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labunnywtf's review against another edition
4.0
I have a love/hate relationship with anthologies. I love the idea of them, but more often than not, they disappoint me. Intensely. I find one or two diamonds in a vat of shit.
This was the exact opposite. Only one or two stories slowed me down to the point of making me put the book down for too long, or making my eyes skim too much. Even the layout of the stories was perfection. We start with a story set both in the future and the past, the end and the beginning of all stories. And from there, we move from the past to the present, then to the future. All with a brilliant magical twist that takes you everyone and nowhere.
Normally I would pick apart each story to explain my likes and dislikes, let me just, really briefly, talk about my favorites:
Gilded by Elizabeth Acevedo - This is vaguely set during the slave uprising in Santo Domingo in 1522 (as per the note at the end, I actually was thinking Haiti). This is not a story of pain, but of magic, and of one woman who had her freedom in hand, but instead used her gifts to save the only family she had. Brilliant. Would read an entire novelization of this short story.
The Rules of the Land by Alaya Dawn Johnson - This was SUCH a good story, but it desperately needed more than just a short story. The author crams a lot of goodness into so few pages, about a mermaid and a sailor who have a baby, and the sailor is obsessed with keeping his wife tied to him, to the detriment of their entire island. I really need more plot, but it's still a 4 star read.
Melie by Justina Ireland - MURDER UNICORNS. I repeat, MURDER. UNICORNS.
The Goddess Provides by L.L. Mckinney - The note I made for this simply says "RAGE KINK". sO GOOD.
Tender Headed by Danny Lore - The most contemporary of the lot, and the exact kind of magic I love. Teach the bullies a lesson, and the moral of the story wins in the end.
Kiss the Sun by Ibi Zoboi - 5 ENTHUSIASTIC STARS for this story. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, it's so fucking good. It's the only story that got me googling, because I suspected that soucouyants are a real mythical creature, and GODDAMN was I not disappointed. It uses mythology to discuss colorism, and it's UGH IT'S JUST SO FUCKING GOOD.
::cough:: Moving on.
All the Time in the World, by Charlotte Nicole Davis - I need a three part series for this fucking story. It's got the oops I have superpowers element I CRAVE in books, but BUT BUT BUT BUT FUCKING BUT the superpowers come about because of the water supply in their town, which has been completely destroyed by EVIL GOVERNMENT and everyone has to drink and bathe with bottled water, and houses can't be sold because of the destroyed water supply and DOES THAT SOUND FAMILIAR TO ANYONE?!
FLINT MICHIGAN GETS SUPERPOWERS AND I AM HERE. FOR. THIS.
Witch's Skin, by Karen Strong - This was so good, but it's one of the few in here that desperately needed a full length book. The Boo Hag is a witch who sheds her skin and, erm, sexes the soul out of men. And our main character has had it. OFFICIALLY. So good, her plotting against the witch is so good, the reveal would've been amazing in a full length story. But here, it felt kind of rushed.
There was only one 1-star story in here, and I don't want to be tooooo mean in pointing it out. All I will say is, Mary Sue fanfic writer sees Mary Sue fanfic writer. ::pointed look::
This was the exact opposite. Only one or two stories slowed me down to the point of making me put the book down for too long, or making my eyes skim too much. Even the layout of the stories was perfection. We start with a story set both in the future and the past, the end and the beginning of all stories. And from there, we move from the past to the present, then to the future. All with a brilliant magical twist that takes you everyone and nowhere.
Normally I would pick apart each story to explain my likes and dislikes, let me just, really briefly, talk about my favorites:
Gilded by Elizabeth Acevedo - This is vaguely set during the slave uprising in Santo Domingo in 1522 (as per the note at the end, I actually was thinking Haiti). This is not a story of pain, but of magic, and of one woman who had her freedom in hand, but instead used her gifts to save the only family she had. Brilliant. Would read an entire novelization of this short story.
The Rules of the Land by Alaya Dawn Johnson - This was SUCH a good story, but it desperately needed more than just a short story. The author crams a lot of goodness into so few pages, about a mermaid and a sailor who have a baby, and the sailor is obsessed with keeping his wife tied to him, to the detriment of their entire island. I really need more plot, but it's still a 4 star read.
Melie by Justina Ireland - MURDER UNICORNS. I repeat, MURDER. UNICORNS.
