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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
It's sort of weird to review this, because it's a short story collection and I had very drastically varying opinions on all the stories in it. It's also going to be difficult to review because it took me a while to get through all of them- I'd read a few at once and then not read any for several weeks or months. Oops.
I did think it had a good mix of sci-fi, fantasy, and magical realism, and I thought it was spread out nicely throughout the book. It was balanced nicely, so you wouldn't get all of one kind of story all at once. A lot of the stories were romances, which was kind of hit or miss for me. I'm going to go through and try and give like a sentence or two about each story (edit: lol "one or two sentences"), but I don't remember the earlier ones as well so bear with me:
When Life Hands You a Lemon Fruitbomb: Sci-fi about an alien invasion. Fun, sort of weird, but good. Didn't go in the direction I thought it was going to. 5/5 for originality and space shenanigans
Gilded: Historical fantasy about a girl with magic and a slave uprising. I think there's a bit of a romance in this one, but I also don't remember it super well. 5/5 because I can't remember what I actually thought of it and I don't want to take points off for no reason
Wherein Abigail Fields Recalls Her First Death And, Subsequently, Her Best Life: Arguably my favorite in the whole book. Read it a while ago, but I absolutely loved it. Romance, devil deals, revenge, the wild west. 6/5 because the title is also great and earned it a bonus point
The Rules of the Land: Mostly a girl reminiscing about her parents and her childhood. Her dad is pretty abusive and her mom is basically a selkie (although "selkie" is not what it's called and I'm not entirely sure if "selkie" is like the Irish version of that magical creature or if "selkie" isn't Irish and I've been lied to or what, I don't know much about the mythology behind it). Also apparently there's a war going on, but that's not... super relevant? 4/5 because it's good but there were a lot of really cool large-scale things happening in this world that I would have enjoyed reading about more
A Hagiography of Starlight: Very pretty, it's a gods-and-magic type fantasy. Lots of pretty descriptions of music and dancing and beautiful sensory imagery. Also sort of a romance? Would love to read about what happens after the events of this story. 5/5 because it's pretty and I liked reading it
Melie: Also one of my favorites! Lots of adventure and action and magic spells and dragons, there is a love interest but the romance part isn't the primary aspect of the story. Really fun, very chaotic, I just wish it had been longer. 5/5 please make it into a whole book so that I can read it, it would be so good as a whole book
The Goddess Provides: Political intrigue, princess fallen from grace, religious fundamentalism, deus-ex-machina but like in a cool way that works. Also that's not exactly what it is but no spoilers, obviously. Lots of cool aspects, I feel like I would have liked it more if it were longer. 4/5 for a good story with somewhat unoriginal plot twists
Hearts Turned To Ash: About a breakup, the premise is kind of absurd to me because literally why would you do that, these children are INFANTS but it's a good story about young love and being careful not to lose yourself when you love other people. 3.5/5 because the LAST thing you should tell someone who just got dumped is "but he's your soul mate"
Letting The Right One In: Extremely cute contemporary romance but with vampires. Sort of cheesy, but that's part of why it's so good. 5/5 for gay vampires
Tender-Headed: About a girl realizing that her friends are treating her poorly. There is a love interest but they mostly serve to contrast her other, worse relationships. The magic is a little more incidental and a little more vague; it's used to tell the story, rather than being used to drive the story. It's a very cool way for the story to be told, I just wish there was more magic because I like magic. 5/5 because I like the main character and because I don't want Athena to turn me into a spider
Kiss The Sun: I liked this one! About a group of soucouyants on the night they go hunting. Also about racism. Kind of a grim story but makes some really good points about racism and how society pits women against each other. Also I didn't know what a soucouyant was before this so 5/5 for learning new things
The Actress: Didn't like this one as much. It brings up a lot of really good and very important points about racism in the film industry, but it absolutely did not need to be magical. The magical aspect didn't really make sense to me and I didn't like the way it was just sort of dropped in. It felt clunky and rushed. I might have liked it more if it had just been a contemporary/romance. It would also be really good as a full book; I actually really want to read a full book of this, now that I think about it. 4/5 instead of 3/5 because the TV vampire is named Wolfe and that's too good not to acknowledge
The Curse Of Love: Like the last one, it's a romance; unlike the last one, it isn't anything else. I liked the magic part more, because it was actually an important part of the story, and I thought it was well written and well done, but it felt like several pages of a very interesting premise and some cool characters with no actual story. 4/5 because I want to see her go on an epic quest to break her curse and be with the boy of her dreams instead of just going to school
All The Time In The World: I loved this one! Narrated in second person, which is very cool. About a kid who learns they can stop time because a military base is polluting the water. Talks a lot about racism and classism. Also a romance. Definitely a superhero origin story. 5/5 put them in the MCU
The Witch's Skin: Revenge and the evils of patriarchy. Kind of a romance but not really because her boyfriend is killed by the Boo Hag (who I now know is actually also a soucouyant, another yay for learning new things). Also could definitely be made longer. It jumped around between present and telling about her relationship with her boyfriend. 4/5 because vengeful moms will rule the world one day
Sequence: Cute romance, cool premise, and I liked how it was told. The formatting was a little confusing? There's an A section and then a chunk in the middle and then a B section, and it took me a minute to figure out what was happening when. But I do really like when stories are told or formatted in an interesting way like that, and I liked the premise and the story a lot. 4.5/5 Travis please shut up
TLDR: lots of good stories in here, some mediocre ones, none of them were really bad. They all had redeeming qualities, even the ones I personally didn't like as much. A good variety of mythologies and magic systems and characters and kinds of stories told. Would recommend but probably wouldn't recommend every story to one person; maybe just read the ones that sound coolest.
