Blood at the Root

Blood at the Root is a 2024 young adult novel by LaDarrion Williams. It is the first in a trilogy of fantasy novels that follows 17-year-old Malik Barron as he discovers his ability to use magic. After his magic awakens when he is seven years old, Malik causes the death of three cloaked figures and his mother's disappearance. A decade later, his grandmother finds him and introduces him to the world of magic. Through his new family, friendships, and professors, Malik navigates young adulthood and the unfolding conflicts within the magical community. The novel explores themes of The Importance of Community and Belonging, The Lasting Effects of Trauma, and The Corrupting Nature of Power.

This guide uses the 2024 hardcover first edition of the novel published by Labyrinth Road.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of racism, enslavement, cursing, child death, death, sexual content, and graphic violence. The source text also uses the n-word.

Plot Summary

Seven-year-old Malik Baron lives in Alabama. He is celebrating the Fourth of July with his family when he has the overwhelming sense that something is wrong at home. He rushes there to find his mother in bed, chanting in a language he doesn’t understand, surrounded by four cloaked figures. As Malik tries to help her, he realizes that he can produce blue flames with his hands. His mother vanishes in a flash of light and fire engulfs the room. When Malik recovers, his mother is gone, and three of the men before him are dead.

A decade later, Malik has spent the last 10 years in foster care and various foster families. He has ignored his magical ability, haunted by what it did to his mother and the figures in his room. He can do small things like move objects or unlock doors but refuses to practice or use magic except when necessary. He met one other person with magical abilities—a young girl named Alexis—but she was adopted, and he has not seen her in nearly a decade.

Malik goes to the Hudson house, one of his former foster homes, where his foster brother Taye is still living. Malik steals a car, and then attacks the Hudsons, using his magic to escape with Taye. They plan to go to California and start a life together, but when Taye loses consciousness due to his diabetes, Malik pulls over at a gas station. He is forced to knock out the attendant, steal food, and then flee from the station.

When Taye fails to recover, Malik pulls over. A Black man in a purple suit, whistling and smoking a cigar, comes up and knocks on Malik’s window. He calls Malik by name, telling him to use his magic to heal Taye. When Malik fails, the man heals Taye and introduces himself as Bawan Samedi. He gives Malik a letter addressed to him and an address for a woman claiming to be Malik’s grandmother, then vanishes.

Malik decides to drive to the address, as he is curious about the woman named Mama Aya. He arrives at a large old home in a parish in Louisiana that features a tree out front with glass bottles hanging from it. Samedi is out front dancing with his wife, whom he introduces as Brigitte.

Malik learns that Mama Aya is his mother’s mother. She has been searching for Malik for years but has only recently been able to feel his magic. She baptizes Malik, explaining that he has ancestral magic that is centuries old. Despite her help, Malik is bitter that Mama Aya let him spend years in foster care without finding him.

A man named Taron visits Mama Aya. Malik overhears them talking about Caiman University, a historically Black university for people who have magical abilities. They also discuss the disappearance of several students, which is causing an uproar within the magical community. Taron is the Chancellor of Caiman, and Mama Aya convinces him to allow Malik to attend. Although Malik is hesitant at first, he agrees after he learns that his mother went to school there, hoping to find answers about what happened to her.

At Caiman, Malik reunites with Alexis, and the two slowly admit their feelings for each other. Alexis becomes fixated on helping the children who are going missing—both inside and out of the magical community. She introduces Malik to several of her friends, including Donja, Elijah, and Savon, and Malik begins to enjoy his time at Caiman as he learns about his ancestral history and how to control his magical ability.

Malik repeatedly butts heads with Chancellor Taron, primarily because of his seeming inaction over the disappearing students. Meanwhile, he grows close with one of his professors, Kumale, who serves as Malik’s mentor. He slowly gleans information about his mother’s disappearance, learning that she was researching bane magic, a type of magic that requires blood sacrifice. While she was revered at Caiman for her magical ability, several people also tell Malik that she was going down a dark path.

Outside the school, Malik learns about the politics of the magical community. The Kwasan tribe is the ruling tribe of the area, with Taron’s mother—Empress—as their ruler. They took control over a century ago by putting an end to the Bokor, a tribe of conjurers that use bane magic to steal magic by killing young conjurers. Now, with conjurers disappearing, people believe that the Bokor is coming back. There is unrest in the community as people fear that the Kwasan tribe is not doing enough to protect them.

In an effort to figure out what is happening, Malik and Mama Aya return to Malik’s childhood home. They discover a map that his mother was drawing to the fabled Scroll of Idan, said to grant unlimited power to whoever discovers it. He also finds his mother’s golden necklace. However, they are interrupted by the arrival of the Bokor, who destroy much of the town. After a fight, Malik and Mama Aya manage to kill most of the Bokor, forcing their leader to flee.

Back at campus, Malik confronts Taron about the Bokor returning. Taron tries to dismiss Malik, but when Malik touches him, he sees flashes of Taron’s memories. He discovers that Taron was part of the group that attacked his mother a decade before and realizes that Taron is working with the Bokor. He flees his office and then goes to Alexis for help.

Alexis and Malik decide to search Taron’s office, and Alexis helps Malik create a portal that allows him to see Taron’s memories. Malik discovers that Taron and his mother were in love, and Taron gave her the necklace Malik found. However, they broke up when Taron began to believe that she was turning to dark magic. Malik confirms that Taron was there the night his mother disappeared, but before he can discover anything more, he is pulled from the memories and ends up back at Mama Aya’s house.

Taron tries to defend himself to Mama Aya but admits to being part of Malik’s mother’s disappearance. This devastates Mama Aya, who was never told the truth. Taron insists that he was doing it to protect everyone, as they banished Malik’s mother for her use of dark magic and to stop the return of the Bokor.

Malik angrily flees Mama Aya’s home with Taye and Alexis. As they drive down the road, Donja stops them. Donja reveals that Malik killed his parents a decade ago when he defended his mother. Kumale then comes out of the forest with several members of the Bokor, revealing that he is working with them to bring back his deceased brother. They plan to sacrifice Malik to bring his brother back, but before they can, Taye, Alexis, and Malik are transported back to Mama Aya’s.

The next day, Taye and Malik are outside discussing what to do when the Bokor attack. Alexis is with them, and she reveals that she betrayed Malik in exchange for stronger magic; she also stole Malik’s mother’s necklace and the map to the Scroll of Idan for Kumale.

A fight breaks out in Mama Aya’s yard involving the Bokor, Donja, Kumale, Samedi, Mama Aya, Malik, and his friends who come to help. In the climax of the fight, Kumale corners Malik at the ancestral tree. He cuts his arm and produces Malik’s mother’s necklace. With Malik’s blood, his mother appears. Malik initially hugs her, but she immediately starts questioning him about the Scroll of Idan. He can tell that evil has overcome her. As Mama Aya destroys many of the Bokor, Malik’s mother flees with Kumale.

Thinking the fight is over, Malik and his friends and family relax. However, Donja reappears, stabbing and killing Mama Aya. Malik is devastated, but Taron tells him that Mama Aya’s sacrifice is part of what brought Malik back to their land.

Over the next few days, Malik grapples with what he experienced. He is devasted by the Kumale and Alexis’s betrayal but accepts Taron’s decision to expel Alexis. He questions his other friends about whether they will betray him, but they insist they are there to support him. Feeling as though he belongs for the first time in his life, Malik decides to continue at Caiman, learning everything he can about magic, and defeat his mother and the Bokor.