Two years ago, LaDarrian Williams took the internet by storm when he joined booktok to promote his upcoming novel Blood at the Root--a YA, coming of age story about a Black boy attending a magical HBCU. For many, it was the Black Harry Potter (curse the name) that they had long been wanting for themselves. So I knew early on that this was going to be a massive book.

I read it very soon after release and for the most part, I liked it. As you may recall, there was a lot of discourse about the book--some good, some bad. And I enjoyed engaging with all of it. So of course when LaDarrian reached out and offered me an early ARC, I said yes!

It's been about a month since I read it and I finally have some time to sit down and share my experience with you!

Summary

Bones at the Crossroads is the second installment in the Blood at the Root series. It follows Malik, a Black boy who was recently enrolled in a magical HBCU after finding out he has inherited magical powers from his mother. In Blood at the Root, he not only began the process of learning to control his power, but he was also forced to confront a group of people in his life who had betrayed him at intimate levels, including his girlfriend Alexis, one of his closest friends and his own Mother, who was previously presumed dead. Now he must explore the depths of his power and learn how to protect himself and everyone in his life from his homicidal--and insanely powerful--mother, but he must do so while he also tries to figure out how to live his life in the meantime.

If you enjoyed Blood at the Root, I think you will also enjoy Bones at the Crossroads. The writing is very similar, both in its prose and dialogue. However, there are a few elements that I thought were delivered a bit better in this second installment. First being:

THE DIALOGUE & CHARACTERS: While I thought the dialogue was the strongest element in the first book, I felt that LaDarrian stepped it up a bit in this one. I can't tell if that is because the writing itself is better or if it is because I just liked this set of characters better. For instance, with the betrayal of Alexis, Malik now finds himself considering the attentions of another girl. One whom I like quite a bit more, if I'm being honest.

I loved Alexis, don't get me wrong. But she very clearly existed to challenge Malik's morality and to test how far he is willing to go to keep people safe. And while I saw value in that, I struggled to really connect with her, knowing that she would ultimately betray or corrupt Malik. This new love interest is just that: a love interest. She is a girl who goes to school with a boy and kind of likes him. And ya know... I love that. I also thought some of the characters we already knew were much more thoroughly explored. I loved getting to know more about his friends, his teachers, his family, all of it.

THE WOMEN: One of the biggest critiques that I saw being thrown around regarding Blood at the Root was the fact that women were tools in the story. The two most important women in Malik's life ultimately betrayed him, his grandmother represented the failure of his entire family and then after redeeming herself was snatched from his life almost immediately. There were no women who played a central role who were just... good. And overall, I agreed with that critique. That book was marketed as being written for Black boys, and after reading it, i felt it definitely spoke to the little Black boy in me, but I wanted more from the Black girls in the story. But I also knew it was the first book in a series and I was very curious whether we were heading somewhere, so I knew I wanted to read more of the series. And I'm glad I did!

I thought Blood at the Crossroads gave us several women who were more developed, complicated without being evil, and fully autonomous. While they were imbedded into Malik's life, they did not exist solely to develop his character. We were also able to get some real context for the choices that Alexis and Malik's mother made in book one. Which meant a lot to me personally.

As for critiques, there were moments where the story was trying to teach us something (which is good), but it did so by having the teenagers launch into conversations that didn't quite feel authentic to how teenagers would talk about these things. But ultimately, it didn't bother me, because I like a fantasy that has real world conversations.

Overall, I had a good experience with this book. It answered a lot of the questions I left book one with and I look forward to reading the rest of the series as it comes out. I still have a lot of questions about the magic and some of our character's motivations and I look forward to having those questions answered.

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