The rights to produce a film adaptation were purchased by Michael B. Jordan in February 2019 prior to release of the book.

He meets a shapeshifter known as Leopard and a young Ku man named Kava, with whom Tracker begins a sexual relationship.

His captors include an Ipundulu, a vampire who drains his victims and replaces their blood with lightning, as well as Sasabonsam, brother of Asambosam.

In addition to Tracker, members of this expedition include Leopard; Leopard’s bowman and lover Fumeli; Nyka, a man who previously betrayed Tracker by selling him into slavery; Nsaka, a mercenary and Nyka’s lover; Sadogo, a giant; Bunshi, a river spirit; and Sogolon, the Moon Witch, a sorceress who is hunted by the spirits of those she has killed.

Tracker and a city prefect named Mossi learn that the boy is the son of Lissisolo, King Kwash Dara’s sister, and thus the true heir to the throne.

Themes that the novel explores include the fundamentals of truths, the limits of power, the excesses of ambition, desire, Machiavellianism, duty and honor.

"[4] The novel's extensive exploration of meaning informs its linguistic and narrative structure and has led it to be generally considered a difficult text;[5][6][7] Jia Tolentino noted that "nearly every bit of dialogue is immediately challenged by another character.

[5] Gautam Bhatia argues that the extent to which the novel "denies us refuge in meaning" makes it unprecedented in epic fantasy.

[6] The book is pervaded by queerness; the integral role of shoga men in Tracker's society is referred to early.

[6] Several writers have noted that the book's frank portrayal of sex ("really aggressive queerness") is continuous from James's previous work as well,[11][12] which treats masculinity as "a wide, complex spectrum.

"[2] James has commented that the pervasive queerness of the book is an accurate depiction of Africa before the influence of evangelical Christianity.

[13][11][14] James conceived the idea for the book long before his reception of the 2015 Man Booker Prize for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings;[15] he has repeatedly expressed his desire to build a "vast playground of [African] myth and history and legend that other people can draw from,"[2] analogously to J. R. R. Tolkien's similar efforts for Britain.

[2][15][13] His research, which began "in August 2015," two months before he won the Booker,[11][4] took two years and was largely focused on the condition of "the pre-Christian, pre-Islam, original African religious Africa.

[16] He began writing after a conversation with Melina Matsoukas, who mentioned the television series The Affair, in which both halves of a troubled couple remember their affair in subtly different ways;[1][2][4] James intends the Dark Star trilogy to comprise three characters' conflicting accounts of the same events;[2][13] the sequel, Moon Witch, Spider King, is the witch Sogolon's account.

He later said that the description was a joke,[18][6] although he does not regret the comparison, commenting that both series retain supernatural elements while telling "decidedly adult" stories.

"[20] The style of the book has been much praised by reviewers, variously hymned as "a voice of almost overwhelming confidence, earthiness, and brio,"[21] one of "beautiful flexibility,"[22] and an "adroit mingling of ancient and modern tones.

"[6] James's unsparing depiction of violence was much discussed;[2][22][6][24][12] Bhatia remarked that the book "should come along with multiple trigger warnings for rape, bestiality, dismemberment, mutilation, and sudden and violent death.

Tolkien and George R. R. Martin "are wildly inaccurate to the experience of reading this book," describing it as "more like if Toni Morrison had written Ovid's Metamorphoses.

[29] In October 2019 Black Leopard, Red Wolf was named a finalist in the National Book Award for Fiction.