I did think it had a good mix of sci-fi, fantasy, and magical realism, and I thought it was spread out nicely throughout the book. It was balanced nicely, so you wouldn't get all of one kind of story all at once. A lot of the stories were romances, which was kind of hit or miss for me. I'm going to go through and try and give like a sentence or two about each story (edit: lol "one or two sentences"), but I don't remember the earlier ones as well so bear with me:
When Life Hands You a Lemon Fruitbomb: Sci-fi about an alien invasion. Fun, sort of weird, but good. Didn't go in the direction I thought it was going to. 5/5 for originality and space shenanigans
Gilded: Historical fantasy about a girl with magic and a slave uprising. I think there's a bit of a romance in this one, but I also don't remember it super well. 5/5 because I can't remember what I actually thought of it and I don't want to take points off for no reason
Wherein Abigail Fields Recalls Her First Death And, Subsequently, Her Best Life: Arguably my favorite in the whole book. Read it a while ago, but I absolutely loved it. Romance, devil deals, revenge, the wild west. 6/5 because the title is also great and earned it a bonus point
The Rules of the Land: Mostly a girl reminiscing about her parents and her childhood. Her dad is pretty abusive and her mom is basically a selkie (although "selkie" is not what it's called and I'm not entirely sure if "selkie" is like the Irish version of that magical creature or if "selkie" isn't Irish and I've been lied to or what, I don't know much about the mythology behind it). Also apparently there's a war going on, but that's not... super relevant? 4/5 because it's good but there were a lot of really cool large-scale things happening in this world that I would have enjoyed reading about more
A Hagiography of Starlight: Very pretty, it's a gods-and-magic type fantasy. Lots of pretty descriptions of music and dancing and beautiful sensory imagery. Also sort of a romance? Would love to read about what happens after the events of this story. 5/5 because it's pretty and I liked reading it
Melie: Also one of my favorites! Lots of adventure and action and magic spells and dragons, there is a love interest but the romance part isn't the primary aspect of the story. Really fun, very chaotic, I just wish it had been longer. 5/5 please make it into a whole book so that I can read it, it would be so good as a whole book
The Goddess Provides: Political intrigue, princess fallen from grace, religious fundamentalism, deus-ex-machina but like in a cool way that works. Also that's not exactly what it is but no spoilers, obviously. Lots of cool aspects, I feel like I would have liked it more if it were longer. 4/5 for a good story with somewhat unoriginal plot twists
Hearts Turned To Ash: About a breakup, the premise is kind of absurd to me because literally why would you do that, these children are INFANTS but it's a good story about young love and being careful not to lose yourself when you love other people. 3.5/5 because the LAST thing you should tell someone who just got dumped is "but he's your soul mate"
Letting The Right One In: Extremely cute contemporary romance but with vampires. Sort of cheesy, but that's part of why it's so good. 5/5 for gay vampires
Tender-Headed: About a girl realizing that her friends are treating her poorly. There is a love interest but they mostly serve to contrast her other, worse relationships. The magic is a little more incidental and a little more vague; it's used to tell the story, rather than being used to drive the story. It's a very cool way for the story to be told, I just wish there was more magic because I like magic. 5/5 because I like the main character and because I don't want Athena to turn me into a spider
Kiss The Sun: I liked this one! About a group of soucouyants on the night they go hunting. Also about racism. Kind of a grim story but makes some really good points about racism and how society pits women against each other. Also I didn't know what a soucouyant was before this so 5/5 for learning new things
The Actress: Didn't like this one as much. It brings up a lot of really good and very important points about racism in the film industry, but it absolutely did not need to be magical. The magical aspect didn't really make sense to me and I didn't like the way it was just sort of dropped in. It felt clunky and rushed. I might have liked it more if it had just been a contemporary/romance. It would also be really good as a full book; I actually really want to read a full book of this, now that I think about it. 4/5 instead of 3/5 because the TV vampire is named Wolfe and that's too good not to acknowledge
The Curse Of Love: Like the last one, it's a romance; unlike the last one, it isn't anything else. I liked the magic part more, because it was actually an important part of the story, and I thought it was well written and well done, but it felt like several pages of a very interesting premise and some cool characters with no actual story. 4/5 because I want to see her go on an epic quest to break her curse and be with the boy of her dreams instead of just going to school