The Goddess Provides by L.L. Mckinney - The note I made for this simply says "RAGE KINK". sO GOOD.
Tender Headed by Danny Lore - The most contemporary of the lot, and the exact kind of magic I love. Teach the bullies a lesson, and the moral of the story wins in the end.
Kiss the Sun by Ibi Zoboi - 5 ENTHUSIASTIC STARS for this story. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, it's so fucking good. It's the only story that got me googling, because I suspected that soucouyants are a real mythical creature, and GODDAMN was I not disappointed. It uses mythology to discuss colorism, and it's UGH IT'S JUST SO FUCKING GOOD.
::cough:: Moving on.
All the Time in the World, by Charlotte Nicole Davis - I need a three part series for this fucking story. It's got the oops I have superpowers element I CRAVE in books, but BUT BUT BUT BUT FUCKING BUT the superpowers come about because of the water supply in their town, which has been completely destroyed by EVIL GOVERNMENT and everyone has to drink and bathe with bottled water, and houses can't be sold because of the destroyed water supply and DOES THAT SOUND FAMILIAR TO ANYONE?!
FLINT MICHIGAN GETS SUPERPOWERS AND I AM HERE. FOR. THIS.
Witch's Skin, by Karen Strong - This was so good, but it's one of the few in here that desperately needed a full length book. The Boo Hag is a witch who sheds her skin and, erm, sexes the soul out of men. And our main character has had it. OFFICIALLY. So good, her plotting against the witch is so good, the reveal would've been amazing in a full length story. But here, it felt kind of rushed.
There was only one 1-star story in here, and I don't want to be tooooo mean in pointing it out. All I will say is, Mary Sue fanfic writer sees Mary Sue fanfic writer. ::pointed look::
pulchritudinous_panda's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The only reason it is not a 5 is that I haven't read all of the short stories. My favorites include "Letting the Right One In," "All the Time in the World," and "Sequence."
madison_bridal's review against another edition
4.0
I absolutely loved the concept of this book! The only reason it was a 4/5 is because I liked some of the short stories more than others, but I would still really recommend the book!
nataliesbooknook's review against another edition
I have read this one once already, and wanted to reread some of it again.
tessadehart's review against another edition
5.0
This book is a beautiful collection of stories!! Each story has some sort of sci-fi or fantasy element to it, creating endless possibilities. Some are based on mythology, some history, and some are just creations of their author! As with any anthology, there were a couple stories that I didn’t connect to as much, but I would honestly give any of these stories another read and there were several that I think I will was to turn to again and again.
This anthology’s focus is to center black girls in stories with fantastical stories, and I couldn’t have imagined anything better! There is so much variety, I think anyone could find a story in here that resonates with them!
I highly recommend!! Especially if you love or are interested in exploring fantasy or sci-fi!
This anthology’s focus is to center black girls in stories with fantastical stories, and I couldn’t have imagined anything better! There is so much variety, I think anyone could find a story in here that resonates with them!
I highly recommend!! Especially if you love or are interested in exploring fantasy or sci-fi!
mimig312's review against another edition
4.0
A Phoenix First Must Burn is a diverse anthology of sixteen tales spanning fantasy to science fiction. The contributors are a super talented group of black women who have published a wide range of novels, novellas and poetry across many genres. A good amount of the stories are more YA focused, several stories have LGBTQ themes and others take inspiration from real historical events. A handful are so light fantasy that you can tag them as literary fiction instead. Regardless, I really liked the bulk of the stories and felt that they were executed well in the short story format.
I don't normally gravitate towards short stories as I often come away unsatisfied with too little story or sometimes feel that the ending is abrupt. The majority of the stories ended at a good stopping point and provided just enough detail to immersive you briefly in another world. Patrice Caldwell also did a good job on arranging the sequence of the stories. There was a good flow between sci-fi to light fantasy, to magical realism and back again.
I'd recommend this anthology to any reader that is looking to read sci-fi and fantasy by black women authors and use this book as an introduction to their calibre of work.
I don't normally gravitate towards short stories as I often come away unsatisfied with too little story or sometimes feel that the ending is abrupt. The majority of the stories ended at a good stopping point and provided just enough detail to immersive you briefly in another world. Patrice Caldwell also did a good job on arranging the sequence of the stories. There was a good flow between sci-fi to light fantasy, to magical realism and back again.
I'd recommend this anthology to any reader that is looking to read sci-fi and fantasy by black women authors and use this book as an introduction to their calibre of work.
annie_lawrence's review against another edition
Short stories are always a hit or miss for eme, usually always a miss which I'm sad about because the book sounds fantastic! Definitely was fault on my end, not the writing.
littlepepperguy's review
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
I'm not huge on short stories. I prefer to really nestle into a story and have many different levels. I obviously knew my preferences before reading this book of short stories so I won't ding the collection for that. I loved the premise of the collection. Black woman deserve to be leads of stories so much more and black woman write black woman the best. I liked more stories than most, especially the stories with soft magic systems and had a more traditionally fantasy feel. I am still tippy toeing into modern/urban fantasies, so I don't usually love the high school aged girl with a cellphone discovers she has magic vibe. I much prefer the maenad vibe of sun girls who eat men's souls alive and fly to the sun as a game. Mega slay, ultra cunty.
weedleeedle's review against another edition
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A Phoenix First Must Burn has themes that range from folklore-ish to sci-fi to slice of life. There's romance, there's plot twists, there's magic and technology and super powers and more. The stories that stand out as being exceptional really stand out. They're stories that are rich and powerful and moving.
My most common criticism of a good half or so of these stories is that they all felt too short for me. I really feel like they could have benefited from just a little bit more. A couple of the stories suffer from an abundance of fantasy or sci-fi jargon, which is fine for a longer work where readers will have repeated exposure to the words, but for short works like this it just kind of made it hard to follow. Even some of the stories that don't have that jargon still sometimes lost me: sometimes the drama/conflict escalated way too quickly and was resolved even quicker. It's hard to make a short story not feel rushed, but it definitely felt like a few of these stories just happened way too quickly. I think the worst example of this is Melie. It feels like it's supposed to be humorous and jovial and not take itself too seriously, but the feeling that comes across is that of a total lack of interest or passion. I didn't feel like I had any reason to care about any of it.
There's a lot of really cool experimental stuff too. All The Time In The World is written in second person. It's also beautifully short and sweet. The Curse of Love alternates between third and first person but centers around one character the entire time. It's also a fantastic concept for a story: A few of these stories center around the theme of love being dangerous. The execution of that idea in The Curse of Love is phenomenal. Wherein Abigail Fields Recalls Her First Death And, Subsequently, Her Best Life is probably my favorite of all the stories here. I think of all the stories, this is the one that's going to haunt me and always live on in the back of my mind.
Overall, I think a solid 13 out of the 16 stories are absolutely worth anyone's time, and I don't think the three, maybe four, that I found lacking are a deal-breaker at all, so I would 100% recommend A Phoenix First Must Burn.
My most common criticism of a good half or so of these stories is that they all felt too short for me. I really feel like they could have benefited from just a little bit more. A couple of the stories suffer from an abundance of fantasy or sci-fi jargon, which is fine for a longer work where readers will have repeated exposure to the words, but for short works like this it just kind of made it hard to follow. Even some of the stories that don't have that jargon still sometimes lost me: sometimes the drama/conflict escalated way too quickly and was resolved even quicker. It's hard to make a short story not feel rushed, but it definitely felt like a few of these stories just happened way too quickly. I think the worst example of this is Melie. It feels like it's supposed to be humorous and jovial and not take itself too seriously, but the feeling that comes across is that of a total lack of interest or passion. I didn't feel like I had any reason to care about any of it.
There's a lot of really cool experimental stuff too. All The Time In The World is written in second person. It's also beautifully short and sweet. The Curse of Love alternates between third and first person but centers around one character the entire time. It's also a fantastic concept for a story: A few of these stories center around the theme of love being dangerous. The execution of that idea in The Curse of Love is phenomenal. Wherein Abigail Fields Recalls Her First Death And, Subsequently, Her Best Life is probably my favorite of all the stories here. I think of all the stories, this is the one that's going to haunt me and always live on in the back of my mind.
Overall, I think a solid 13 out of the 16 stories are absolutely worth anyone's time, and I don't think the three, maybe four, that I found lacking are a deal-breaker at all, so I would 100% recommend A Phoenix First Must Burn.