Steven Barnes (Author) "To find their path blocked by thirty feet of emerald dragon..." (more)
Key Phrases: Dahlia Washington, Advanced Graphics, Dahlia Childe (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Better known for his science fiction, including collaborations with Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Barnes (Firedance) here turns to dark fantasy with a story of occultism and race relations that ranges from the days of slavery to the present. Paranormal phenomena, including spontaneous human combustion, and the machinations of some human conspiracy beset the families of two men: Derek Waites, a black programmer of computer games, and Austin Tucker, a former Green beret major who's turned into a white supremacist. Waites investigates, first alone and then with Tucker, discovering that for centuries an African sorcerer and his former slavemaster have been prolonging their lives by preying on others. The magic is well handled, but Barnes often smothers his writing in testosterone, repeatedly referring to Tucker's physical strength and his "corded" muscles as if he thought his readers habitually perused the backs of old comic books for muscle-building tips. Better, however, is Barnes's view of racial issues, including a moving journal by a slave matriarch named Dahlia. Although some connections and plot resolutions are forced, the novel ultimately delivers as an exploration (albeit a turgid one) of the temptations and costs of power-both to those who have it and those who are sacrificed to it.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Barnes' sound and absorbing fantasy deals with that classic devil's bargain, achieving immortality by absorbing the life force of others, including one's own children. Three centuries ago, a southerner bought an African slave who knew the right magic, and for two centuries they survived by breeding children for slaughter. After the Civil War, however, the children were scattered. In contemporary Los Angeles, a black computer-game designer and a white racist ex-Green Beret both mysteriously lose children, learn that each of them is descended from the life stealers, and have to fight their own prejudices before they can fight the sorcery. Barnes' historical scenes are stronger than his contemporary ones, in which he sometimes overdoes the gritty realism, but no doubt about it, the book is a page-turner that may fall short of genius but is always intelligent entertainment. Roland Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Tor Science Fiction (October 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812548078
• ISBN-13: 978-0812548075
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,165,596 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #32 in

  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( B ) > Barnes, Steven

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read; Excellent Race Relation Examination, January 9, 2002

By	Omni (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

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.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, August 11, 2002

By	R. Allen "Uptown's own" (New York N.Y.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Twists-Turns-Plots & Sub-Plots, July 5, 2004

By	ACE (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

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!"