All The Time In The World: I loved this one! Narrated in second person, which is very cool. About a kid who learns they can stop time because a military base is polluting the water. Talks a lot about racism and classism. Also a romance. Definitely a superhero origin story. 5/5 put them in the MCU
The Witch's Skin: Revenge and the evils of patriarchy. Kind of a romance but not really because her boyfriend is killed by the Boo Hag (who I now know is actually also a soucouyant, another yay for learning new things). Also could definitely be made longer. It jumped around between present and telling about her relationship with her boyfriend. 4/5 because vengeful moms will rule the world one day
Sequence: Cute romance, cool premise, and I liked how it was told. The formatting was a little confusing? There's an A section and then a chunk in the middle and then a B section, and it took me a minute to figure out what was happening when. But I do really like when stories are told or formatted in an interesting way like that, and I liked the premise and the story a lot. 4.5/5 Travis please shut up
TLDR: lots of good stories in here, some mediocre ones, none of them were really bad. They all had redeeming qualities, even the ones I personally didn't like as much. A good variety of mythologies and magic systems and characters and kinds of stories told. Would recommend but probably wouldn't recommend every story to one person; maybe just read the ones that sound coolest.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm glad I picked this one up. It's an interesting mix of stories and settings, different genres and styles. My favorite stories were Melie by Justina Ireland and Hearts Turned to Ash by Dhonielle Clayton.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation
Como en toda colección, algunas historias tienen más fuerza o interés que otras. En general, me gustaron casi todas pero creo que algunas tenían un worldbuilding tan complejo que dejaba poco espacio para el desarrollo de los personajes. En ese sentido, me gustaron más las historias low fantasy/sci-fi como Gilded, Melie o Sequence. Otro problema fue la idea principal de la colección (el renacer/descubrir nuevas posibilidades) que aunque, en teoría, parece un concepto muy amplio,llevó a muchas autoras presentar historias bastante parecidas en estructura y desarrollo. Pese a todo,se trata de un libro entretenido, ideal si quieres navegar otros mundos pero sin comprometerte a los tochos que suelen ser las novelas de fantasy o sci-fi.
Top-Top-Top: Hearts Turned to Ash, Letting the Right One In
Top-top: When Life Hands You a Lemon Tree, The Goddess Provides, All the Time in the World, Sequence
Top: Hagiography of Starlight, The Witch’s Skin
Middle-top: Tender-Headed, The Curse of Love
Middle: Gilded, Wherein Abigail Fields Recalls Her First Death and Subsequently Her Best Life, Kiss the Sun
Middle-bottom: The Rules of the Land, The Actress
Bottom: Melie
Top-top: When Life Hands You a Lemon Tree, The Goddess Provides, All the Time in the World, Sequence
Top: Hagiography of Starlight, The Witch’s Skin
Middle-top: Tender-Headed, The Curse of Love
Middle: Gilded, Wherein Abigail Fields Recalls Her First Death and Subsequently Her Best Life, Kiss the Sun
Middle-bottom: The Rules of the Land, The Actress
Bottom: Melie
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A beautiful collection of stories full of black girl magic. This is the first anthology I’ve ever read and I’m grateful it was this one. The stories range from wars with aliens across time to a vampire romance with a special take on Let the Right One In. Each one offered an interesting insight into an experience outside myself and showed me the value of diversifying my reading.
The only thing that was outside my tastes was the ages of the majority of the characters around the 16ish range. But I personally don’t gravitate towards YA so it wasn’t for me, but may be for you! As well as the short format that made it hard to get into the fast world building being crammed into some of these stories.
The only thing that was outside my tastes was the ages of the majority of the characters around the 16ish range. But I personally don’t gravitate towards YA so it wasn’t for me, but may be for you! As well as the short format that made it hard to get into the fast world building being crammed into some of these stories.
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Some stories stuck out to me, others were a bit dull or felt contrived
I loved this book, but I always struggle with short stories because I want to know more/hear more details.
I loved almost every story in this. Such unique voices. Super well curated collection.
I am too old to be the target market for this, but there are a lot of stories that I think will hit with readers the right age.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced