Set largely in Helena, Alabama, Blood at the Root tells the story of Malik Baron who has pain, anger and magic in his DNA. At age seven on the night his magic manifests, Malik’s mama disappears. Believing his magic is responsible for this loss and that he killed his mama, Malik buries his talent because he can’t always control it and because it reminds him of pain.
Inspired by Toni Morrison, Ladarrion Williams sets out to cultivate a new era of Black fantasy with this book, one that celebrates Black boys and their magic, one that shouts, “Blackness is magic!”
Given his mother’s disappearance and suspected death and an absent father, Malik ends up in the foster care system. Here he meets Alexis Williams, only to be once again separated from his childhood friend. Craving family, now, he clings to twelve-year-old Taye as his brother, whom he has vowed to protect. “We may not be blood, but we’re brothers, and I have to protect my little brother from the bullshit this world got to offer” (25).
Once he graduates from high school and ages out of the foster care system, Malik is determined to start a new life in California, taking Taye with him. However, the Carlwell’s aren’t ready to let Taye go, and Malik resorts to a reckless magic rescue that gets his magic detected by members of the Kwasan tribe.
Soon, Malik is reunited with a grandmother in New Orleans and family he never knew existed. Troubled and unwilling to trust these people and their intentions, Malik feels the sting of abandonment all the more. Nevertheless, he decides there is no use holding on to bad memories when he and Taye can make new ones.
With his “bullshit detector tweaking,” Malik stays on alert, but with pictures and memories and aromas of his past home, he realizes this may be a place for Taye to grow up. Because his grandmother, Mama Aya wants her grandson to learn his power as well as his history, she is determined to send him to Caiman University. Despite his initial belligerence, Malik decides that at Caiman he will find the answers and gain the tools to help him discover the truth behind his mama’s disappearance.
Although he is reunited with Alexis at Caimin, Malik also encounters adversaries and challenges. His classes teach him about bane magic, and the mystery of his mother’s involvement in this “horror-movie magic” with a connection to the Bokors becomes a real possibility. “The Bokors were known to summon dark magic that can sometimes beckon the daka—demon. They steal your soul, your magic, memories, and everything about you” (131).
Malik also learns his history as a conjurer and how his magic is from nature and connected to his ancestors. Through visions and spellcasting, he realizes that his roots and his power run deep. Malik further gains lessons about magic’s cost, about the price we pay to maintain balance.
When young people with magic begin to go missing, Alexis turns into an activist, so Malik must decide whether magic is judge and jury, something to use vengefully, or whether to police himself according to the rules set forth by the Kwasan tribe. After all, intention is everything, not only in magic but in life. It is the core of our power.
As the mysteries swirl, Malik gets caught in their energy. And the power of influence has its own brand of magic, as does love. As Malik gradually begins to trust and to allow people in, he unwittingly opens the possibility for betrayal. When a war erupts, Malik finds himself on the front lines—protecting not just family but identity and a way of life.
In addition to these lessons, Williams’ book shares other truths—about how hurt people hurt people and about how resilience is a form of magic. Mama Aya states: “The world may be fallin’ down round us, but best believe we gon’ laugh, we gon’ dance, and we gon’ be family. . . . No matter how much hate, how much pain they throw at us, we always gon’ rise” (318).
Readers additionally understand the truth in the saying, “With great power comes great responsibility” (412).
- Donna