Blood Colony and My Soul to Take

Listen. Look. I know. What am I doing with my life and time? Reading, barely functioning, and just not writing. If I wasn’t physically down from the illness and plagues that the kids dragged in from the outside, I was mentally down because of all the obvious reasons. I have a lot of writing to catch up on.

I finished a couple of series, the one I most proud of finishing is the African Immortals by Tananarive Due. So far there are four titles, with the last two being Blood Colony and My Soul to Take. 

The series starts with the story of Jessica, a young black journalist who is marred to an older charming and respected professor of Jazz, David, and the secret he is keeping from her about his past. The second book is about the consequences his lies and withholding had on their family, and is focused on how Jessica can live with the trauma of becoming an immortal like David. It explains more of the brotherhood while also giving a counter approach to the blood gift - Jessica and her sister want to help those in need with the only true miracle their world has ever known - healing blood.

These last two books focuses on the child that Jessica and David conceive in their immortal blood state. (I am trying to not give any real spoilers!) Fana is special, unique, and powerful, but by the end of the story you can see how she is also a product of her parents and the people who raised her. 

As someone terrified of death and aging, any vampire story is enticing, but what I like most about this series is that is a unique take on immortality. While Blood Colony focuses on the healing aspect of blood, you will not find that this group is feasting or craving it. The lore of “who was the first” and “how did they gain immortality” is important because it should make us question what is true and how much is this about the powerful writing out the fate of the other characters involved.

It uses Christian stories to explain the magic in the universe, and plays on the idea of who is chosen and how much of that is a blessing or a curse. If you can’t tell, I love when stories incorporate any type of Christian mythology within it to humanize or give perspective, so seeing more of these elements in the last two novels was perfect.

As the story shifts in tone to the religious and the occult, the social commentary about race, health, inequality, and wealth disparity (within context to their blood) is not diminished. It has grown to say something about both the illegal drug and legal pharmaceutical industries and gives us a brandname for the blood “Glow”.

Both books keep up the globetrotting thriller tone that I have to expect with this series, and have introduced some new locations like Mexico. This becomes important for the last book, Fana has some loose ends to tie up after the promises she makes in Blood Colony. Since it ended as a cliff hanger, I felt compelled to read My Soul to Take as soon as I felt up for it so I could see how she would deal with the position she was in.

The new element in the last book is Fana’s love for a musician name Phoenix. We get a taste of a pop icon and what her music could do when combined with Fans’s abilities. Ever since Anne Rice opened me up to the idea that a made up character could be in a made up band and that could be important for the made up story, I have respected anyone else who makes use of their imagination and attempts this.

For my complaints, I would say why did this story have to end?! And if these are just cliff hangers, as I hope with the last book, then why did she have to right such good ones because I need to know what is going on next with Johnny, Fana, and Michel. I also have the usual complaint against Fana for some of the choices that were made, but that has more to do with me thinking I know better and that I would make better choices in the same circumstances (delusional or just regular old Virgo energy?). I know those are not real complaints, they are made up ones in attempt to say this series is perfect the way it is. Unless it is complete, in which case one more book please?!

The Living Blood by Tananarive Due

I am in some type of mood where the second book of the series seems to be hitting the spot. Maybe this is a new phase of my life, or just a coincidence. Since this book series is about supernatural events of course I am quick to declare not a coincidence - totally a sign of something!

The Living Blood is the second book in a series by Tananarive Due that was started in the 90s. My husband, who is not a reader, clocked this when I mentioned that the main male character so far has been described to look like Blair Underwood (so much so that he was tied to the movie adaptation and referenced in the book itself). 

The other way the time period is noted is that Tananarive Due does not limit herself to one genre when telling her story. It is clear that this is an epic thriller that is cross continental, and while it may be fantasy with some science fiction, it is also a way for the writer to tell a scary story via a black woman’s perspective. Even before the events that kick off the black lives moment, she took the horror of the civil rights movement to write some of the most terrifying torture scenes that I have read in a long time.

I have seen her and this series compared to Anne Rice, and I have also seen that Stephen King has given his quote/seal of approval for her writing. I kinda see the Stephen King endorsement as more fitting. This story is scary in the way that pet cemetery is scary. What would a parent do to save their child’s life? 

It is a “vampire novel” that takes place in South Africa and Ethiopia, all over the African continent in a way most white horror novels take place in Europe. It was written by a black woman and it is not the tired plot (though I do love it) of a talented young thing being selected by a hot vampire for intense sex the rest of their live. There is substance and this story is original enough that I could see it being a point of reference for writers the way that Anne Rice is. But I still insist that her writing is more like Stephen King, just the right amount of description and tons of fast moving action in comparison.

Without giving away too much: Jessica is a black American woman who comes from a strong family and has support after the devastating events that proceed this in the first book: My Soul to Take. Traumatized, changed by those events, and after learning that her husband was hundreds of years old by means of secret brotherhood of Ethiopian immortals, Jessica must start to find a new normal. At the same time, a father in America whose son is dying of leukemia, is chasing a magical cure whatever the cost. 

The appeal of horror novels is that it can scare you on so many levels, superficially and with its deeper meanings.

This book imagines what healing blood would mean to a good but also naive black woman who has suffered personal loss. She would want to save as many children as possible from preventable deaths. It makes me think how few books imagine a world without illness, cancer, or AIDS. I think that is the real taboo, and imagining a cure for some specific illness can be trite. It is easier for writers to imagine characters dying from a made up disease than to imagine a world where we could do something about AIDS and how that would look like. Reality is easy and dreams can seem so lofty and childish. This book embraces the naivety of the main character Jessica and helps drives the plot and actions. It works. 

I would say the trigger warning is that this book is about reality - the fear of losing a child and the physical acts of racism that cannot be escaped. Most of the main and supporting characters are black, wealthy, educated, strong people, needed in their communities, and there is a range in appearance (some lighter than others). Removed of its fantastical elements, this could still be a news story of how Dr. Lucas Shepherd was treated during a protest or how Sarah was found as a passenger in a car during a run in with cops. There is torture, but this is the reality within Tananarive Due’s writing, making this book feel close to a place we inhabit today.

Anyway I loved it, I want to read the rest. I want to read all her other books. I am now a huge fan.