Review of _Blackheart Man_ by Nalo Nalo Hopkinson


Veycosi, a historian and musician in training, is impulsive and prone to making gaffes and mistakes. He is sincere and earnest, but can't quite manage to be successful. He is engaged, but his fiancees are not willing to go through with the marriage until he successfully completes his education. Unfortunately, he pursues a bold idea to solve a problem, and creates more problems as a result, which derails his education and his status in the community. While all this is happening to Veycosi personally, his island is being invaded by a larger, better armed group of people, and Veycosi continues to try to solve problems with clever ideas and shortcuts and keeps causing greater problems. 


Hopkinson weaves a complex plot and keeps all the threads going throughout the novel. It's carefully plotted and satisfying. 

I will say that the mix of English with the other language used was sometimes confusing. The words could eventually be figured out from context, but to be honest, the mix of languages felt needlessly confusing, especially without a gloss or explanation (at least in the edition I read).

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