My Thoughts:
Thanks to Harper360YA for providing me with an ARC!
Fantasy short stories are some of the hardest out there to write. You’re creative space is already very limited, so to have to build an entire world, magic system, and cast of characters while also retaining a coherent plot, all in about 15 pages? In my opinion, it’s nearly impossible. As a result, my favorites from this collection were mainly the sci-fi or magical realism stories, while the rest I found to be a bit lacking or confusing.
My highlights were:
➳ Shame and Social Media by Anna Meriano
➳ This Mortal Coil by David Bowles
➳ Isla Bella by Ari Tison
➳ Twenty Thousand Leagues Away From Me by Eric Smith
I’m glad I read it and if you normally enjoy short story anthologies, then I would definitely recommend checking this one out! I just struggled when it came to the fantasy stories as I didn’t feel like there was enough space for them to be properly fleshed out. Happy Reading 🙂
My Thoughts:
Thank you to Harper360YA and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC for review!
What a powerful anthology! I’m not the biggest poetry fan but I found this collection to be really accessible, with a short outro following each poem to explain a bit more about it, and I thought that the way the poems were divided up into four “volumes” was a great call as it made me look for a common vein or theme while each poem remained so unique. This anthology did an amazing job of giving us readers a taste of just how vast and rich the history of the Black experience is. I found that not every poem in the collection particularly resonated with me, but I came away with so much to think about and would highly recommend this book to poetry and non-poetry readers alike! Happy Reading 🙂
The Art of Reading 