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618 reviews for:
A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope
Patrice Caldwell
3.94 AVERAGE
618 reviews for:
A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope
Patrice Caldwell
3.94 AVERAGE
Great variety, and almost uniformly good. More fantasy stories than SF, but it’s great seeing these diverse voices step up and take center stage. Well worth the read.
Really strong collection of YA stories that each stood out on their own, but worked together beautifully as an anthology. This book reminded me why I enjoy fantasy/speculative fiction so much. All the feels!
I enjoyed a couple of the stories with in the book, but some of the them seemed more like snippets of a bigger book and not fully realized short story while others were not my cup of tea at all. Thee are some really great ones in here though!
This collection of short stories focuses on Black girls in scifi and fantasy worlds. These tales started off and ended strong.
Though, some of these stories read more like snippets of a novel, and some felt confusing and underdeveloped.
Though, some of these stories read more like snippets of a novel, and some felt confusing and underdeveloped.
medium-paced
This was such a satisfying collection of short stories. Beautiful. Brave. Empowering. Diverse. Each short story was like a blanket of light that wrapped itself around me and comforted or challenged me, sometimes both. Though there were multiple favorites the short story that stood out to me was 'Hearts Turned to Ash' by Dhonielle Clayton. The wisdom in this story, I realized, was applicable to all relationships in general. I am excited to start exploring some of these authors' other works.
A Phoenix First Must Burn is a book that embodies “black girl magic” written by a diverse group of female African American authors. It’s a collection of sixteen short stories told through the perspective of African American characters through fantasy, sci-fi and folktale. Described as Beyonce’s Lemonade meets Olivia Butler; it’s beautifully well written, powerful and moving read, displaying diversity and representation (nonconformity, LGBT+, etc)
I really enjoyed a few of the short stories. Although the genres focused in the book were fantasy and sci-fi they touched on real life issues and events that I and others could relate to such as love, betrayal, body positivity, mental health, personal growth, racism and many more. Although the stories were about 20-30 pages long, the characters were so complex. You were able to connect to some of them and feel what they were feeling. I felt a few of the stories were impactful and made you think after each read
I would have to say my favourites stories were Gilded by Elizabeth Acevedo, The Rules Of The Land by Alaya Dawn Johnson, Justina Ireland, The Actress by Danielle Paige and All The Time In The World by Charlotte Nicole Davis
3.5/5 stars
I really enjoyed a few of the short stories. Although the genres focused in the book were fantasy and sci-fi they touched on real life issues and events that I and others could relate to such as love, betrayal, body positivity, mental health, personal growth, racism and many more. Although the stories were about 20-30 pages long, the characters were so complex. You were able to connect to some of them and feel what they were feeling. I felt a few of the stories were impactful and made you think after each read
I would have to say my favourites stories were Gilded by Elizabeth Acevedo, The Rules Of The Land by Alaya Dawn Johnson, Justina Ireland, The Actress by Danielle Paige and All The Time In The World by Charlotte Nicole Davis
3.5/5 stars
Like most short story collections, this was uneven, but the good ones - so good! And the not so good ones, still pretty ok.
Focused on Black women, A Phoenix First Must Burn features a diverse collection of speculative fiction that could appeal to a wide range of YA readers. While it contains both sci-fi and fantasy, the collection definitely leans more towards the latter. In addition to featuring Black women as the main characters, many of these stories also have sapphic romances and those that don’t often still have a romance component. Not every story in the book stood out as excellent, but Caldwell’s “Letting the Right One In” and Woodfolk’s “The Curse of Love” were particularly enjoyable. Overall a solid collection that I’d recommend to anyone that enjoys short stories and/or science fiction and fantasy.
(Also, love to see a Wellesley alum killing it!!)
(Also, love to see a Wellesley alum killing it!!)